Spooktober II Review #24 - Halloween

Halloween (1978)
John Carpenter

"Death has come to your little town, Sheriff."

The most on-the-nose named horror movie in history came out 39 years ago this week, and forever changed how modern filmmakers approach horror.

This wasn't Carpenter's first major film (he made the fantastic Escape from Precinct 13 the year before), but it shows how sophisticated and brilliant he was from very early on in his career. Halloween is a great example of why a big budget or fancy special effects is hardly necessary to have some very effective horror.

Carpenter has a knack for building tension without needing a lot of action or gore. There are very few straight-up murder scenes in Halloween, and they're fairly understated. The clever or over-the-top kills and gore effects would come later in the slasher genre, with movies like Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday the 13th. Halloween kept it simple and deliberate. Everything from the cinematography to the soundtrack (which Carpenter composed himself) has an eerie, almost dreamy quality to it. There's nothing flashy here, but that's a good thing.

Halloween is the story of a sociopath who was institutionalized at the age of 6 for murdering his teenage sister with a butcher knife. 15 years later, he escapes from the mental hospital, and begins hunting teenagers in his old hometown. That's pretty much it: no supernatural nonsense, or ancient curses. Just a crazy guy in a $2 William Shatner mask who kills people with a silent workmanlike dispassion.

Michael Meyers' silence was pretty unique in horror. Besides Jason from Friday the 13th, which was closely modeled after the original Halloween, Michael Meyers is the only classic slasher villain who would never talk. That helps the character transcend motivation and become wholly unpredictable for the audience. He's more of an uncontrollable force than a traditional bad guy. There's no mystery to solve or hoops to jump through to stop him. The teens just have to try and survive.


When we watched Halloween the other night, Emily's younger sister was over hanging out. It was fun to watch it with someone who's never seen it before point out all of the slasher horror tropes that seem hackneyed and well-worn by now. Why wouldn't you keep stabbing the bad guy after he is lying on the ground motionless? Why would you stop and catch your breath after knocking him down a second time? They're the moments in all slasher plots where we slap our foreheads and groan audibly, but those tropes stem from Halloween. An entire decade of horror movies were just aping this movie, right down to its bad habits. It's why Scream works so well as something self-referential and critical of the genre.

But it is still delightfully cheesy in Halloween regardless. While the whole thing is played straight and serious, there's an undeniable charm to seeing palm trees in the background (the movie is set in Illinois on Halloween), seeing the shadow of the cameraman on a long steadicam shot, or the goofy acting from the bit players. They're necessary parts of any good B-movie, even ones that turn schlock into art.

And art it is! Take a look at this 5 minute sequence, and just appreciate the camerawork, the music, and how Carpenter builds tension:

The shot of Michael Meyers in the laundry is particularly creepy, and always stuck with me. 

Carpenter doesn't hide his killer in the shadows or wait until some big moment to reveal him, he's out in the daylight, looking creepy and evil from the start. We know it's just a matter of time before he makes his move, and that's where Carpenter builds the fear. By keeping the movie deliberate and slow, when Michael Meyers finally attacks, it feels so sudden and frightening.

Jamie Lee Curtis (in her first role) plays Laurie Stroud, the best innocent teenager in any slasher movie. She's a good kid, a great student, and a conservative dresser. She's also strong and independent, being the only one of her friends to survive Michael Meyers' attacks, while also helping two little kids at the same time. Laurie is like the platonic ideal of a heroine in a slasher movie, and has been the inspiration for characters in countless horror films.

I also love Donald Pleasance as the psychiatrist Dr. Loomis, who's been treating Michael Meyers for the past 15 years. From the start he refers to Michael as "it" and freely talks about how evil he is to anyone who will listen. He also carries a gun while in pursuit of a client, and tells the sheriff not to put out a public warning about a murderous psychopath on the loose, because he wants to be sure he can kill Michael. Not really the most ethical behavior from a medical professional, but it adds to the charm.

It's too bad that the rest of the series is so bad. The second film falls into formulaic territory quickly, and everything after #3 devolves into the sort of things that the first movie so ably avoided (evil curses and other supernatural flimshaw). They range between boring and just plain forgettable.

But there is the insane glory of the third one...but we'll get to that tomorrow.

Summary:

If you haven't seen Halloween by now, why are you doing reading a bunch of horror reviews? It's a seminal work that defined slasher horror for more than a generation. You should absolutely see it, and watch it again with a more critical eye if you haven't seen it in a while.