Movie Review: Halloween (1978)
Warning: This review does contain spoilers for the movie Halloween. Go and watch it.
“I realized that what was living behind that boy’s eyes was purely and simply… evil.”
What happens when pure evil returns to the scene of his crime on the scariest night of the year? Halloween pretty much spawned the slasher genre. A creepy silent killer slowly killing its way through a group of unsuspecting teens, sound familiar? It was a ground-breaking and incredibly successful horror film that inspired many copycats and generated a franchise spanning thirteen films. It launched the career of Jamie Lee Curtis and helped establish John Carpenter as one of the most influential directors of his generation. But after 30+ years does it still stand up? Does a film made in the 70’s on a $300k budget still bring the thrills?
The film starts with a great first person camera view that leads us through the Myers home and to our first kill. This establishing scene gives us an idea of what’s to come. Backed by Carpenter’s tense score, the film takes its time, and it’s this slow approach that makes this film great. Tension builds as a knife is taken from the kitchen. Tension builds as a mask is put on and our point of view is slightly altered, we are now not just looking through a screen but through the eyes of a killer. Then tension is relieved as a young Michael Myers plunges that knife down into his sister, murdering her in cold blood.
We are then introduced to one of the film’s lead characters Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence). Loomis is Myers’ psychiatrist who informs us that Michael has been locked up for fifteen years and is beyond saving. We get a scene showing Michael’s escape, which doesn’t make a tonne of sense (how did they all get outside) but this is a horror movie, so plot isn’t of the utmost importance. Pleasence’s performance throughout this movie is incredibly additive. The way he performs his lines are pitch perfect for this type of movie, they’re somehow incredibly theatrical but understated which helps add to the film’s atmosphere and brings it some gravitas.
The next forty minutes of the film introduce us to Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her friends. We spend time walking home from school, talking together on the phone, babysitting, smoking pot while driving, and a bunch of other exciting activities that should be captured on film. Except in this case these activities are simply a backdrop for the stalking of Laurie by Michael Myers. You see, Laurie’s father is a real estate agent trying to sell the Myers house. Michael sees Laurie, who has some resemblance to his late sister, dropping off a key (with a child she’s a babysitter for in tow) and she becomes the object of his fascination. Michael creepily pops in and out of view during these sequences with only Laurie sighting him.
It’s this patient approach that makes this movie work so well, tension is building. Evil incarnate is omnipresent, and can appear and disappear at any moment. That tension isn’t released until Annie’s (Nancy Kyes) death at the fifty-five minute mark of the film. There are numerous moments during this sequence where you believe she’s going to die, but it’s held off and held off again, until you get that sinking feeling in your stomach and then bang! But it’s not a quick death either. The level of discomfort rises as you watch her struggle, as she’s being slowly strangled before Myers finally puts her out of her misery. This isn’t some glorious, cool looking kill. This feels real.
From here the movie really kicks into gear. We see sweethearts Bob (John Graham) and Lynda (P.J. Soles) both die in great scenes, the latter with Myers hiding under a sheet pretending to be Bob. Then Laurie wanders over to the house across the road to find all her friends dead and Michael waiting for her. Myers pursues Laurie. This is where Carpenter’s restraint really pays off. By limiting Myers’ exposure to just sightings and brief appearances during kill scenes his pursuit is all the more terrifying. This monster is capable of anything. This monster truly is the Boogeyman. This is also where the casting of Jamie Lee pays off, her performance outstanding. It’s easy to go over the top and become cartoonish in these movies, but she puts across her fear in a realistic manner.
Ultimately this film holds up because it doesn’t rely on any cheap tricks. Some of this film’s contemporaries are now more comedy than horror due to how poorly the tricks have aged. It’s also Carpenter’s mastery of both atmosphere and tension that allow a film with very little plot to not become boring or drag without having to resort to over the top violence. There’s a reason this movie inspired many copycats, it does a hell of a lot with very little. It truly relies on the craft of the filmmaker. For that reason it truly is a masterpiece.
I rate Halloween as:
A Masterpiece
Essential Viewing
Highly Recommended
Recommended
Meh
Garbage