Halloween (1978) Review

 

Halloween (1978)

It has been an excruciatingly long wait for me to review this, but I had to wait till Halloween!

Halloween follows Laurie Strode as she must fight off and survive after escaped mental patient, Michael Myers, returns to his old hometown, looking to kill again.

In my opinion, this is one of the best, most intelligently crafted horror films of all time. It’s use of creative camera shots and intense lighting makes it unnerving and terrifying, especially in it’s genius way of showing us Michael when the main characters cannot see him. How he is always lurking in the background gives off such an uneasy feeling, a feeling that still hasn’t gone away over many viewings. It’s ability to keep a tight, suspenseful pace throughout is also remarkable, as it keeps you glued into the screen in anticipation, ironic given that his first on-screen kill (out of only 5) since the escape is nearly an hour into the film! Mix that with the legendary, chilling score, played on piano by John Carpenter himself, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a horror classic. The sudden twangs and gradual noise shifts give it a sound production unlike most horror movies, in a way that is relentlessly haunting.

Due to it’s low budget, the movie had a hard time getting big names, with Donald Sterling being their one big snag, but it’s the lesser known actors/actresses who shine like Kyle Richards, Nick Castle, and of course, Laurie Strode herself, Jamie Lee Curtis, in her first ever movie role. She plays Laurie to perfection, with her final scene striking a major nerve as she breaks down, knowing after everything, Michael isn’t dead and that he is somewhere out there, waiting to strike again. It’s powerful, especially considering how powerfully Castle plays Michael, as the ominous, relentless killer.

The original Halloween has yet to be rivaled in creativity and pure, devastating horror, with John Carpenter creating a masterpiece, free of the usual blood and gore that is so often associated with the genre. It is quite simply the personification of fear, with Carpenter showing us monsters don’t need to be made in a lab, they can just as well be made right next door.

10/10