Halloween1978

Halloween (1978)

So it does seem kind of silly for me to be reviewing such a classic movie like Halloween. I mean anyone that takes the time to check out a site like Gutmunchers.com should already have seen this movie. Seriously now if you haven’t seen Halloween stop reading my review, get off the Internet and go watch the damn movie. For the rest of you guys keep I suppose you can keep reading and find out exactly why I love this true classic of the genre.

The plot to Halloween is very simple and brilliant. The movie opens up with a young boy named Michael who for no apparent reason decides one Halloween night to kill his sister with a knife from the kitchen. 15 years later the now grown up Michael escapes from a mental hospital on Halloween and heads back home to Haddonfield where he finds Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her friends. That night while they are babysitting and having a good time Michael picks them off one at a time. Luckily for Laurie Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) has been tracking his escaped patient and arrives just in time to stop him from finishing her off.

Again is just seemed silly of me to put together a plot synopsis for a movie that I’m sure all of us here have watched. As I’ve already stated this is a very simple story, but to me that is why it works so damn well. One of my favorite things about Halloween is that it never tries to explain why. Why is Michael Myers the way he is? Why did he kill his sister? Why Laurie and her friends? None of this really matters to the story or the character. Myers is the boogeyman and he kills because he can. To me that makes him a much scarier character because it seems so senseless and random. Myers is just an evil son of a bitch and that is all that matters. Honestly I think that this is why the many sequels and re-imaginings of the movie have failed. They try and explain too much, which ruins the character.

In addition to having such a great story Halloween also boasts an impressive cast. Though other than Donald Pleasence the movie lacked any real stars it did have some familiar faces in it. P.J. Soles already had a couple of roles in her resume by the time she did Halloween, and is excellent as Lynda (who next to Pleasence’s Loomis character has the best lines in the movie). Nancy Loomis was already a veteran of another Carpenter film (Assault on Precinct 13) and again is really good in her role as well. I suppose the only big chance that they took in casting was giving Jamie Lee Curtis the lead role, but we know how well that worked out. Curtis gets a lot of screen time in the role of Laurie Strode and she makes the most of it. She is so convincing in the role that it launched her on the path towards being a scream queen (Prom Night, Terror Train, The Fog, Halloween II) for the next few years.

For this review I watched the Blu-Ray from Anchor Bay. Included with the movie is a documentary called Halloween a Cut Above the Rest. This almost 90 minute long documentary does a wonderful job tracking how the original Halloween project came to be. Goes thru the entire production and the challenges that were overcome in getting the movie finished. It also does a nice job showing how hard the producers had to work to get the movie seen by an audience, as no major studio wanted anything to do with it. Along the way we are treated to interviews with director John Carpenter, stars Jamie Lee Curtis, P.J. Soles, and Charles Cyphers. The late Moustapha Akkad (executive producer), as well as the late Debra Hill (producer/writer) also is in the documentary sharing their memories of the franchise. This is a great documentary and is worth the price of the disc alone if you are a Halloween fan. If you get the Blu-Ray I highly recommend that you take the time to watch Halloween a Cut Above the Rest.

What can I say about Halloween? This is a true classic of the genre and always manages to put a smile on my face regardless of how many times I’ve seen it. If you haven’t seen this movie you really must go out and do so right now! Also if you are debating on whether you should pick up the Blu-Ray I have to say yes. I’ve never been happy with how the movie looks on DVD, but this Blu-Ray is gorgeous. Every fan of horror must own this movie in some form (VHS, Laser Disc, DVD, Blu-Ray, or even Beta!).

4 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer