Film of the Week: 9

Halloween (1978)

As a kid, growing up in Mississauga (a suburb of Toronto), I absolutely loved Halloween (aka All Hallows’ Evening). Seeing the Neighbourhood all decorated in the most ghastly of things possible, listening to the great ghost stories, carving pumpkins, going to a "haunted house", The Simpson's Halloween special, playing pranks (or being the subject of a prank) and of course trick or treating.

After hours of running around the neighbourhood with your friends or parents, we'd then run home, check the candy and eat as much in one night as possible and watch horror movies! As a kid, there were plenty of films that scared the living crap out of me such as A Nightmare on Elm Street, which gave me some major nightmares and The Exorcist which just plain freaked me the hell out!

Now a days, as a 25 year old, I still love Halloween, although living in London may not be as cool as Canada for Halloween. However I still managed to carve a pumpkin with my friends, go to an awesome house party and dress up as a zombie and of course watch some cool horror movies with my girlfriend.

We watch all kinds of horror films from great little horror films such as My Bloody Valentine, Intruder, Maniac Cop 2 and Splinter (one of my favourite horror films of recent years). But no film in history can bet the great Halloween for October 31st, John Carpenter's horror masterpiece.

Donald Pleasance as Dr. Samuel Loomis

Originally Carpenter wanted Peter Cushing to play the character of Samuel Loomis (named after John Gavin's character Sam Loomis from Psycho). Cushing however refused as he had just stared in the biggest film of all time, Star Wars (1977) and didn't want to be in a low-budget horror film. So he went with his second choice Donald Pleasance, and together with producer Debra Hill created the godfather of slasher films. It was slightly inspired by a small Canadian horror film titled Black Christmas which bared the same staking camera moves.

Halloween was released on October 25th 1978 (two years after Carpenter's awesome cult classic Assault on Precinct 13), giving enough time for everyone to see the film for Halloween. The film was made for a mere $320,000 (which was $220,000 more than Assault's budget).

It was so low-budget that the stars themselves helped with the set and in fact it is producer Debra Hill's hand in the camera holding the knife as Michael Myers stalks his prey. The famous mask itself was believe it or not a Captain Kirk mask bought for $2 and sprayed pure white. This gave the killer's face a pure evil look, with a cold face that as if it bared no soul.

Halloween upon release was a killer! It excited people of all ages and made a tone of money (more than anyone expected) and critics loved it. Roger Ebert loved it so much he compared the film with the great Psycho and placed it on his list of top 10 films of 1978 and I completely agree with him.

The story begins in 1963 where a young Michael Myers kills and stabs his sister to death in his house on Halloween night and is sent to a Sanitarium under the care of Dr. Samuel Loomis. Dr. Loomis spends 8 years trying to reach the troubled boy who is now in a state of Catatonia but then spends the next 7 years making sure he stays locked up. As Dr. Loomis said, "I realized that what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply evil."

 

But, as you guessed it, Myers finally escapes after years of planing and now is back in his town on a killing rampage and stalking our main girl Laurie Strode played by Jamie Lee Curtis. Of course come Halloween night, all hell breaks lose and the psychotic killer begins his reign. You will never hear Myers speak yet you hear his terribly chilling breath through the mask, even his movements are of those of a monster.

The reason why it is such a terrifying film is because it is so realistic. It is set in a normal neighbourhood (set in Chicago, Illinois yet filmed in California), and focuses on a baby sister (Strode) and even as we watch the children watch The Thing on TV, we are terrified of what could happen next. We are also in the hands of master maneuvering camera work by Carpenter who really knows how to inflict fear in every scene and angle and who knows how to pase his work perfectly. But most of all, he knows how to make the perfect theme music for a film such as this.

The Halloween theme music is a work of genius and just by hearing the music, we get chills down our spines and we know that death is coming. Unlike the extremely over-rated Friday 13th (an obvious rip-off off the success of Halloween) franchise with fake student like characters, set in a camp no one should be in anyways. Not to mention all the slasher films that were released in the 1980s due to the success  of the film.

Halloween also ended up spawning 6 sequels, a remake and a sequel remake, none of which are really worth your time but I'd much rather watch the sequels than the remakes. As John Carpenter himself said, "...what got me through writing that (Halloween II) script was... Budweiser. Six pack of beer a night, sitting in front of the typewriter saying, "What in the hell can I put down?" I had no idea. We're remaking the same film, only not as good."

In the end, Halloween became one of the most influential horror films of our time with one of the most famous villains of all time. It will forever remain the ultimate slasher film and will always thrive movie goers. Nosferatu may be a symphony of horror but Halloween is a symphony of a slasher film (even before the slasher film became a genre).

Click here for the trailer