A Good Film

Rating: 8/10 (31 October 2011)

This is my first time to see the movie after 3 decades since its release, I always thought that Halloween would be no different film than the other slasher films like the Friday 13th series, which i saw during the 80s, so I had never been interested to see Halloween. Last night this impression was proofed to be wrong, the first thing I liked about this film unlike the other films, that the film takes its time to prepare the viewer for the story, good film making is always about putting the viewer in the right mood and atmosphere, John Carpenter managed to let us feel the peaceful neighborhood atmosphere, watching Laurie walking to the school through the neighborhood and again with her girlfriends back from the school and showing the beautiful surroundings and seeing the gentle wind blowing through the window in her room with its calm colors, all of that prepare the audience well to the coming shock, the shock is achieved from the contrast between the peaceful neighborhood settings and the evil that is represented by Michael Myers, Myers character is not represented here as a supernatural monster like the other slasher films, he is a deeply troubled person since childhood, and just like PSYCHO the source of horror is generated because we come face to face with the dark side of the human mind and behavior and not because of gore and violence. The transition between the daylight and the night was done beautifully in a Hitchcockian style, Laurie and her friend Annie drove in the evening to reach the houses where they will babysit the kids. This transition sets the mood for the shock coming with advent of night. This style of filmmaking is rare commodity these days where everything on screen happens very fast and doesn't give the viewer the proper time to indulge himself in the story. I rate this film 4 out of 5.