Although I’m keener on reviewing family movies and PG-13 films, that doesn’t mean reviewing R-rated movies is something I can’t do from time to time. With the Halloween season around the corner, it only makes sense to review a horror classic titled….well Halloween. Released in 1978 and directed by John Carpenter, this movie left an impact on many moviegoers and has become a favorite around the Halloween season. Let’s see if this movie can still hold its title as one of the great horror movies of all time.
In 1963, a young Micheal Myers kills off his 15-year-old sister and is caught in the act by the police. 15 years pass and the story of Micheal Myers (Tony Moran) has become a legend in the small town of Haddonfield Illinois. Myers however has escaped his institution and is being hunted down by police and his doctor Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence). The whole neighborhood is in trouble because a psychotic killer is now on the lose as he targets several subjects including a teenage girl Laurie Stroude (Jamie Lee Curtis) who gets herself into more trouble than she bargained for.
This film has all the classic elements that make up early horror movies. you’ve got the simplified main characters, the out-of-control killer that seems indestructible, and of course, multiple set-ups for characters to be killed and or tortured. The plot is very simple and not very complex which is surprising for an R-rated horror movie. Even when the movie decides to give back story for our main killer Micheal Myers, it's rather short and most of his backstory is kept short dialogue-wise which makes the movie more of a mystery and leaves the audience to make their own conclusions for the characters they follow. Speaking of which, the characters, much like the story are played very simple and the main conflict for most of them is trying to avoid being killed by Micheal. While I don’t find them particularly complex and interesting, they put on enough of a performance to convince the audience so they can root for them to make it out alive.
This movie was made on a small budget so it didn’t have the money to make things as flashy as something like A New Hope which came out a year before Halloween. Its very impressive what they were able to get away with despite little money, but some things could have been made just a little better. For a movie titled Halloween, there really isn’t that much Halloween scenery that plagues the visuals of the movie. The setting almost feels like summer instead of fall. I get that it’s a horror movie so the movie shouldn’t have cutesy Halloween decorations, but the movie is called Halloween so I would much rather expect to see some colored leaves falling from the trees and some decorations covering the houses in the neighborhood. However, one thing I will give credit to this movie is the creative uses of how Micheal kills his subjects and how they make his appearance feel menacing. I do like how for the majority of the movie, we barely see Micheal in the light as he is always kept in the shadows which makes his appearances even more daunting.
I don’t think the music needs any introduction. It’s as iconic as you can possibly get especially when it comes to the main theme for when Micheal is around and being creepy. Surprisingly enough, the director of Halloween himself John Carpenter scored most of the music himself by using the piano to create Erie and spooky vibes. Having the director being the main composer for the music never really happens, the best guess I could have for why that’s the case is possibly due to the very low budget they had which means they probably couldn’t afford a professional composer. It’s actually quite refreshing to see a director put his other talents to good use that don’t include directing the movie and thankfully for him it pays off big time.
I’m not gonna act like Halloween is a masterpiece, but it still is a horror classic that in some ways inspired many horror movies that would come afterward. It succeeds in being a simple yet effective scary story that has a good premise and main characters that are easy to understand and care about. Horror movies have come a long way in how they can scare an audience and this movie has certainly has earned its stripes in being up there as one of the most iconic horror movies ever made.
(Final Grade: B)