A true masterpiece of horror

Rating: Null/10 (4 April 2003)

HALLOWEEN (1978) **** Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasance, PJ Soles, Nancy Loomis, Nick Castle. Director John Carpenter's low-budget masterpiece of terror put him on the map (and opened the scores of b**tard pales-by-comparison rip-offs and sequels) as well as made a `scream queen' icon out of Curtis in this genuinely scary horror flick about a deranged slasher/asylum escapee on the loose and back to the scene of his crime, his hometown, the fictitious Haddenfield, Ill., for another stab at it. Pleasance is memorable as the dogged killer's shrink Dr. Sam Loomis (a nice homage to Hitchcock's `Psycho', named after one of the film's characters), who knows `evil' when he sees it. Curtis became a huge star as her Laurie Strode did what few genre characters did: think and fight back! Spooky, spine-tingling musical theme written by Carpenter and Castle as Michael Myers aka `The Shape' mershed together provides the right menacing tones. Incidentally the mask Castle sports (he was actually a crew member of the production) is a Halloween costume of William Shatner as `Capt. Kirk' from `Star Trek' painted over white.