The Thrill of Classical Horror Films

Rating: 10/10 (13 July 2009)

When sitting down and watching John Carpenter's "Halloween", I began to wonder why a film made over thirty years ago still has people sitting at the edge of their seats. I'm sure many believe this film is a piece of work, but what is the thrill? In "Halloween", a six year old child named Michael Myers (Will Sandin) had the will power to murder his older sister on a Halloween night of 1963. The gruesome murder led the young psychotic Myers right into an asylum. A doctor by the name of Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) spent fifteen years with Myers trying to figure out the cause of evil within him. Unexplainably, the adult Myers (Tony Moran) escaped on the night before Halloween in 1978. His goal was to go back to where it all started in Haddonfield, Illinois, and search for his seventeen year old sister. Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) had no idea what evil was coming her way. Dr. Loomis seeks to stop the masked killer in his path, but Myers won't be stopped by anything. Like every good director of horror films, Carpenter created "Halloween" to be scary and suspenseful. The ultimate question is what makes Carpenter's "Halloween" scare his audience? The film is obviously the 70s style of movie making; with its cheesy script and beamy music in the background. We already know that those poor little teenagers "had it coming," for no bad act goes unpunished and so their fornication led to their doom. If that scares you, you must be a newbie to horror films. You must dig deeper and understand that Carpenter makes you feel like you're in the movie; he has you peering into the screen checking to see if Myers is behind the door or if he's hidden in a dark corner. The main characters pretend that nothing is wrong, while the audience knows full well what's coming next. You'll find the horror in Carpenter's screenplay creeps up on you as much as Myers does throughout the movie. However, some areas in the film did not make sense at all. For instance, how does a psychotic killer escape from an asylum and learn how to drive the first time behind the wheel? The audience clearly knows Myers was away for fifteen years and an asylum does not offer driving lessons. Perhaps its maternal talent! If Myers was six years old entering the mental institution, he'd be twenty-one years old in 1978, not twenty-three as listed in the credits. Incredible explains "Halloween", how could anyone forget those piercing eyes behind that mysterious mask or that theme song that puts the Halloween series together. This low budget film had a few mishaps, but in the end it was all still worth the fifty-five million.