creepy above all

Rating: 8/10 (11 November 2007)

Needless to say, not as abjectly terrifying as it was when I was 12, and it was 2 am, and the lights were out, and I was alone. In 35mm widescreen, which is how I was lucky enough to watch it this Halloween, the now-you-see-him-now-you-don't shtick is less than subtle, and at this remove I find myself critically appraising the stylistic devices instead of being swept up in them. I guess that's what happens after you've seen a horror movie twenty times. Michele hadn't seen it before, and she was scared. And I guess it's impressive that Carpenter aims not for shocks or grossouts but for creeps - whenever anybody turns their head, the boogeyman is behind them, watching. The accusation that this sets the template for the 80s' f*ck-and-die fetish is tempered by the fact that these teenage women are brilliantly detailed and likable, certainly more so than silly old Donald Pleasance who spends half the movie in a shrub. And Carpenter is at pains to indicate that this movie is really about other movies, about the process of being scared - and also about the pleasure of inventing your own icon. Michael Myers is here, get used to it.