Halloween (1978)

Rating: 9/10 (21 March 2014)

Michael Myers is a institutionalized psychotic murder who, when he was 6 years old, killed his 15 years old sister stabbing her. 15 years later he escapes the sanitarium and returns home (Haddonfield, Illinois). His psychiatrist is trying to catch him, before he kills again. Meanwhile high school students Laurie, Annie and Lynda have plans for baby-sitting on Halloween (and maybe carrying on a bit with their boyfriends...) but they're not ready for what's coming.
The movie starts with an excellent opening Point of View scene and the opening "ends" with us, the viewers, looking at a young kid with a big knife on his hand. This is where it all started.
When later he does come home, he starts spying the three high school students, he is the creep you never want to see. He lives in the shadows, in the entire movie, except for one or two times, you never really see his face, or a close shot of him. The lives of those students may be coming to an end.
Once I read somewhere people complain about him never really dying despite being dangerously harmed, I thought maybe, instead of thinking he is human (he does look like one), you can think of him as the very personification of evil itself, maybe he is inhuman, and that's what makes him even more terrifying.
This is a very suspenseful, intense movie that builds on a strong horror atmosphere, shot without much light, instead a strong presence of shadows. This is John Carpenter's masterpiece. The score goes like this: if you hear it for the first time, you will never forget it, it will echo in your mind and maybe haunt you. One of the best things you can do on Halloween is watching Halloween!
Fact 1: It had a $300000 budget and made worldwide around $60000000! Fact 2: Michael's mask was created from a Captain Kirk mask purchased for $1.98. The producers liked it because it had a blank, emotionless look. Obviously it was altered.