After a very strong first 40 minutes, Halloween loses it's way a little with a repetitive final act but still provides a creepy atmosphere and fantastic villain.

Rating: 7/10 (16 June 2016)

The first 40 minutes of Halloween are brilliant. It's tense, unnerving, atmospheric, unsettling and absolutely captivating. From the moment that Myers first steps into frame inside his child-hood home, every scene instills you with dread. These scenes are the best in the movie, with Myers' heavy breathing permeating stalking scenes that work extremely well. As he follows Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie, John Carpenter frames him in interesting and unique ways. Every appearance is somewhat shocking, especially when Myers appears and disappears without seeming to move. It's all very creepy, and you are constantly guessing as to what is going to happen; none of the characters feel invulnerable, and Myers' motivation isn't at all clear - he may not even have one, though a partial explanation is given. Carpenter has said that he wanted the villain to somewhat transform throughout the picture; starting off as purely human - which is why he is briefly shown as a child, but progressing to become something inhuman - almost a force of nature. He just can't be stopped.
After the first 40 minutes though, the slow-paced stalking does start to wear a little thin. It's around this point that you feel as though something substantial should be happening, perhaps that the killing should begin. But it doesn't kick into gear for at least another 10 minutes, which seems a long time in terms of the overall pacing. When the film does finally switch and Myers makes his first kill, most of the atmosphere and creepiness goes out of the window. It doesn't help that the acting in these death scenes is sub-par, with the actress' especially struggling to appear as though they are really being strangled. There are also a couple of dodgy make-up effects towards the end, particularly a slit throat effect that doesn't blend with the skin at all. The finale basically breaks down to the same sequence of events played three or four times. It is effective the first time, perhaps even the second, but wears thin quickly and becomes very predicable. The ending is also very unsatisfying. Though it does create a sense of unease and partial shock, it ultimately feels like a cliff-hanger for a cliff-hanger's sake. Without the sequel film 'Halloween 2', the ending feels empty and not really like an ending at all - almost like the film just cuts out two-thirds of the way through.
The acting is generally good, though by no means exceptional; as I mentioned earlier, the acting in the death scenes is very unconvincing. Curtis gives by far the best performance, beating the more experienced actor Donald Pleasence in one of her first feature-film roles. The actor(s) portraying what is credited as 'The Shape' - which is what Myers is called when he is wearing his mask - are good at portraying the character's physically imposing, violent and generally creepy actions. As a whole, Myers is very convincing and compelling as a villain. The heavy-breathing is a nice little touch too, adding to his unnerving and sinister nature. Carpenter expertly directs the movie, framing the characters extremely well and using the limited budget to great effect. The low-budget doesn't detriment the film at all; the fact that they couldn't afford proper lighting actually helps the movie, as it allows for some interesting shot compositions that hide things in the darkness. The script is pretty good, although some of Pleasence's lines are extremely heavy handed. The musical score is interesting and atmospheric, but some of the ambient tracks are a little grating; the title theme is great though.
After a very strong first 40 minutes, Halloween loses it's way a little with a repetitive final act and some poor acting; nevertheless, the direction is expert and the film gave us one of the greatest villains of all time. 7/10