The best slasher movie

Rating: 10/10 (16 January 2010)

It's undeniable that this is the best slasher movie ever made, but that's not saying much. The story is fairly familiar: 6-year-old Michael Myers kills his sister and is put away in a mental hospital; 15 years later, the adult Michael (Nick Castle) escapes, stalks a couple babysitters, Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Annie (Nancy Loomis), while being pursued by his psychiatrist, Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance).
What makes this movie a rarity among slasher movies is that no one knows anything is going on. They're just doing everyday things; the girls talk about boys and sex, do drugs, etc. There are no big chase scenes until the climax.
The film is very quiet. There is virtually no blood. Director John Carpenter (who also co-wrote the screenplay and wrote the iconic musical score) has some very clever devices to hide any graphic violence from us. As realistic as the dialog might be, some of the best moments are without dialog. One of my favorites is when Annie gets into her car and notices that the windows are fogged up, providing us with a good nervous chuckle.
Michael himself is an interesting character. He doesn't seem to have any motivation or even a plan. He stalks the girls, who don't realize they're being stalked. By the time the character turns around, Michael's already gone. Michael sometimes makes a noise, but it's always shrugged off by the characters (as it would be in real life).
On my first viewing, I didn't like the last 10 or so minutes of this movie. It seemed silly and far-fetched. On repeat viewings, I've really warmed up to it.
It was followed by 7 sequels, none of which lived up to the original. Donald Pleasance returned in 4 of the sequels, prior to his death. Jamie Lee Curtis, who doesn't understand this film's popularity and why she's known for this instead of her later and according to her better movies (like A Fish Called Wanda and True Lies), returned for a sequel and then gave thanks to what she considers an inexplicable classic for starting her career by returning for two more sequels 17 years later. Nancy Loomis would return for the often maligned, but not terrible, Halloween III: Season of the Witch as a different character, 4 years later. Rob Zombie remade it in 2007; I refuse to watch the remake.