My all-time favourite movie... *** SPOILERS ***

Rating: 10/10 (13 February 2009)

From the moment the music starts playing in the opening credits, I was instantly hooked. Then, right after that, comes the superb opening scene, again with excellent music. Michael's escape from the sanitarium is also memorable. From then, the movie slows down a bit, as Myers returns to Haddonfield and begins stalking a student named Laurie. But the suspense is always present, thanks to a subtle atmosphere. You know something will happen. You just have to wait. And it does happen, in the last half hour of the movie, when all hell breaks loose...
This is John Carpenter's second best movie to date (only The Thing is superior). His direction is almost flawless. Each scene seems carefully planned, building up a tremendous atmosphere, rarely seen in slasher/horror movies. He decided well in not showing too much of The Shape, and also in the minimal amount of blood used. Unfortunately, the sequels completely abandoned this principles. They put gore over suspense. As I've mentioned, the atmosphere is great, and for that, the music, by the same Carpenter, is also truly essential, along with the cinematography by Dean Cundey, which is just stunning and beautiful. Two amazing technical achievements considering the very low budget this movie was made on.
As for the actors, while they are not required to do anything out of this world, they still play their parts very well. Obviously, Jamie Lee Curtis (with her screams), and Donald Pleasance (with his classic lines and charismatic presence) shine the most.
All in all, this is a very simple movie, as was the case with earlier Carpenter. However, it completely deserves to be called a masterpiece, which it is.