What finer way to end Halloween night than with a review of the 1978 John Carpenter classic, Halloween. Though it wasn't responsible for quite all the rules of the standard slasher, it did set into motion numerous rip-offs and imitations, one of which especially went on to be successful and even went on to gross more money as a franchise than Halloween. This is however probably the best of the "standard" slasher films and is a perfect addition to Cinema of the Fantastic, even if it's within the bounds of reality.
Halloween starts off in amazing fashion. Piano music with a flaimng Jack-O-Lantern. It actually is one of the most effective moments of the film for me. The first scene of Micheal Myers killing his sister works too. My favourite scene involves the display of free range mental patients in the sanitarium courtyard, followed by Micheal Myers escape. The film revolves around Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) who, along with her friends is stalked by a psychopath who murdered his sister fifteen years ago. The story follows the usual slasher course yet is much lighter than what we're used to in regards to cliches.
We already know too much about the familiar story. What seperates Halloween is that Myers seems to go after babysitters. Halloween is consistently ranked above it's slasher counterparts and for many reasons, a good one being: It's a slasher film you never sigh with. It has several intense and effective moments. It doesn't allow too many false alarms either, and the few there are take place early on. The Myers family home fits in nicely as a creepy abandoned house.
Halloween spawned seven sequels and a remake with has to date spawned one sequel (A third is planned in 3D) but none have come close to matching Halloween's sheer intensity. Halloween 3 would have nothing to do with Myers at all. But that's another story. Watch this one, but avoid the sequels at all cost. FIVE STARS OUT OF FIVE.
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