TR reviews horror franchises: "Halloween"

[Lick Ness Monster]

HALLOWEEN
1978
Director: John Carpenter

"Halloween" is not just the greatest horror movie of all time - it is one of the greatest FILMS of all time, period - so much more than just a slasher flick, so much more than an exploitation picture. This movie is filled with so many memorable scenes, so many memorable performances and characters, and so many...well, I'm already talking in superlatives, so you know this stuff is good.
Containing very little graphic violence and/or gore, "Halloween" uses the basis for what our most primal fears are all about - ordinary, everyday situations that we, the audience, can picture ourselves in. And while most of us haven't been chased by psychotic killer, these are places and events that many of us indeed have been in.
It does me little to no good to explain the plot. Since this movie is so widely known, so ingrained in its classic status, and features very recognizable actors, I won't be redundant. For the .01% of the readers of this thread who haven't seen it, the plot is relatively simple - young boy kills his sister for no apparent reason at film's beginning, fifteen years later escapes from psychotic ward and returns to the same town - and the same street - where he committed that first murder. And the best part is that it is again Halloween day.
Along with "Friday the 13th", "Halloween" also served as the inspiration for virtually EVERY horror flick that followed in the '80s and '90s, with its well-defined characters and sympathetic build. The most sympathetic character is Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), THE prototypical girl next door with an inner toughness for all horror movies to endlessly copy from. Curtis is absolutely wonderful in the role, showing us just enough hints of vulnerability under extreme circumstances while also conveying great strength and power when needed. Nancy Loomis and P.J. Soles are also superb as her two more sexually-experienced friends who, one-by-one, meet their end at the hands of the film's villain. And what a villain this film has.
As I said, "Halloween" is more than just a horror movie. It's also not a body count movie - counting the opening murder scene, I believe there are five deaths in this movie. But this is one of the most mind-bending explorations of human evil in the history of cinema - but very unlike the later entries in this series, Michael Myers is very human in this film, and that just makes him much more scary. We know that he is recreating his sister's murder. We know that he wants to do it in the same geographic area, and we can tell that Laurie reminds him of his sister...somehow. But other than that, we just don't know - we don't know what drives him, we don't know why he does the things that he does. He just DOES them - and that's just much more unsettling.
There is one particular murder in this film that demonstrates this theme perfectly. One of the girls' boyfriend decides to come over for a little celebratory sex, and afterward, Michael is waiting in a closet, knife at the ready. He grabs him by the throat and then stabs him in the chest, pinning him directly to the wall, feet dangling grotesquely several inches off the ground as he dies. But then the camera just lingers, and lingers, as Michael seems to be utterly, totally happy with what he has just done, eyeing the death and the artistry of the kill like a sculptor who has just completed a great statue. Michael would indeed get more silly as the series went on, but this character, along with how he is portrayed in the second installment of this series, is simply the most menacing, badass horror villain of all time.
Of course, every Dracula must have its Van Helsing, and the character of Dr. Sam Loomis, as portrayed by the masterful Donald Pleasence, is one of the best horror HEROES of all time. This character would become so beloved, with the audience so firmly in his corner, that he would last until the sixth entry of the series some seventeen years later. This was the role that Pleasence would be most remembered for, and the obsessive, heroic Dr. Loomis draws us into his struggle to great effect.
Director John Carpenter, in his breakthrough film that led to a long, successful and artistically superb career, deserves much kudos for how he handles the heroine characters and the Myers threat. One technique he uses is the art of the pan and his use of backgrounds - on the unholy Halloween night, as Michael begins stalking his prey, Carpenter will often pan to one side with a character as they are in movement, and then pan back - and many times, something or someone is now in the background, ready to strike.
I can't speak enough good about this film. This is one of the first horror movies I ever saw, and the images, performances and characters are still with me to this day. Wonderfully acted, directed, and written, and my favorite horror movie ever.

****

[Lick Ness Monster]

Wow - no comments on one of the best movies ever?

