Seminal slasher movie

Rating: 8/10 (1 November 2015)

Yeah, okay, I watched it on Halloween...
John Carpenter's classic slasher thriller has been imitated to death by innumerable poor retreads, and has had an unfortunate influence on the horror genre as a whole. Countless rubbish was churned out in its wake in the 1980s, reducing horror to something teenage gore hounds went to see, films with little plot, inventive and increasingly gory deaths and a formulaic laziness. John Carpenter, however, cannot be blamed for that. He delivers here a splendid little horror thriller, with a memorable music score, great use of lighting, and clever editing. It's also pretty well acted, too, though the dialogue is occasionally flat.
The town of Haddonfield is surprisingly quiet and unpopulated, all the better for escaped lunatic Michael Myers to return to fifteen years after he killed his sister at the age of six! Escaping from an asylum with Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) on his trail (hi, Psycho fans!) he sets about recreating his infamous act...with the aid of a William Shatner mask!
This is a clever, atmospheric and extremely well made low-budgeter. Jamie Lee Curtis is excellent as the bright but somewhat lonely high-schooler. The plot is simple but Carpenter keeps us on our toes through excellent use of subjective camera, spookily framed shots (the houses here are all full of dark corners and patches of inky black - great work from Cinematographer Dean Cundey), and an astonishing climax which suggests the spirit of Michael Myers is everywhere in the town after he is shot. (forget the sequels, which of course, kept him alive).
This is a seminal movie in the genre, and has surprisingly little blood. If only a lousy bunch of talentless hacks hadn't taken Carpenter's little gem and ruined the horror genre for about a dozen years with annoying rip-offs...