Creme De La Creme of Slashers!!!

Rating: 10/10 (15 September 2011)

In 1978, a young filmmaker named John Carpenter set out to make a chilling horror movie about some babysitters being terrified by a masked killer. From this one film spawned a whole generation of what came to be known as the slasher/ dead teen flick. While the countless slashers to follow would borrow or blatantly steal from it, none come close to its greatness. Every Halloween, I make sure to set time aside to once again view HALLOWEEN. What's not to like about it? You have a simple creepy premise: Years ago a young boy murders his sister and now as an adult escapes from a mental hospital to kill again. You have a stellar cast, including the young Jamie Lee Curtis as heroine Laurie Strode and horror great Donald Pleasance as Dr. Loomis. John Carpenter and his crew wisely borrowed techniques used in Italian horror, like electronic synth music, to ramp up the tension. Of particular merit, I'd like to mention the art direction, lighting and cinematography. Using a mixture of varying amounts of light and shadow, the filmmakers wisely allow the viewer's imagination to run wild. Sometimes you'll think you see things hidden in the shadows and nothing's there, and vice versa. When the deaths come, they are usually swift and filmed in partial shadow/light also. If ever a movie embodied the spirit of Halloween, it would be this one. So I highly recommend this for either group viewing or, if you dare, to watch it solo. Just be prepared to be thrilled by the creme de la creme of slashers!!!