One of my favorite horror films

Rating: 10/10 (29 May 2001)

Though I've now seen this movie about ten times, I'll never forget the first viewing of "Halloween." My first introduction to this series was the abominable and unrelated 3rd movie, "Season of the Witch." I then happened to catch the better, but still bad 4th movie in the series, "The Return of Michael Myers." While this movie was still not very good, I was interested in how this story got started, so I finally rented "Halloween."
It is still probably the best horror movie I have yet seen. It's not a perfect movie. The way Nancy Loomis delivers her lines is almost comical at times, for that matter P.J. Soles as well. On the other hand, their characters are somewhat ditsy teenagers so it fits.
This movie works because it is simple. It is a tremendously low-budget film that was planned very well. The story is straightforward. The suspense is gripping but not relentless. The musical motives of John Carpenter (though heavily influenced by Psycho) works like a charm.
I love the absurd music credits at the end of this and other John Carpenter films: His all synth score as performed by the "Bowling Green Philharmonic Orchestra." I believe "The Fog" happens to credit "the Warren County/Bowling Green Chamber Orchestra" or something like that.
One suggestion: See the theatrical version.. not the one with the extra few minutes of out-takes (like they show on the Sci-Fi channel.) Yes, they explain more, but nothing that is not ultimately revealed in Halloween II. This first film works better if you don't know too much, and just accept Michael Myers as a madman with no specific intentions... just a babysitter stalker. This is a film that you should go into with no intent to analyze. Just turn out the lights, plug the movie into your best audio system, and watch it with a friend.