The perspective of a serial killer...true terror

Rating: 10/10 (12 February 2013)

The film opens with a hand-held, one shot sequence of a person's POV. This person lurks outside a house, watching as a teenage girl makes out with her boyfriend. The individual then runs around the house and enters through an opened back door. Casually, the person walks into the kitchen, retrieves both a butcher's knife and a mask of some sort. As the teenage girl's boyfriend leaves, the person climbs up the stairs, enters a bedroom, and viciously stabs the teenage girl to death. Walking now down the steps into the street, this person is revealed as no more than that of a 6-year old child. This whole opening is about 3 minutes long and it gives us both a perspective and insight to this character, who will be later known for seven films and a cult following. This is Mike Myers. Is he a deranged nutjob or just pure evil? John Carpenter leaves that for us to judge.
"Halloween" works so well on many levels for a B-movie horror flick; the types of camera angles, the deep shadows and dimly lit night scenes, and ominous/suspenseful music. "Halloween" is not just another low-budget slasher film; it established both John Carpenter's and Jamie Lee Curtis's movie careers and it shows wannabe filmmakers what can be done successfully with few actors and little money. Many amateurs have tried and failed miserably at what Carpenter accomplished with this film, but this is only because Carpenter, the auteur that he is, knows how to make a great movie.
For 92 minutes, he gives us two strong lead characters, Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) and Laurie (Curtis) that we enjoy and care for. He knows exactly what specific composition and lighting to use for each scene to set a mood. He knows when to pace the action (When will Myers kill his next victim? He's staring right at her!) He even knows when to cue the sound effects and music to heighten the suspense. The fact that he both directed and scored this film is nothing short of remarkable—the music fuels the film's emotions beyond believe. Who would have thought that a simple walk from home to school could be so eerie, or a murder be even more terrifying?
I have seen my fair share of B horror flicks and slashers. "Halloween" tops them all. For an R movie, it's quite tame in terms of blood and gore, but the fear that the man in the mask instills is more frightening than dismembered bodies or evisceration.