A special Trick or Treat edition of our ongoing series reviewing the greatest Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror movies. Call this one the Treat. Note that these reviews may contain spoilers.
Directed By: John Carpenter
Produced By: Debra Hill
Written By: John Carpenter, Debra Hill
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasance, Nancy Kyes, PJ Soles, Nick Castle
Original Release: 1978
Reviewed By: Aaron Hammonds
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars (Highest Rating)
Synopsis: The film begins with a series of tracking shots; the camera is maneuvering around a house, peeking in through the windows at a pair of teenage lovers making out, first in the living room, then upstairs in the girl’s bedroom. The camera enters through a back door and we see a hand grab a knife from a kitchen drawer. We then catch a glimpse of the boy leaving, and the camera then goes upstairs. We spot a clown mask on the floor and a hand reach down to pick it up and put it over the camera. The camera then goes into the girl’s room and stabs her to death. The camera then flees downstairs and out the front door where it is confronted by a pair of adults. We are then seeing things through a different point of view and realize the killer whose eyes we have been looking through…is a six year old boy.
Cut to 15 years later. Dr Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance) and a nurse (Nancy Stephens) are on their way to pick up a mental patient named Michael Myers (Nick Castle), the boy who murdered his sister 15 years ago. Michael manages to escape and steal their car, making his way back to his hometown of Haddonfield, IL. We are then introduced to three teenagers in Haddonfield: Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), Annie Brackett (Nancy Kyes), and Lynda Van Der Klok (PJ Soles). They spend Halloween as a typical day in high school except Laurie keeps noticing a man in a mask watching her from outside. Later that evening, Laurie and Annie are babysitting in houses across the street from each other and we see Michael stalking them through various open windows and doors. We know something deadly is going to happen, we just don’t know when…
Review/Commentary: In 1977, executive producer Irwin Yablans conceived of an idea for a horror film, about babysitters being stalked by a demented masked killer, titled The Babysitter Murders. He selected John Carpenter to direct with Debra Hill producing. The film they would create became a watershed in film history, and created a whole new sub-genre in horror. The film, of course, underwent a name change on its way to the screen. It became known as Halloween…
Yablans wanted to make a low-budget horror film because he knew they could easily turn a quick profit. Carpenter told him he could make the film for $300,000 if he could have total creative control and have his name above the title; Yablans told him for that kind of money he could have anything he wanted. They ultimately got the financing from film financier Moustapha Akkad. Once the parts had been cast (mostly with unknowns), the entire shoot was done in 21 days in Pasadena and Hollywood, using real neighborhoods and real houses for a small Midwestern town.
The performances in this film are amazing, largely because of their simplicity. Curtis, Kyes, and Soles truly feel like three teenage friends, their dialogue perfectly fitting their characters. Everyone in the film feels like someone from a typical small town except for the two characters who are not supposed to: Dr Loomis and Michael (listed in the credits as The Shape). Pleasance portrays Dr Loomis with a manic intensity that just screams obsession; we know that keeping Michael safely locked away from society has become his only focus in life. We hear no mention of his wife or family because it’s doubtful he has any; his life is Michael Myers. Of course, The Shape is just that: a faceless shape, a monolith in human form, evil on two legs. Even the mask he wears reflects his utter lack of emotion or humanity.
Speaking of which, the mask bears mention as it is almost a character unto itself. Carpenter sent Tommy Lee Wallace, a childhood friend who had also become involved in the film business and was serving as Halloween‘s production designer, to a nearby store to purchase some masks to try to find the one with the right look. Wallace first showed Carpenter a clown mask, which everyone agreed was somewhat creepy. They then looked at a Captain Kirk mask, which everyone agreed was almost completely expressionless. Wallace tore off the sideburns, messed up the hair to give it a more manic look, widened the eye holes, and painted the mask a bluish white. When the crew saw Wallace’s work, there was a shiver throughout the room and everyone knew the search was over.
Another important element to the success of the film was the score. Carpenter took a rough cut of the film to an executive at Columbia Pictures who told him, “This is not scary. There’s nothing frightening about this movie.” Carpenter then sat down at the piano in his home and composed a score in 5/4 time, taught to him by his father in Carpenter’s youth (his father was a musician). Once the score was added, he took the film back to the same executive, who said it was now one of the scariest movies she had ever seen. The music of Halloween has become iconic, not just of horror films, but films of any genre; as one commentator put it, the Halloween theme has replaced Chopsticks as the first piece children learn to play on the piano to show off to their friends.
The cultural impact of Halloween was, and still is, astounding. Originally panned by critics, the movie was only released regionally and sporadically throughout the US, although word of mouth made it a modest success everywhere it played. Once it was given glowing reviews by the Village Voice in New York and Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times, critics nationally began to re-appraise the film. This helped it get entered in the Toronto Film Festival, which led to national distribution through Universal Studios (no strangers to horror films). Halloween went on to become the most successful independent film until The Blair Witch Project dethroned it 21 years later. Once other low-budget filmmakers saw what Carpenter accomplished on a shoestring, they set out to capitalize on the formula he had created and the slasher film was born. Imitators like Friday the 13th, Prom Night, and My Bloody Valentine made millions mining the territory first explored by Carpenter; none of them, however, could match his sense of style.
Halloween is cinematic history. It and Psycho are the only two films which in any way fall into the category of slasher film that have been preserved in the National Film Registry. If you have in the past dismissed it as one of the mindless “dead teenager” movies of the late ’70′s and early ’80′s, you’re really missing out. Although Carpenter often dismisses the comparison, Halloween is on a par with Hitchcock’s finest work. For any fan of horror or good old-fashioned suspense, Halloween is absolutely required…
Check out Aaron Hammonds’ blog Aaron’s Movie Madness where he reviews his favorite movies.
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