A classic horror film

Rating: 8/10 (1 November 2013)

I'm a big fan of John Carpenter, but not such a big fan of horror films. I watched this film with trepidation. I didn't regret it. I think I picked a good horror movie to start off with. Carpenter sustains a creepy, suspenseful a atmosphere all the way through the movie. His camera work is very simple, bringing you to the center of the action. The views he gives over Micheal's shoulder are very clever, giving us his point of view. But it's the empty shots that create the most tension as they leave you thinking 'What's going to happen next?' The score to this film is fairly minimal, but highly effective. Who could ever forget that famous theme tune? It helps build up this unbearable tension and you just know something is going to happen soon. Carpenter uses it cleverly though. He knows that silence can be just as effective as suspenseful music in creating an aura of expectation. Though the plot is fairly implausible, but it holds fairly well through the movie. One could attempt to tear holes in it, but it's a lot more difficult then you'd think. Donald Pleasance is as good as always, portraying the worried doctor very well, if not always believably. Jamie-Lee Curtis is solid, but not outstanding and her two friends are as stiff as a plank throughout most of the film. They're characters and the way they act are fairly believable though and, in my opinion, vacuous and annoying. But it's really the character of Micheal Myers that makes the movie. The William Shatner mask is very disturbing and his silence is far better then if he grunted or talked. The way he shows up and disappears works very well and makes him seem almost supernatural, an idea aided by how impossible it seems to kill him. The movie moves along reasonably slowly, but it's worth the wait. The ending is terrifying and finishes off the movie with a bang. A seminal film which, horror buff or not, you should make time to watch. 7.9 seems about right.