Halloween (1978 film)

“
The Night HE Came Home!

”— Tagline
***Halloween*** is a 1978 American independent slasher film directed and scored by John Carpenter, co-written with producer Debra Hill, and starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut. The film was the first installment in what has become the *Halloween* franchise. The plot is set in the fictional Midwestern town of Haddonfield, Illinois. On Halloween night in 1963, a six-year-old Michael Myers dressed in a clown costume murders his older sister by stabbing her with a kitchen knife. Fifteen years later, Michael Myers, age 21, escapes from a psychiatric hospital, returns home, and stalks Laurie Strode and her friends. Michael's psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis suspects Michael's intentions, and follows him to Haddonfield to try to prevent him from killing.

*Halloween* was produced on a budget of $300,000 and grossed $47 million at the box office in the United States, and $70 million worldwide, equivalent to $250 million as of 2014, becoming one of the most profitable independent films. Many critics credit the film as the first in a long line of slasher films inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's *Psycho* (1960). *Halloween* had many imitators and originated several clichés found in low-budget horror films of the 1980s and 1990s. Unlike many of its imitators, *Halloween* contains little graphic violence and gore. In 2006, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Some critics have suggested that *Halloween* may encourage sadism and misogyny by audiences identifying with its villain. Other critics have suggested the film is a social critique of the immorality of youth and teenagers in 1970s America, with many of Myers' victims being sexually promiscuous substance abusers, while the lone heroine is depicted as innocent and pure, hence her survival. Nevertheless, Carpenter dismisses such analyses. Several of *Halloween*'s techniques and plot elements, although not founded in this film, have nonetheless become standard slasher movie tropes. *Halloween* spawned seven sequels and was rebooted by Rob Zombie in 2007. The first sequel to the original movie, *Halloween II* was released in 1981, three years after its predecessor.

## Plot

On the night of October 31, 1963, in Haddonfield, Illinois, 6-year-old Michael Myers (Will Sandin) while dressed in a clown costume murders his older sister Judith Myers (Sandy Johnson) by stabbing her with a kitchen knife. Fifteen years later, on October 30, 1978, Michael escapes Warren County Smith's Grove Sanitarium, where he had been committed since the murder. He steals the car that was to take him to a court hearing, the intention of which was for him to never be released.

The following day, Halloween, 21-year-old Michael (Nick Castle), now dressed in a blue jumpsuit and a white mask, returns to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, and begins stalking high school student Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). Laurie informs her friends, Annie Brackett (Nancy Loomis) and Lynda van der Klok (P. J. Soles), that she believes someone is following her, but they dismiss her concerns. Later at her house, Laurie is startled to see Michael outside in the yard staring into her room. Michael's psychiatrist, Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence), having anticipated Michael's return home, goes to the local cemetery only to discover that Judith Myers' headstone is missing. Loomis meets with Sheriff Leigh Brackett (Charles Cyphers), and the two search for Michael.

That night, Laurie babysits Tommy Doyle (Brian Andrews), while Annie babysits Lindsay Wallace (Kyle Richards) across the street from the Doyle house. When Annie gets a call from her boyfriend Paul asking her to pick him up, she drops Lindsay off at the Doyle house. Annie gets in her car to pick up Paul but Michael, who was hiding in the backseat of her car, strangles her before slitting her throat, killing her. At the Doyle house, while he plays hide-and-seek with Lindsay, Tommy spots Michael carrying Annie's corpse and tries to tell Laurie, who doesn't believe in any "boogeyman" that Tommy says he saw. Later that evening, Lynda and her boyfriend Bob enter the Wallace house and have sex in the upstairs bedroom. While downstairs to get a beer for Lynda, Bob is attacked by Michael, who kills him by pinning him to the wall with his knife. Michael then appears in the bedroom doorway, pretending to be Bob in a ghost costume. Gaining no response from him, Lynda becomes annoyed and calls Laurie, just as Michael kills her by strangling her with the telephone cord.

Feeling unsettled, Laurie puts Tommy and Lindsay to bed and goes to the Wallace house, where she discovers the corpses of Annie, Bob, and Lynda. She is suddenly attacked by Michael. She falls down the staircase, but she quickly recovers. Fleeing the house, she screams for help, but to no avail. Running back to the Doyle house, she realizes she lost the keys and the door is locked, as she sees Michael approaching in the distance. Laurie panics and screams for Tommy to wake up and open the door quickly. Luckily, Tommy opens the door in time and lets Laurie inside. Laurie instructs Tommy and Lindsay to hide and then finds the phone line is dead and that Michael has gotten into the house through a window. As she sits down in horror next to the couch, Michael appears and tries to stab her, but she stabs him in the side of his neck with a knitting needle and he collapses.

