"Halloween" *** 1\2 (out of ****)
WARNING: THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS THROUGHOUT!
The first ten minutes of John Carpenter's "Halloween" are an adrenaline rush. A roller-coaster of freight. Within the first six minutes of the film a young boy named Michael Myers, kills his babysitter. The film then jumps ahead 15 years where Myers escapes from an institution.
If you are not on the edge of your seat during these scenes, I'd seriously consider checking your pulse.But Carpenter doesn't keep this pace throughout the film. After these two sequences Carpenter begin to slowly build anticipation. The film works its way to a chilling showdown climax. Carpenter doesn't do much new, but what he does, he does right. The film has typical horror cliches. The viewer sees things in the background the characters do not, the music which heightens at scary scenes and such. We know the devices.
Donald Pleasence stars as Dr. Sam Loomis. He was Michael Myers' psychiatrist for 15 years. In the scene leading up to Michael's escape, Loomis is driving to the institution with a nurse who will serve as a guard. He refers to Michael as it. Not him or Michael but it. When Michael does escape the doctor says evil escaped. Loomis returns to Michael's hometown in Illinois, where he is sure Michael is headed. But why? Who is Michael after?
Michael seems to be stalking Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). He stands behind her, ahead of her and drives past her in a car. Sometimes she feels he presence, other times she actually shes him. Carpenter is also smart about this. The viewer only sees Michael's back. We never see his face in the beginning of the movie. I timed it and it is only after 23 minutes do we see Michael's entire body, it is in an extreme long shot. His face is not really visible. It is only at 53 minutes we see his face up close. This was something Steven Spielberg did famously in "Jaws". Everyone talks about the villain. We know he exist. We see glimpses of him. This creates suspense. When will the people in the movie see him? When will Myers attack?
For a horror film, the movie is not big on bloody scenes. Before Michael attacks again, 53 minutes go by. Carpenter doesn't really seem interested in the actually killing scenes it is suspense he seems to excel at. That is really what makes "Halloween" one of the all time great horror films.
Just how scary is the film? I don't find it to be very scary. Did it get my heart beating a little faster? Yes. Did I fall asleep that night without any nightmares? You bet! But the film works within the moment. As you watch the film you are involved. It is an excellent genre film.
Several sequels of course followed this film. I have not seen all of them. I have seen the more recent ones. None of them seemed to have been able to match this one. I wasn't around in 1978 when "Halloween" was released. But it seems to have been a small budget independent film. That explains a lot. Carpenter doesn't waste time getting into his story. Some people might wonder what triggered the first murder? How did this boy become evil? The film never explains that. Dr. Loomis says, after 8 years of treatment he realized there was no cure for Michael. So he spent the next 7 years trying to keep him in the institution. To be honest, I don't think Carpenter has the answers to these questions. Carpenter needed an incident to happen to push the movie forward. Someone had to die. Carpenter doesn't give us a big explanation why Michael is evil. He just is. We don't need to know more. Because the film was made on small budget I think that is what caused it. With a limited amount of money Carpenter couldn't waste time explaining things. We just need to get to the heart of the story. And it works.
Lots of people have seen "Halloween" by now. It was a smash hit in 1978. Roger Ebert called it one of the ten best films of the year and declared it was as frightening as Hitchcock's "Psycho". And drew the comparison between Jamie Lee Curtis appearing in this film and her mother Janet Leigh appearing in Hitchcock's film. But all the attention the film has gotten is well deserved. "Halloween" is a horror classic.
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