Halloween 35 Anniv Blu-ray A Superb Facelift of a Horror Classic

Rating: 10/10 (3 November 2017)

Overall, the slasher film genre is pretty pathetic, most films so insipid as being worthy of the proverbial trash can. Save one. The original "Halloween", which brought intelligence to the slasher film, is still the best of its sub-genre, or one of two, the other being the original "Psycho". Sadly, its sequels, and other films it spawned, such as the Friday the 13th series and other films associated with holidays like "Silent Night, Deadly Night" don't just scrape the bottom of the barrel, but aren't worthy to be in the same company as barrels. Other films, aside, "Halloween" is both scary but also has a somewhat literary context, as far as a slasher-horror film can muster. It was recently released in a 35th Anniversary edition on Blu-ray, and it looks and sounds better than ever.
First what the Blu-ray offers: the look is cleaner and more vivid while simultaneously retaining the subdued colors and hues of the original. During Halloween day, the sky is overcast which is a spooky prelude to the horrific events which will occur in the evening. Apparently, there had been released a previous Blu-ray version where the colors were brightened, ruining the spooky and even misty feel of the original film. After many complaints from fans, this 35th Anniversary edition essentially solves the problems of the former release. It retains the less saturated filters of the original while simultaneously appearing much cleaner and more vibrant than previous DVD and VHS releases.
What makes "Halloween" such an effective film of a genre replete with so many irredeemable examples unworthy of your time and expense is that there's more to the story than simply a mad guy in Halloween mask running around killing people. Yes, that is more or less the main plot. However, there is a subtext. An effective plot device which becomes the springboard of the story is that the baddie, Michael Myers, murdered his sister in a suburban home in Haddonfield, Illinois in the early 1960's which is the first sequence of the film. The story then jumps ahead to 1978. The night before Halloween, Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance) and a nurse are traveling on a rainy night to an insane asylum. The inmates are wandering around the grounds in the rain. They realize something has let them out, and suddenly their car is hijacked, the nurse nearly becoming the first victim of the baddie in 1978. It's most certainly Michael Myers, the "Evil".
Loomis suspects Myers plans to return to the town of his boyhood. Part of the story is Loomis following Myers' footsteps. Loomis travels to the suburban town Haddonfield, a good 150 miles away from the asylum. For a boy who has been locked up for 15 years, he seems to drive a car fairly well, which gives a somewhat supernatural aspect to the Myers character. Then we meet Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) who has to leave some keys at the abandoned Myers residence, which has become the local haunted house. A figure stares from inside the house when Laurie makes her deposit of the keys. For the next several hours, Laurie sees the strange figure of Myers off and on which is one of the most effective aspects of the film. In other words, there is great build-up before the horrific events actually transpire. Laurie and her teenage friends, Annie and Lynda, become the focus of Myers' wrath. Laurie and Annie babysit two children who are watching "The Thing" on television. The three young women, the two children, and one young man become unwilling characters of an horrific reenactment of the events of Halloween night 15 years earlier. Other subtle hints that there is more to the story than simply the slasher aspects, such as the reference to the mythological monster, the "boogeyman" and Laurie's vow to keep the children safe. Not to give anything away, one of the most disturbing and yet brilliant scenes is not when Myers is doing what he has come to do, but one of the characters discovering the nature of the reenactment.
No question, even the original "Halloween" is a terrifying example of fright-cinema. This film is not for all tastes, and if you would rather not be scared into submission, do NOT under any circumstance see this film. Simultaneously, if you desire to be scared and not necessarily "grossed out", "Halloween" is quite possibly the best slasher film of the genre next to "Psycho". And it's a real treat on Blu-ray. As a codetta, "Halloween" redefines the concept of "Trick or Treat". Are the other films and similar offerings in the genre worthy of being seen? In my humble opinion, only "The Nightmare on Elm Street" is worthy of viewing. The rest have no redeeming qualities at all, particularly "Friday the 13th" and its sequels, as well as the other Halloween films. I don't know how any other film can say more than the original "Halloween" without it becoming merely a cinematic blood-fest.