Laurie goes upstairs telling Tommy and Lindsay she killed the "boogeyman", but Michael reappears in pursuit of her. Telling the kids to hide and lock themselves in the bathroom, Laurie opens the French windows to feign escape and hides in a bedroom closet. Michael punches a hole in the closet door to get to her. However, Laurie frantically undoes a metal clothes hanger to stick Michael in the eye, and she then stabs Michael with his own knife. Michael collapses and Laurie exits the closet, then tells the children to go find help. Dr. Loomis sees Tommy and Lindsay running away from the house screaming and suspects Michael could be inside. Back inside, Michael gets up and tries to strangle Laurie, but Loomis arrives in time to save her. Loomis shoots Michael six times, resulting in him falling from the second-story patio onto the lawn below. Laurie asks Loomis if that was the "boogeyman", which Loomis confirms. Despite his seemingly fatal injuries, Michael is nowhere to be found on the lawn when Loomis looks down over the balcony.

## Cast

* Donald Pleasence as Dr. Loomis
* Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode
* Charles Cyphers as Sheriff Leigh Brackett
* Nancy Kyes as Annie Brackett (credited as Nancy Loomis)
* P. J. Soles as Lynda Van Der Klok
* Nick Castle as The Shape (Michael Myers)
* Kyle Richards as Lindsey Wallace
* Brian Andrews as Tommy Doyle
* John Michael Graham as Bob Simms
* Will Sandin as Michael Myers (age 6)
* Sandy Johnson as Judith Myers

## Production

After viewing Carpenter's film *Assault on Precinct 13* (1976) at the Milan Film Festival, independent film producer Irwin Yablans and financier Moustapha Akkad sought out Carpenter to direct a film for them about a psychotic killer that stalked babysitters. In an interview with *Fangoria* magazine, Yablans stated, "I was thinking what would make sense in the horror genre, and what I wanted to do was make a picture that had the same impact as *The Exorcist*." Carpenter and his then-girlfriend Debra Hill began drafting a story originally titled *The Babysitter Murders*, but, as Carpenter told *Entertainment Weekly*, Yablans suggested setting the movie on Halloween night and naming it *Halloween* instead.

Akkad agreed to put up $300,000 for the film's budget, which was considered low at the time; Carpenter's previous film, *Assault on Precinct 13*, had an estimated budget of $100,000. Akkad worried over the tight, four-week schedule, low budget, and Carpenter's limited experience as a filmmaker, but told *Fangoria*, "Two things made me decide. One, Carpenter told me the story verbally and in a suspenseful way, almost frame for frame. Second, he told me he didn't want to take any fees, and that showed he had confidence in the project". Carpenter received $10,000 for directing, writing, and composing the music, retaining rights to 10 percent of the film's profits.

Because of the low budget, wardrobe and props were often crafted from items on hand or that could be purchased inexpensively. Carpenter hired Tommy Lee Wallace as production designer, art director, location scout and co-editor. Wallace created the trademark mask worn by Michael Myers throughout the film from a Captain Kirk mask purchased for $1.98. Carpenter recalled how Wallace "widened the eye holes and spray-painted the flesh a bluish white. In the script it said Michael Myers's mask had 'the pale features of a human face' and it truly was spooky looking. I can only imagine the result if they hadn't painted the mask white. Children would be checking their closet for William Shatner after Tommy got through with it." Hill adds that the "idea was to make him almost humorless, faceless—this sort of pale visage that could resemble a human or not." Many of the actors wore their own clothes, and Curtis' wardrobe was purchased at J. C. Penney for around a hundred dollars.

The limited budget also dictated the filming location and time schedule. *Halloween* was filmed in 20 days in the spring of 1978 in South Pasadena, California, and the cemetery at Sierra Madre, California. An abandoned house owned by a church stood in as the Myers house. Two homes on Orange Grove Avenue (near Sunset Boulevard) in Hollywood were used for the film's climax. The crew had difficulty finding pumpkins in the spring, and artificial fall leaves had to be reused for multiple scenes. Local families dressed their children in Halloween costumes for trick-or-treat scenes.

In August 2006, *Fangoria* reported that Synapse Films had discovered boxes of negatives containing footage cut from the film. One was labeled "1981" suggesting that it was additional footage for the television version of the film. Synapse owner Don May, Jr. said, "What we've got is pretty much all the unused original camera negative from Carpenter's original *Halloween*. Luckily, Billy [Kirkus] was able to find this material before it was destroyed. The story on how we got the negative is a long one, but we'll save it for when we're able to showcase the materials in some way. Kirkus should be commended for pretty much saving the Holy Grail of horror films." It was later reported, "We just learned from Sean Clark, long time *Halloween* genius, that the footage found is just that: footage. There is no sound in any of the reels so far, since none of it was used in the final edit."

