Halloween
(1978) 91 Min.
Rated: R (gore, nudity, sex)
Country: USA
Director: John Carpenter
Starring: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nick Castle, Nancy Kyes, P.J. Soles
Links: IMDB | Wikipedia
Rating: ★★★★★
An escaped mental patient murders teens and stalks Laurie Strode while being pursued by his psychiatrist on Halloween night.
Synopsis:
On Halloween night of 1963 in Haddonfield, Illinois, a young boy takes a kitchen knife, puts his clown mask on and stabs his older sister to death. He walks outside the house to be found by his parents while holding the bloody knife. His name is Michael Myers (Castle).
It is now October 30th, 1978. Michael’s child psychiatrist, Dr. Sam Loomis (Pleasence), and a colleague, Marion Chambers are driving to Warren County Smith’s Grove Sanitarium where Michael is held. As they pull up to the Sanitarium they notice patients walking around in the rain at night. Loomis exits the car to check the gate, but Michael climbs onto the car and attacks Chambers. She leaves the car and Michael gets inside and drives off into the night.
The next day in Haddonfield.
Laurie Strode (Curtis) is told by her realtor father to drop a house key off at the Myer’s house. As she drops off the key, Michael Myers watches her from a distance menacingly. He’s wearing a mechanics uniform and a white mask. Laurie seems to notice him, but her friends Annie (Kyes) and Lynda (Soles) don’t see him or think nothing of it.
Loomis, meanwhile, is trying to retrace Michael’s steps in order to hunt him down. Loomis does not see Michael as a person, rather as a being of evil personified. Loomis finds Michael’s Sanitarium clothes tossed by a truck on the road to Haddonfield.
Laurie goes home and while in her upstairs room glances outside to see Michael’s figure standing out by the laundry. As soon as she looks again he vanishes. She gets a phone call from her friend Annie who plans to give her a ride to their babysitting jobs for that evening which are across the street from one another.
Loomis finds that Judith Myers headstone is missing from her grave. He goes into Haddonfield to talk to Sheriff Brackett. The pair visit Michael Myers’ childhood home. They find a dead dog, which Loomis believes Michael fed on. The Sheriff decides to warn his men to keep their eyes open and Loomis decides to stay at the house waiting to see if Michael returns.
Night falls and Annie and Laurie are across the street from one another. Michael turns his attention to the house where Annie is. Annie is babysitting a girl named Lindsey. While talking to Laurie on the phone she notices the family’s German Shepard,Lester, won’t stop barking.
Laurie, meanwhile, is watching a boy named Tommy and he tells Laurie that he sees the boogeyman outside. Laurie dismisses the boy.
Lester goes outside and gets killed by Michael. Annie, meanwhile, spills popcorn butter on her clothes and goes outside to wash them in a small shed outside that holds the washer and dryer. She gets locked inside but then rescued by Lindsey. Annie’s boyfriend Paul calls and asks her to give him a ride in her car. She leaves Lindsey with Laurie and Tommy.
Annie gets into her car and Michael Myers is hiding in the back seat. He strangles her at first and then cuts her throat, killing her.
Lynda and her boyfriend Bob arrive on the scene and they look for Annie, but Laurie informs them that she’s gone. The pair decide to have sex in the master bedroom of the house. Lynda asks Bob to get a beer. While he’s in the kitchen, Michael Myers appears and shoves him against some cabinets, then drives a knife through him. Michael goes upstairs and wears a bedsheet over his body and wears Bob’s glasses. Lynda mistakes him for Bob and is about to call Laurie, when Michael strangles her with the telephone cord. Laurie at first thinks it’s a joke, but grows worried. She calls the house again but gets no response.
Loomis is waiting outside the Myer house when he sees a car in the distance. He discovers the institutes car that Michael used.
Laurie goes over to the house searching for Annie, Bob and Lynda but doesn’t find them. She goes to the bedroom and finds the Judith Myers headstone on the bed with Annie’s body. In a closet door Bob’s lifeless body swings out and Lynda’s body is stuffed into another closet. Horrified, Laurie slowly backs out, but Michael tries to stab her and misses. She falls down some stairs and runs out of the house with Michael in a slow but determined pursuit.
Laurie attempts to ask a neighbor for help but they ignore her screams. She bangs on the door at Tommy’s house and wakes up and lets her inside. She tells him to go to bed as she notices a window is broken and the phone doesn’t work. She grabs a knitting needle from her bag and waits. Michael stabs at her, missing and she stabs him in the neck with her needle. He goes down and she runs upstairs.
She warns Tommy and Lindsey to hide and lock the door. Michael approaches again and Laurie hides in a closet. He breaks through the door, but Laurie stabs him in the eye with a wire hanger piece. He falls down again. She tells the children to run out and get help.
As Tommy and Lindsey run out screaming, Loomis notices them and approaches the house. Loomis races upstairs to find Michael choking Laurie. Laurie pulls up Michael’s mask, which causes him to stumble so he can put his mask back on. At this moment, Loomis pulls out his gun and shoots Michael six times causing him to fall off a balcony. He lands on the ground, but when Loomis looks down Michael is gone. Loomis stares off into the night as Laurie sobs, traumatized.
Review:
This film is fairly influential in the horror genre and it’s interesting to note how much time in this film is devoted to character background and set up. It’s almost a slow burn as we see Michael stalk Laurie and then watch Loomis follow after Michael.
The first on screen murder doesn’t happen until about fifty-three minutes into the story. There’s a lot of tension building with scenes of Michael lingering in the background. He really is an entity here more than a person.
The acting in this film is fairly good for a horror film and most of the credit can be given to Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence. Pleasence is, of course, a seasoned actor and he plays Loomis very distraught and concerned. Curtis, meanwhile, is the newcomer and it’s no surprise that she was so good she transcended beyond a mere “Scream Queen”. Her Laurie is believable and identifiable. She’s a good girl and shy but she isn’t so innocent that she won’t smoke weed with her friends.
The music in this film is very memorable and unmistakable. John Carpenter’s score here is just enough to be unsettling when the mood calls for it.
There are a few minor inconsistencies in the film. Things like the weather changes from one scene to the next as well as the walking portions in the early part of the film that could’ve easily been trimmed down to be tighter. To be fair, I think that this film will probably seem tame when compared to other films, but it still seems to get a creepy tone right and that can be difficult to do.
This is definitely a must-watch for anyone who is a fan of horror films. It helped pave the way for modern horror and had many imitators.