ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Jared_Andrews That mask. Wow, is that mask scary. The same can be said about the music. Even 40 years later it completely holds up in every way-it's iconic, it sounds great, it's scary and it's instantly recognizable. Amazingly, John Carpenter wrote and performed the music despite claiming that he cannot write a single note. Before we see any part of the movie, we hear the music. Instantly, we feel unsettled. Then, watching through first-person stalker cam perspective and through the eyes of a Halloween mask, we observe a young boy peep on his sister then murder her. Fast forward 15 years and this young boy, Michael Myers, has grown into a man while living in a mental hospital, never once speaking a word. As if summoned by some evil power, he breaks out and travels to his home town of Haddonfield on Halloween. After breaking out and encountering people in the outside world, Michael still never says a word. It's another inspired filmmaking choice. Hearing his voice would humanize him in some way, instead all we hear is his heavy breathing. Why Michael returned to his hometown is unclear, as is everything about Michael. That's brilliance of this movie-we never find out why Michael killed his sister, we never find out why he escaped the hospital and we never find out why he continues to kill. We don't need to learn his reasons. No motive is scarier. Also scary, he's human. He's not some monster with superpowers (if you ignore the sequels, like you should), he's just a severely disturbed person. Think about that. That means this story is something that could actually happen in any American small town. His victims were seemingly random, so they could be anyone. No one is safe. Although, as I just mentioned, his killings are random, he does seem to take issue with people having sex. This started the now famous horror trope that characters who have sex are as good as dead. This movie also popularizes the horror staple of victims who consistently make dumb decisions. Stop dropping the knife! Stop assuming he's dead! It's maddening. Another aspect of the movie that stood out to me is its surprising lack of violence. There's virtually no blood or gore. Michael mostly strangles his victims. He uses his knife too, of course, but the killings aren't terribly graphic. It's refreshing change of pace from the excessive violence in modern slashers.While Michael may seem invincible since he survives two stabbings and multiple gun shot wounds, he is not flawless. Upon my latest re-watch, I noticed how much he struggles with walking. Michael Myers is a hall of fame level killer, but he's a below average walker.This likely a deliberate choice by director John Carpenter. Not only does Michael's slow walk build suspense, it also lends itself perfectly to the first-person camera shots. The patient, measured movements give him an eerie feel. He's lurking. We see his lurking figure in many forms, each equally brilliant in its execution. Sometimes we see his outline as a shadow. Sometimes we see him ease into the corner of the frame behind a victim. Other times we see a distant shot of a house of character, then Michael partially steps in frame near the camera. Carpenter expertly mixes foreground and background in his shots to make Michael just far enough away that the characters don't see him but the audience does.The movie builds and builds and builds. It's definitely scary from the opening scene, but it grows continuously scarier as we see the extent of Michael's killing spree. All the while, jump scares are sparsely used and are never fake. What I mean by that is when the music jars viewers, it's because Michael appears. The music never blares for fake scares, like when a cat runs across screen or a friend knocks on a door, which is annoying trend in recent horror films. The only scary part of this film is Michael. Fortunately, he's plenty scary to carry the load. 'Halloween' is considered an ageless horror masterpiece. After re-watching it recently, I can clearly see why that is the case.

DerekB Halloween is easily one of the most influential and recognizable horror movies ever made. Even people who are largely unfamiliar with horror genre will likely still be able to identify the horror cliches that Halloween started, much like Friday the 13th and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The iconic soundtrack and (unique for it's time) scene structure blend together to make a creepy and thrilling atmosphere that most movies can't pull off to this day. The story is may seem cliche now, but it's told supremely well, and adds a lot of suspense. I can't really criticize the predictability of the movie because for it's time, it was really unique. What I feel like I can criticize though is the second act of the movie. It just feels like filler, and nothing of consequence happens. I feel like it was there to add suspense, but being bored while watching a horror film isn't good. The acting is also kind of hit or miss, especially with the child actors, but I can look past that for the most part. Any fan of horror should see Halloween, even if it feels a bit dated by today's standards.

vedrapejcic Maybe this was scary in those years, although I do not believe people have evolved so much in intelligence in such a short time .... Im really disapointed in whole movie and i can not belive that this is a so good graded horror movie. Total waste of time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this is a horor if you watch it on lage amounts of LSD or something like that tied up to a sofa with no possibillity of turning the tv off

foxhound-37781 I only wish I could have been born in the early 60's so I could have enjoyed this movie in my teens when it came out in all it's terrifying glory.Michael Myers, a kid who is described by his doctor as having the devils eyes, murders his sister in cold blood on Halloween night. Fifteen years later, he breaks out of the mental asylum he's kept in to go after his sister, Laurie Strode (Jamie-Lee Curtis).The bulk of the movie focuses on Laurie and her two best friends, Annie and Linda. They all share their plans for Halloween night as their walking home in the afternoon. Annie and Linda are planning on spending it with their boyfriends and getting laid, and our bookworm Laurie is stuck babysitting as she seems to every year. The film does a great job in showing what enjoying the spooks of Halloween would have been like back in the 70's, kids watching popcorn and getting scared, dressing up in their cute costumes and stereotypical teenagers getting high and drunk.The bulk of the film is set at night time which helps build its atmosphere and theme terrifically. The setting is great, Haddonfield, Illinois (which was actually filmed in california), with the big traditional style houses and big looming trees over the streets is perfect for a serial killer and the The musical score is the other thing for me that makes this film so amazing. the simple but very intimidating piano themes at the beginning of the main titles and throughout the film gets stuck in your head very easily and it repeats on your mind deliberately as your watching it. It's a perfect mysterious and frightening tone that tells you this is indeed not a movie with a nice subject matter.The movie is literally 40 years old so there's really no point complaining about the quality of acting or the gore effects (if you think there even is any to begin with), but Jamie-lee Curtis in her debut role and Donald Pleasance are very memorable characters who we can't help but appreciate for what they bring to this film.Put simply, Halloween is a classic slasher with all the familiar cliches. characters getting killed off one by one, the killer repeatedly getting up after being downed, freakish musical score, dark and memorable setting, it's a classic in it's own right. This movie does have a remake from 2007 that Rob Zombie decided was a good idea, but he didn't realize that sequels suck. which is precisely why i wont be reviewing the remake. Just can't beat the old classics!