Often imitated, never duplicated.

Rating: 9/10 (25 July 2000)

Halloween for it's time and place was undoubtedly memorable, but for as far as horror films and the genre itself go, it was groundbreaking. Who could have known it would end up reinventing the word 'suspense' and wake up the long dormant genre that was stuck in a dismal state too. It's no word of a lie to say today many movies owe their existence to Halloween. It was the first of it's breed. It had all the right ingredients and it came at the right time. People were waiting to be scared and scared they soon would be. Featuring no gore (that would come soon enough), a real low budget, a great cast, atmosphere, it also held a story that would prove to be both critically and financially successful. A story that at the heart of it was very simplistic and pretty straight forward. A psychopath whose tendencies lie dormant for many years escapes from the loony bin. His target - some pretty young babysitters. Now the tale of survival with sexual undertones wasn't new - it's an universal theme in horror - but it's simplistic nature in the hands of those who crafted and carried it turned out some fantastic magic. The cast, the direction and undoubtedly the music. Who can't remember that. It was all these factors that came together to make history.
Then remind yourself when it came out. Yep, the tail end of the 70's. Enter John Carpenter, a young director who had promise. Donald Pleasence, an English actor of some rebut who decided to work on the project because his daughter liked Carpenter's "Assault On Prescient 13". Then there was Jamie Lee Curtis. A virtual unknown who landed her first major role in part because her mother was Janet Leigh of Psycho fame. Then there was the talented crew behind the scenes that made it all happen - director of photography Dean Cundey, production designer Tommy Wallace, producer Debra Hill and the original shape himself, Nick Castle.
All on a budget of $200,000 US 1978 dollars. Perhaps there's a lesson to be learned here for the continuously overproduced, Hollywood flicks ... and again, the music! Who can't relate the success and scariness of the film to the music? The score by Carpenter was like the story - simple yet effective. Time may not have been friendly to Halloween as the years pass and that's about the only real negative remark I can offer other than in no small part did this film lead the way for a new type of horror. The slasher genre with the use of more and more gore unfortunately replacing actual suspense and fear. It was bound to happen and Halloween was the film to do it. It was only time (and not long) before a push towards more graphic horror would occur after Halloween's blockbuster success. Case in point, Halloween II.
Putting the rabid analyzing aside, Halloween is still a great movie today. A venerable classic of the horror genre that many films have tried to emulate on many levels, but Halloween will forever be in a class all it's own. Forgoing the never-ending series of lesser-returns sequels, there will only ever be the one and the only Halloween. A pinnacle in the horror genre and a great movie in it's own right.