Many movies are good for Halloween. But one film is Halloween...
Halloween changed everything. There are few films that have had as great an impact on the genre.
The story is painfully simple, an escaped lunatic returns to terrorize his old neighborhood on Halloween night. And, while the escaped lunatic story is a time-honored tradition predating the film medium itself, never has it been more effectively presented.
To be fair, the film is a tad bit dated (it predates M.A.D.D. and Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign big time); and the acting by some of the supporting characters is horrendous - (the children are better actors than some of the teenagers here). But some of the acting is quite excellent - we all know how it launched the career of Jamie Lee Curtis (heir to her mother's scream queen crown) - but also noteworthy is the performance of Donald Pleasence as Dr. Loomis, the relentless and compassionless counterpoint to killer Michael Myers; Loomis will stop at nothing to see Michael stopped, hippocratic oath be damned!
Halloween has a pretty long buildup by modern standards. But all of that is worth it for the last white knuckle twenty minutes, which is some of the scariest, edge-of-your-seat storytelling on celluloid. It's noteworthy that for most of the film, a majority of the characters are totally unaware of the danger, and despite the film's reputation as the King of Slasher movies, there is actually a very minimal amount of gore here.
Other things to watch for in Halloween:
Halloween
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| Halloween movie poster |
Halloween changed everything. There are few films that have had as great an impact on the genre.
The story is painfully simple, an escaped lunatic returns to terrorize his old neighborhood on Halloween night. And, while the escaped lunatic story is a time-honored tradition predating the film medium itself, never has it been more effectively presented.
To be fair, the film is a tad bit dated (it predates M.A.D.D. and Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign big time); and the acting by some of the supporting characters is horrendous - (the children are better actors than some of the teenagers here). But some of the acting is quite excellent - we all know how it launched the career of Jamie Lee Curtis (heir to her mother's scream queen crown) - but also noteworthy is the performance of Donald Pleasence as Dr. Loomis, the relentless and compassionless counterpoint to killer Michael Myers; Loomis will stop at nothing to see Michael stopped, hippocratic oath be damned!
Halloween has a pretty long buildup by modern standards. But all of that is worth it for the last white knuckle twenty minutes, which is some of the scariest, edge-of-your-seat storytelling on celluloid. It's noteworthy that for most of the film, a majority of the characters are totally unaware of the danger, and despite the film's reputation as the King of Slasher movies, there is actually a very minimal amount of gore here.
Other things to watch for in Halloween:
- John Carpenter created and composed the "stalk and kill" theme music imitated by so many, it's performed by the Bowling Green Philharmonic (John and his friends)
- the one popular song of the day used in the film is "Don't Fear the Reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult, it fits this film like a glove - and the scene where it plays will make you chuckle
- The Thing (later remade by Carpenter) and Forbidden Planet are prominently featured on TVs throughout the movie
- Can you pick out the characters named after characters in Hitchcock films?
- another classic Cadillac to watch for in this one - this time a black Fleetwood
***** out of *****
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