Terror in the daytime

Rating: 10/10 (2 November 2019)

"Halloween" is a 1978 horror film directed by John Carpenter starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence. No Halloween time goes by without having watched this absolute masterpiece. With each rewatch, I increasingly like it more and more, because I can spot so much brilliance from time to time. First of all, it's a perfectly structured and paced horror thriller that gives me chills due to so many different aspects. There's probably no soundtrack more iconic and fitting than those simple keyboard notes. In a Hitchcock manner, it carries the tension throughout the whole run time. Additionally, Carpenter created something never seen before: While there are also a lot of scence taking place in the dark, many shocking scenes take place at daytime, thus destroying the stereotype that it's only frightening as soon as the sun set. Michael Meyers, as iconic as the horror movie genre itself, terrorises the audience at daytime. That's what makes it so uniquely uncomfortable. He's also one of the greatest characters ever written for a motion picture. He's unpredictable and evil, with no obvious motifs and rules he follows, neither human nor monster, just pure evil. Furthermore, the scenery and the setting are tremendously atmospheric and as soon as the sun goes down the most terrifying part of the film begins. With clever camera work the intense writing style of Carpenter and Hill comes to life, especially the haunting nature of the boogeyman. Lead by scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, the cast consists of both extremely talented young actors and legends. The story might not be extremely gory, as the brutality lies in the paranoid atmosphere. The ending is without a doubt one of the most realistic staging of the sub-genre, as the character decisions might be imprudent but still justified. It's not like someone is tripping over literally nothing. All in all, this horror classic is the benchmark for any horror film in general and will always hold the place of the best slasher in history. Often copied, but never reached, it lives from its special kind of terrorising atmosphere, it's talented cast and the music score itself. With this motion picture, John Carpenter made himself immortal and justified the title of being the master of horror.