[Zutroy]

Absolutely love this film. Michael Myers scared me for years.

[skiller]

Halloween's 1 and 2 are such great movies. It's a shame the series went to crap.

Though I also like part 3 and didn't mind 4. It's just the rest left quite a bit to be desired.

[Lick Ness Monster]

Apr 8, 2008 1:28:46 GMT -5 @skiller said:

Halloween's 1 and 2 are such great movies. It's a shame the series went to crap.

Though I also like part 3 and didn't mind 4. It's just the rest left quite a bit to be desired.

I told Deadpool in my previous franchise review thread that no other movie series has such a wide range, from the heights of quality to the bottom of the crap.

And wait till I get to the crap...

[Brain Of F'n J]

What's to say? It's HALLOWEEN. Horror movie PERFECTION.

Jed f'n Shaffer
~Too bad the series became so misguided and confusing ...

[Jiren]

1, 2 & 3 were very good but then the series went to s***

[Kash Flagg]

Dig the review man. I always look forward to em.

[plushtar]

This film is truly a product of the times. All you need to do is compare this and the remake. This one holds up a lot better than the original due to the fact that Carpenter left a lot of Michael Myers' history and psychology up to our imaginations.

Since I grew up looking towards classics and turning away from modern pop culture, I was able to appreciate this film while other people my age simply don't get it due to a lack of (what we internet wrestling fans refer to as) as high spots.

[hollywood]

Couldn't agree more. Halloween was fantastic. Halloween II was okay, although the fact that our hero (Curtis) was comatose for most of the film really hurt it.

Halloween III was good for what it was.

Halloween 4 - 6...Well, I really enjoyed 4. They brought Myers back with a VENGEANCE in that movie. Just so many cool moments. True, it wasn't nearly as scary, but it was a damn good time. 5 & 6 weren't the best, but I can still find things to enjoy about them.

H20 and Resurrection...yeesh. What happened?

And don't even get me started on Rob Zombie's God-awful remake. Honestly, I don't understand why anyone likes this guy's films. EVERY damn character is a redneck or a skank...not to mention that, in Halloween, he took the number one thing that made Michael scary--he was just a normal kid who went nuts--and created some cliche'd, over the top, and obvious backstory about a troubled childhood. Your music's okay, Rob, but your movies are %@#$.

[Big DSR Energy]

Yep, Halloween's great. I'll save my comments for the rest of the series until we get to those particular movies.

[Paul Is Deadpool R.I.P]

The first Halloween is Awesome, however in my opinion Part 4: The Return Of Michael Myers is the best.

Also I liked Zombie's remake, though make no mistake, nothing beats the original 1,2,and 4.

[Lick Ness Monster]

Apr 8, 2008 10:46:58 GMT -5 hollywood said:

And don't even get me started on Rob Zombie's God-awful remake. Honestly, I don't understand why anyone likes this guy's films. EVERY damn character is a redneck or a skank...

LOL, I've noticed that as well. I'd seen "House of 1,000 Corpses", and when I was watching "The Devil's Rejects" I actually said to my friend "man, Zombie, find some new characterizations - this whole fascination that he has with rednecks and sluts gets REALLY old after a while."

[erisi236]

I don't know why really, but I never really liked the first Halloween, but I really liked 4-6.

Must be something glandular.

[Maidpool w/ Cleaning Action]

Apr 8, 2008 12:52:45 GMT -5 Lick Ness Monster said:

Apr 8, 2008 10:46:58 GMT -5 hollywood said:

And don't even get me started on Rob Zombie's God-awful remake. Honestly, I don't understand why anyone likes this guy's films. EVERY damn character is a redneck or a skank...

LOL, I've noticed that as well. I'd seen "House of 1,000 Corpses", and when I was watching "The Devil's Rejects" I actually said to my friend "man, Zombie, find some new characterizations - this whole fascination that he has with rednecks and sluts gets REALLY old after a while."

I will agree with that.

