Grand Daddy of the Slasher Genre- No One Did It Better

Rating: 10/10 (12 February 2006)

What is a slasher film, and how does it function effectively? That would make a great topic of discussion for this film, John Carpenter's "Halloween," because the viewer should know that in watching this film, you are really watching the birth of a sub-genre- something that doesn't happen every day.
True, prior to Halloween there were foray's into the depraved and violent. Films like "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Black Christmas" also introduced us to the concept of the psychopath, and how he can function so effectively in a malevolent fashion prior to "Halloween." However "Halloween" dons the role of father of the slasher sub-genre because it was Halloween, and not "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "Last House on the Left" or "Black Christmas" that a myriad of filmmakers tried without success to duplicate.
The genius of Halloween is the simplicity of its story, and the intensity of its madman. The story is about three girlfriends who, during a night of babysitting, are ruthlessly attacked and dispatched by a masked maniac who seems to be driven to his impulse to kill without provocation or logic.
If people find modern movies like "Hostel," "High Tension" or "Wolf Creek" to be tense and frightening, how then will they react to this film. One of the girls, Annie, has but to turn around whilst she's on the phone and she will come face to face with the masked monster- yet she doesn't in time to see him.
Linda does come face to face with the monster, but only when he's covered over with a sheet in a crude mocking imitation of her boyfriend, who the masked killer had dispatched earlier. In the course of the next few minutes, she too is dispatched in a cold and calculating way by the monster.
The monster of course is Michael Myers, however I prefer the logic of calling him "The Shape" because there is no emotion or urgency that surrounds him. He is like a zombie in his movements and expressions, yet violently efficient in his actions- so much so that we get the real sense of what it would feel like to be stalked, yet without the understanding of why the monster feels compelled to stalk.
Ultimately in the final scene, the virtuous and shy Laurie (played by Jamie Lee Curtis in a truly all-American girl next door kind of performance) squares off with the Shape, sacrificing herself so that her charges (the children she is babysitting) can escape and call for help.
Along the way, the movie is full of valid indictments about our vary lives which are still true right up to this day: the passive neighbors who refuse to help Laurie when she is pursued by the Shape; the expert who is ignored by the establishment that is committed to its procedures; the absolute need to scapegoat. Perhaps it is this relevance to our own lives that makes Halloween so terrifying.
Either way, if you're one of the few who has not seen this film yet, might I recommend you give it a peak. You won't be sorry...unless you have an aversion to very scary films!