Halloween (1978)

Film: Halloween (1978)

Stars: Donald Pleasance, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nick Castle, PJ Soles, Nancy Kyes, Kyle Richards, Brian Andrews

Director: John Carpenter

Oscar History: No nominations

Snap Judgment Ranking: 5/5 stars

All October long, The Many Rantings of John is running a marathon dedicated to the Horror classics of the 1960's-90's that I'm seeing for the first time this month.  If you want to take a look at past titles from previous horror marathons (both this and other seasons) check out the links at the bottom of this article.

I will be honest here-the goal of this marathon is to watch movies that I've never seen before.  And with 14 of the titles, I can say with absolute confidence I haven't seen them before.  Halloween, on the other hand, I'm not sure.  I am not one of those people who have religiously been marking my Leonard Maltin guide since I was a kid (I should've, but I didn't), and my notes are incomplete-some indicating I have seen this at some point (my mom thought she showed it to me), but I have no memory of actually seeing it fully (likely just seeing a chunk of it on TBS in October).  Of course, we'd all be forgiven for not realizing we've seen John Carpenter's signature horror classic.  Made in 1978 for mere peanuts by an independent studio, Halloween would go on to spawn not just a franchise, but would become the most important horror film of its generation, and most of it is now as ingrained into our pop culture as Star Wars or Jaws.  Pretty much all of the movies we're going to profile for the remainder of this marathon are somewhere in its shadow, Halloween becoming the most important horror film since The Exorcist, perhaps even Psycho.  That Halloween would feature Jamie Lee Curtis in her breakout role, who of course is the daughter of Psycho star Janet Leigh, proves that Hollywood loves nothing more than a twist (and a little nepotism).

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie takes place on two separate Halloweens, with Michael Myers (as an adult, played by Castle) stabbing his teenage older sister Judy to death after she has sex with her boyfriend.  15 years later, Myers has escaped from a mental institution, and seems intent on going back to his childhood home, potentially to cause more murder & chaos.  He is pursued to that house by Dr. Sam Loomis (Pleasance), who understands that Myers is more than just a bad guy-he's evil incarnate.  Mike Myers slowly starts to kill a trio of friends, one of which is Laurie Strode (Curtis), who is babysitting two kids named Tommy (Andrews) and Lindsey (Richards, and yes it's the Kyle Richards of Real Housewives fame).  Laurie outsmarts Myers, but in true horror movie fashion he clearly is going to make it to live another day, running away from Laurie & Dr. Loomis in the end of the movie, the film ending with his heavy breathing near all of the scenes of his crimes earlier in the evening.

Halloween is fascinating in part because of the tropes that it launched.  It was not, as we've already shown this month, the first "slasher" movie-Psycho, of course, had a serial killer of that nature, and movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Black Christmas both contained elements of what would become signatures of the slasher genre.  But Halloween really brought it to another level, giving us one of the quintessential "final girls" with Laurie Strode, and introducing many of the "rules" of the genre (particularly its complicated attitudes toward sex & virginity & how killers will punish those who don't take these concepts seriously) that would dominate it for the next twenty years.  While it wasn't the first, it's impossible to imagine Jason, Freddy, Chucky, & Ghostface in the decades to come without Michael Myers.

The movie itself is really strong, and ages beautifully.  It is still genuinely terrifying, building its scares not just through graphic violence (that would've been impossible a decade previously), but through genuine tension.  The movie isn't afraid to stretch some of the tension-it's not just about killing some of the teenagers, but instead about faking out the audience-making us try to understand who will live or not.  It's brief (under 100 minutes long), and there's literally no fat on the movie.  The technical aspects are sharp, with solid cinematography, editing, & in particular an iconic score that sends chills down your spine.  Independent cinema still had something of a bad rap at this point in terms of "quality" being the exception to the rule, but look at scenes like the one where the nurse is attacked in the car, and the terrifying way we film the unknown before we understand what's going on-that happens a lot in the movie, and it helps make it feel like it's not working on a dime store budget.

And Curtis, well, is great.  I'm curious as we move into other classics of the genre where we end up in terms of "best acting," but it's clear that Curtis understands that she needs to bring more to Laurie than the script is asking.  I love the way that she genuinely enjoys babysitting (she's not a "good girl" because she's not pretty, but because it's just how she's wired), or the little touches of trying to understand why she's friends with girls so different from her.  She is forging a lot of what would eventually become cliches for a reason-her Laurie is a fighter, and someone who doesn't know her own strength.  Add in Donald Pleasance as an obviously scarred psychiatrist who knows more than he's let on (and perhaps feels some relief that the world understands the monstrosity that he's lived with for so many years), and you've got an A+ horror masterpiece.

Past Horror Month Reviews (Listed Chronologically): The Golem, The Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, Frankenstein, Freaks, The Mummy, The Old Dark House, The Invisible Man, The Black Cat, The Bride of Frankenstein, Mad Love, The Raven, Werewolf of London, Dracula's Daughter, Son of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man Returns, The Mummy's Hand, The Invisible Woman, The Wolf Man, Cat People, The Ghost of Frankenstein, Invisible Agent, The Mummy's Curse, The Mummy's Tomb, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, Phantom of the Opera, Son of Dracula, The House of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man's Revenge, The Mummy's Ghost, The Uninvited, House of Dracula, She-Wolf of London, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, It Came from Outer Space, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Abbott & Costello Meet the Mummy, Revenge of the Creature, The Creature Walks Among Us, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Attack of the 50-Foot Woman, The Blob, Village of the Damned, The Innocents, The Masque of the Red Death, Night of the Living Dead, The Wicker Man, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Carrie