You Can't Kill The Bogeyman!

Rating: 9/10 (24 October 1998)

John Carpenter's 1978 smash "Halloween",the most influential horror film since "Psycho",revived the slasher genre and spawned a countless number of clones and imitations,including its own sequels. The late,great British actor Donald Pleasence stars as spooked psychiatrist Sam Loomis (Carpenter,an obvious Hitchcock disciple,loads his films with references and homages to Hitch,as does fellow disciple Brian DePalma of "Carrie" fame). Loomis is tracking down escaped mental patient Michael Myers,an evil,remorseless killing machine who returns to his hometown (Haddonfield,Illinois) 15 years after he murdered his sister Judith on Halloween night as a young boy. Jamie Lee Curtis (daughter of Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh,the latter who preceded her daughter as Scream Queen of the slasher genre in Hitchcock's 1960 classic "Psycho"),also stars as Laurie Strode,a teenaged babysitter who Myers stalks,along with her two friends, Annie (Nancy Loomis) and Lynda (P.J.Soles) on the fateful Halloween night in 1978. The final act of the film,in which Laurie is chased and stalked by Myers,boasts some of the most harrowing moments ever captured in a horror film. Along with the dynamic duo of Pleasence and Curtis,the other actors in the film,obvious amateurs,aren't half-bad: Charles Cyphers as Sheriff Leigh Brackett,Kyle Richards as Lindsay Wallace,Brian Andrews as Tommy Doyle,Nancy Stpehens as Nurse Marion Chambers,and John Michael Graham as Lynda's doomed boyfriend Bob. The film's only flaws are the poor casting choices of Nancy Loomis and P.J.Soles,both AWFUL in their roles as Annie and Lynda,and both looking WAY too old to portray high schoolers. Aside from this,"Halloween" is a classic....and check out that score by the director himself,John Carpenter! Its the best since Bernard Herrmann's legendary "Psycho" score. **** A