Death has come to your little town, Sheriff

Rating: 8/10 (27 October 2015)

Hitchcock's influence on this movie is undeniable, even down to the casting of Janet Leigh's daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis in the lead role; an homage to 'Psycho.'
Halloween unfairly gets lumped together with the many uninspired slasher rip-offs that the movie generated after it's release, but in truth there is very little blood or gore and relies heavily on suspense and atmosphere to create tension and fear.
Take the introduction to the main villain for example: Director John Carpenter creates a long P.O.V. shot of an unseen creeper who sneaks into a teenage girl's home after she has sex with her boyfriend on Halloween night and brutally stabs her to death. The creeper then flees the scene only to run into the girl's parents returning home. In a shocking twist, the creeper is revealed to be the girl's six year old brother, Michael Myers.
He spends the next fifteen years in an asylum, under the care of Dr. Sam Loomis (another nod to Hitchcock), played by Donald Pleasance. The night before Halloween, Michael escapes and it's down to Loomis to stop him before history repeats itself.
Michael's chosen victim and the movie's main heroine is Laurie Strode (played by Jamie Lee Curtis). She, along with her friends, sarcastic smart-mouth Annie and bubble-headed cheerleader Lynda are stalked by Michael as they babysit on Halloween night. Unlike her more outgoing friends, Laurie is quiet, bookish and charming. Halloween is credited with creating the 'virginal' heroine trope that became prevalent in horror thereafter.
Halloween is often criticised for not being very complex and being 'slow paced' but for me, the way Michael spends most of the night circling and observing his victims like a ghostly predator is one of the movie's biggest strengths, not a weakness.
The cinematography in Halloween is utterly gorgeous; I could write a review on the blue and orange tones and hues of the night times scenes alone.
Like Psycho and Jaws that came before it, Halloween uses it's score (written by John Carpenter) to maximum effect, creating a perfect sense of foreboding and dread.