great film

Rating: Null/10 (14 October 2001)

I think Alfred Hitchcock would have been proud of this film because when I saw it, it reminded me of his movies. What I didn't like is the fact that this film had such a sorry legacy, what I mean is that there were several sequels and to put it bluntly each one just got dumber and dumber. These films also inspired a lot of other mad slasher films showing women as the victims of psychopathic killers. I remember that Siskel and Ebert even did a show on Sneak Previews on this distrubing trend. Roger Ebert put it best when he said that this film didn't hate women it loved film! John Carpenter is a great director who knew how to make a true chiller. When you think about it, Halloween really doesn't have a lot of blood and gore in it. Carpenter created suspense and chills using things like shadows and scary music. He was masterful! So often today, filmakers just plop a plate of gore in front of us and call it a movie. Jamie Lee Curtis made her debut in this film and she is awesome, truly one of our great actresses. What I like is the fact that she has the guts to fight back against the killer and that she is not just another token victim. Donald Pleasance is wonderful as the psychiatrist determined to stop the madman. An interesting footnote, in one of his other films The Great Escape he played a WWII POW. In real life he actually served in World War II and was a POW for real!