A trend-setting triumph of atmosphere and suspense

Rating: 10/10 (13 February 1999)

John Carpenter's trend-setting masterpiece, more than anything else, is a triumph of visual style and simple, effective, classic camera work. The gore, if any, is minimal. The movie relies more on atmosphere and suspense to build scares from the viewer.
Watching "Halloween" now may sometimes seem like it is a formulaic, cliched horror movie in the same genre of "Friday the 13th" and a myriad of other cheap imitators. The knowledgeable viewer would realize that this was the movie that started all the scare tactics that are now over-used by many wannabes.
The female leads, in the hands of any other film maker, would be clueless bimbos without the slightest hint of intelligence. Here, they are classy, fun, smart and not merely sex objects. This, of course, was the screen debut of Jamie Lee Curtis, who effectively plays the naive, awkward heroine and would return for two sequels - 1981's excessively gory "Halloween II" and 1998's not so bad "Halloween: H20."
The most effective part of the film is the filmmakers' use of foreground and background. There is always something lurking in the background while the action occurs in the foreground. There are no quick cut, flashy action sequences that distract the viewing. Simple hand-held shots and inter-cut sequences relay the story to the viewer in a simple, ageless style. Parts of the movie may seem dated (particularly some of the dialogue and the cheesy clothing), but the movie itself holds up surprisingly well.
All this in mind, let's not forget that above all, this movie is scary! Michael Myers appears out of shadows, from behind bushes, and does his best to frighten you. This movie loses a lot in the standard "altered to fit your screen" transfer, so if possible watch the widescreen version.