Brilliant political fable and a renewal of American horror

Rating: 9/10 (20 November 2017)

In a pristine CinemaScope format with powerful and stunning framing, John Carpenter turned this film into a condensed version of his years of training and movie watching as a teen, and a specific homage to "the" master, Howard Hawks. On the night of Halloween, lateral travelings at ground level sweep a peaceful American suburb, where we know that a teenager who had assassinated his younger sister a few years earlier has come back after escaping from the asylum where he was being treated. Rustles in the trees, children playing in the schoolyard, preparations of masks for the evening, recurring white car crisscrossing the streets, and later The Thing (film produced by Howard Hawks in 1955) on TV screens-everything converges to increase the tension we feel, including the haunting musical score composed by John Carpenter himself. The moviegoer's pleasure resides in the setup of this device to increase anxiety-the killer only appears very late in the film, the first crimes occur off-camera until the paroxysmal finale, when Jamie Lee Curtis, helped by the young man's doctor, faces the killer who wears an inexpressive white mask, an emblematic and flamboyant image that's often been copied since.
The film sets itself apart from gore, a genre born a decade earlier in which blood flows and murders are explicitly detailed on screen. It rather uses suspense and a visceral discomfort, without voyeurism. John Carpenter's Halloween gave rise to several psychopathic characters, reviving enthusiasms for films such as Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, which then suffered three late, vulgar and dispensable sequels (Psycho II, II and IV). It was also followed at the same era by Jason from the Friday the 13th franchise (12 movies to date as a 13th installation is still announced) and Freddy Krueger in Nightmare on Elm Street (8 sequels). Halloween was also followed by nine sequels, the 10th directed by Rob Zombie (who also directed the 9th) and simply titled H2.
John Carpenter is one of those movie directors who led to a second golden age for American horror and fantasy (1975 to 1982), in which movies attempts to show America's daily life, and to capture on film society's rejects and the underbelly of derelict megalopolis. Political denunciation of corruption and misery is expressed through a production with effects that can be heavy, but are rich in ideas, in which each shot is filled with creative profusion and leads to a genuine renewal of the genre. Filmmakers such as Gary A. Sherman (Dead & Buried, Vice Squad), Tobe Hopper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Joe Dante (Piranha, The Howling) have made their best movies during that era and Abel Ferrara was revealed with The Driller Killer (1979) and Ms. 45 (1980). Boo: scare me again!