Trick Or Treat, Or else...

Rating: 10/10 (13 September 2018)

Director, John Carpenter's horror masterpiece, HALLOWEEN is a relentlessly terrifying, almost mystical experience. I still jump whenever Michael appears! The story is basic: As a young boy, Michael Myers murders his older sister, and spends fifteen years in a mental institution. Upon escaping, he heads for his hometown of Haddonfield Illinois, w/ the obsessed Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) on his trail. Meanwhile, teenager Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) prepares for a boring Halloween night of babysitting. Unbeknownst to her or her friends (Nancy Loomis and P.J. Soles), Michael has zeroed in on them for reasons he alone knows. An evening of deadly terror unfolds. This is low-budget, independent film-making at its best! Carpenter creates a claustrophobic, suburban nightmare world, where Michael roams the quiet streets like an invisible automaton. In this movie, he is simply evil, w/ no need of explanation. He's a shadow, a ghost, a murdering spirit. Laurie is his polar opposite, seemingly drawing Michael to herself by some unknown magnetism. Carpenter uses fate / destiny to bring about the inevitable meeting of these two forces. Absolutely packed w/ classic sequences, this movie re-invented the "stalking maniac", making him a near-immortal juggernaut on a singular mission of doom. Among the best films of its genre... P.S.- Special mention must be made of Carpenter's theme music, which is so simple, yet so perfectly haunting and unnerving!...