Imitated but never duplicated

Rating: 10/10 (3 November 2011)

The best way to describe Halloween is the phrase "Evil Personified." It's one of the first of its kind in terms of the slasher genre, and shows exactly what a movie of that genre should be like. Rather than having a melancholy feeling when all this violence is going on, we are fully immersed in the world of these characters and have fear for them. And this is because of one crucial element that is neglected in many horror films old and new.
Halloween has artistry, and is so much smarter than any other horror film of its kind. It knows how to hook you and pull you in. The cinematography, dare I say it, is some of the best ever used in film. Dean Cundey handles the setting and material extremely well as he loans his talents to give this film the eeriest appearance possible.
Cundey was also the cinematographer for two of the Halloween sequels, Escape from New York, all three Back to the Future films, and Carpenter's other film The Thing. He has the uncanny ability of putting the setting into the foreground. Some of my favorite scenes in Halloween are shots of the streets, the darkness of rooms, the first person shots through the window, etc. They are some of the most elegant shots ever seen in a horror film. I think the last time I saw such great camera/setting work was in Argento's Suspiria.
Jamie Lee Curtis gives an effective performance, and the film does an amazing job of not stepping on its feet and not depicting her as a helpless female in distress. Curtis brings life and independence in her character rather than the female who just stands there, looks pretty, swears, and screams. If more horror films used characters like the one Jamie Lee Curtis portrayed we'd probably have a smaller body count in some horror films.
The music compliments the film and the cinematography as well. The iconic piano tune from all the Halloween films has been firmly etched in our memory since our first viewing. What makes this song so fantastic is the fact that Carpenter himself wrote the music, and perfectly adds layers of different beats and tones to the song without getting thrown off. Listen to the song, and listen for every time a new synth or a new pitch is added. You'll see the song is handled professionally and exquisitely.
The killer, Michael Myers, would later become one of the most iconic killers in film history next to Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees, respectively. Some of the most effective uses of him is when one character peers out the window into the night to see Myers standing completely still or carrying a body around. Those scenes still to this day are gifted by their atmosphere and their cinematography.
Halloween is one of the best horror films of all time. The only reason it gets called "not scary" by people today is because not necessarily scarier things have come out, but films like Hostel and Saw have proved to be bloodier and more limitless. Those aren't bad films, but they're two totally different genre pieces. Halloween is so much smarter than any of the torture porn films because it knows how to scare the audience without splattering them with blood. It's a masterpiece in every sense of the word.
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Will Sandin, P.J. Soles, and Nancy Loomis. Directed by: John Carpenter.