It's Pretty Great

Rating: 9/10 (31 October 2019)

For years now, I've frequently used "Halloween" as a prime example of an overrated movie; in fact, I'm sure if you scoured TMM's reviews you'd find at least a half-dozen references to my lukewarm reaction to seeing this film. I was so unimpressed with this film the first time that I saw it that it had been years since I'd seen it (probably since High School), but during those years, my knowledge of horror films exploded. Now a seasoned vet of the genre, I've watched dozens of psychological horror flicks ("Rosemary's Baby"), giallo films ("Deep Red"), splatter movies stuffed with gallons of gore ("The Evil Dead"), cheap slasher movies ("Seed of Chucky"), and of course, the classics ("The Exorcist", "The Shining"). My taste in horror had branched out, and I've found that I really can enjoy almost anything the genre has to offer; if it's great, I get scared- if it's terrible, I get to laugh. After watching a few other John Carpenter films at the beginning of the month ("In the Mouth of Madness", "The Fog"), I found that I appreciated his style a bit more than I had when I first watched "Halloween", and I figured maybe this year was the year I needed to give Carpenter's best-reviewed flick another chance. (Plus, with the new 4K release I figured I could see how that looked.)
I'm happy I did revisit this film. I still don't think that "Halloween" is an incredibly horrifying movie, but I also don't think it's as overrated as I used to think it was. "Halloween" is a simple but effective thriller with a villain that is pretty frightening, but really, the film is more of a fun experience during the actual viewing than it is a film that lingers in the viewer's mind afterwards. I, personally, prefer my horror to keep me awake at night and second-guess what might be standing in the corner (like those incredibly disturbing final shots of "The Witch"). "Halloween" is the equivalent of paying to go through a haunted house: you get your moneys worth, but more than being truly terrified, you'll be laughing in spite of yourself.