While, once again I completely disagree with the Halloween remake being "god-awful" as I thought it was good, I do agree that the mom and dad in the first 15 minutes didn't need to be such a rednecky sterotype.

[Lick Ness Monster]

Apr 8, 2008 12:58:25 GMT -5 Maidpool w/ Cleaning Action said:

Apr 8, 2008 12:52:45 GMT -5 Lick Ness Monster said:

LOL, I've noticed that as well. I'd seen "House of 1,000 Corpses", and when I was watching "The Devil's Rejects" I actually said to my friend "man, Zombie, find some new characterizations - this whole fascination that he has with rednecks and sluts gets REALLY old after a while."

I will agree with that.

While, once again I completely disagree with the Halloween remake being "god-awful" as I thought it was good, I do agree that the mom and dad in the first 15 minutes didn't need to be such a rednecky sterotype.

I respect you and your opinion on the "Halloween" remake - but if that's really how they portray Michael's parents, I really have no interest in seeing it.

But I definitely agree with you that a remake was better than yet another sequel, given how convoluted and crappy this series would become...

As the previous poster stated, what makes Michael so awesome is that he is so NORMAL - and it's just the evil inside himself that makes him go so terribly wrong.

[Maidpool w/ Cleaning Action]

Apr 8, 2008 13:00:11 GMT -5 Lick Ness Monster said:

Apr 8, 2008 12:58:25 GMT -5 Maidpool w/ Cleaning Action said:

I will agree with that.

While, once again I completely disagree with the Halloween remake being "god-awful" as I thought it was good, I do agree that the mom and dad in the first 15 minutes didn't need to be such a rednecky sterotype.

I respect you and your opinion on the "Halloween" remake - but if that's really how they portray Michael's parents, I really have no interest in seeing it.

As the previous poster stated, what makes Michael so awesome is that he is so NORMAL - and it's just the evil inside himself that makes him go so terribly wrong.

It is, and it's the one thing I didn't like. But since it makes up such a small part of the movie and it's right off that bat it didn't ruin the whole movie for me.

I'll admit, I just loved how bad ass grown Michael was.

Well, you could just fast foward past the first 15-20 minutes and just watch Michael kill like crazy.
Also, the movie does show that there was something wrong with him even before his parents acted like that cause he was doing weird crap.

But I get what you're saying, and I do actually agree that the Michael as a kid scenes tried to over explain.

[Big DSR Energy]

Not even that Michael was normal (well, you're referring to his upbringing, but I wanted to make this point anyway)...he was just a blank canvas of evil, that, without any real motive, committed terrible acts. Because of how "blank" he is, his mask showing no emotion whatsoever, we as the audience are allowed to project our own fears upon him.

[hollywood]

Apr 8, 2008 13:37:06 GMT -5 Big DSR Energy said:

Not even that Michael was normal (well, you're referring to his upbringing, but I wanted to make this point anyway)...he was just a blank canvas of evil, that, without any real motive, committed terrible acts. Because of how "blank" he is, his mask showing no emotion whatsoever, we as the audience are allowed to project our own fears upon him.

The implication in the first film, Carpenter's film, was that before he killed his sister, Michael was completely normal. Granted, we've only seen him from that moment on, when he was either completely devoid of any emotion and on a maniacal killing spree, but we were led to believe from the start that prior to that fateful Halloween night Michael was a normal 5-year-old.

And THAT'S why he was scary. That was Carpenter's point all along. Prior to Halloween, most films showed evil dwelling in inner cities and such. The cesspools of society. But in Halloween, Carpenter said that evil could be anywhere. Even in the small, "normal" rural towns throughout America. Even in what should be an otherwise innocent child.

As for Zombie's version of a full-grown Michael being badass, let's just get one thing straight.... Carptenter's Myers would kick the ever-loving @#$% out of Zombie's Myers.

EDIT: I actualy watched Zombie's remake in theaters the last week it was there. And I gave his credit a well-deserved middle finger before leaving.

[Bullhead]

I'm glad people hate Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween. It makes me like it even more.