A simple yet effective horror movie.

Rating: 8/10 (29 August 2007)

Most people consider "Halloween" to be the first true slasher film, and from watching it it's easy to see why. All the conventions are there: the unstoppable faceless killer, promiscuous teens who are killed after having sex, steadi-cam shots from the killer's point of view, and the virginal heroine. Despite these conventions, I just don't think it's fair to call "Halloween" a slasher film; slasher films are cheesy exploitation films that seem to only exist to spill as much blood as possible, while "Halloween" is actually a creepy and effective horror movie.
"Halloween" is about an escaped mental patient named Michael who was committed after he murdered his sister as a child. He returns to his home town one Halloween and immediately begins stalking a local teenage babysitter named Laurie. No reason is given for Michael's obsession with Laurie or why he's been mute since he stabbed his sister to death as a child. All that matters is that he wants to kill Laurie and possibly anyone else who gets in his way. It's an incredibly simple plot, but somehow the fact that we know so little about Michael and his homicidal tendencies makes for a better and much scarier movie. It also helps that the entire movie is all about Michael stalking Laurie. There are other victims who get in Michael's way, but unlike most slasher movies the murders seem less random and more like a means to an end, which of course is to further terrorize Laurie.
The plot may be frightening enough, but what really makes this film work is the outstanding cinematography. Much of the film is made up of long tracking shots of the characters and steadi-cam shots usually from Michael's point of view that really give the viewer the impression that there is somebody watching these people. Even when nothing bad is happening, I would still get the impression that something was going to happen very soon. It creates a very intense atmosphere that, when added to Michael's heavy breathing that we hear whenever he comes close to killing somebody (getting excited, perhaps) and the simple yet creepy musical score make for a genuinely scary movie.
I would probably recommend this movie to anybody who really likes good old-fashioned horror and knows that a horror movie doesn't need to spill buckets of blood to be entertaining. A remake directed by Rob Zombie is coming out soon, but I would be very surprised if it manages to top the original. This one is truly a horror classic.