### Writing

Yablans and Akkad ceded most of the creative control to writers Carpenter and Hill (whom Carpenter wanted as producer), but Yablans did offer several suggestions. According to a *Fangoria* interview with Hill, "Yablans wanted the script written like a radio show, with 'boos' every 10 minutes." Hill explained that the script took three weeks to write and much of the inspiration behind the plot came from Celtic traditions of Halloween such as the festival of Samhain. Although Samhain is not mentioned in the plot of the first film, Hill asserts that:

*"...the idea was that you couldn't kill evil, and that was how we came about the story. We went back to the old idea of Samhain, that Halloween was the night where all the souls are let out to wreak havoc on the living, and then came up with the story about the most evil kid who ever lived. And when John came up with this fable of a town with a dark secret of someone who once lived there, and now that evil has come back, that's what made* Halloween *work."*
Hill wrote most of the female characters' dialogue, while Carpenter drafted Loomis' speeches on the soullessness of Michael Myers. Many script details were drawn from Carpenter's and Hill's adolescence and early careers. The fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois was derived from Haddonfield, New Jersey, where Hill grew up, and most of the street names were taken from Carpenter's hometown of Bowling Green, Kentucky. Laurie Strode was the name of one of Carpenter's old girlfriends and Michael Myers was the name of an English producer who had previously entered, with Yablans, *Assault on Precinct 13* in various European film festivals. In *Halloween*, Carpenter pays homage to Alfred Hitchcock with two characters' names: Tommy Doyle is named after Lt. Det. Thomas J. Doyle (Wendell Corey) from *Rear Window* (1954), and Dr. Loomis' name was taken from Sam Loomis (John Gavin) from *Psycho*, the boyfriend of Marion Crane (Janet Leigh, who is the real-life mother of Jamie Lee Curtis). Sheriff Leigh Brackett shared the name of a Hollywood screenwriter.

### Casting

The cast of *Halloween* included veteran actor Donald Pleasence and then-unknown actress Jamie Lee Curtis. The low budget limited the number of big names that Carpenter could attract, and most of the actors received very little compensation for their roles. Pleasence was paid the highest amount at $20,000, Curtis received $8,000, and Nick Castle earned $25 a day. The role of Dr. Loomis was offered to Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee; both declined the part due to the low pay (though Lee would later tell Carpenter that declining the role was his biggest career mistake). English actor Pleasence—Carpenter's third choice—agreed to star. Pleasence has been called "John Carpenter's big landing." Americans were already acquainted with Pleasence as the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film *You Only Live Twice* (1967).

In an interview, Carpenter admits that "Jamie Lee wasn't the first choice for Laurie. I had no idea who she was. She was 19 and in a TV show at the time, but I didn't watch TV." He originally wanted to cast Anne Lockhart (actress)|Anne Lockhart, the daughter of June Lockhart from *Lassie*, as Laurie Strode. However, Lockhart had commitments to several other film and television projects. Hill says of learning that Jamie Lee was the daughter of *Psycho* actress Janet Leigh, "I knew casting Jamie Lee would be great publicity for the film because her mother was in *Psycho*." *Halloween* was Curtis' feature film debut and launched her career as a "scream queen" horror star. Another relatively unknown actress, Nancy Kyes (credited in the film as Nancy Loomis) was cast as Laurie's friend Annie Brackett, daughter of Haddonfield sheriff Leigh Brackett (Charles Cyphers). Kyes had previously starred in *Assault on Precinct 13* (as had Cyphers) and happened to be dating *Halloween*'s art director Tommy Lee Wallace when filming began. Carpenter chose P. J. Soles to play Lynda Van Der Klok, another friend of Laurie's, best remembered in the film for dialogue peppered with the word "totally." Soles was an actress known for her supporting role in *Carrie* (1976) and her minor part in *The Boy in the Plastic Bubble* (1976). According to one source, "Carpenter realized she had captured the aura of a happy go lucky teenage girl in the 70s."

The role of "The Shape"—as the masked Michael Myers character was billed in the end credits—was played by Nick Castle, who befriended Carpenter while they attended the University of Southern California. After *Halloween*, Castle became a director, taking the helm of films such as *The Last Starfighter* (1984), *The Boy Who Could Fly* (1986), *Dennis the Menace* (1993), and *Major Payne* (1995).

### Direction

Historian Nicholas Rogers notes that film critics contend that Carpenter's direction and camera work made *Halloween* a "resounding success". Roger Ebert remarks, "It's easy to create violence on the screen, but it's hard to do it well. Carpenter is uncannily skilled, for example, at the use of foregrounds in his compositions, and everyone who likes thrillers knows that foregrounds are crucial ...." The opening title, featuring a jack-o'-lantern placed against a black backdrop, sets the mood for the entire film. The camera slowly moves toward the jack-o'-lantern's left eye as the main title theme plays. After the camera fully closes in, the jack-o'-lantern's light dims and goes out. Film historian J.P. Telotte says that this scene "clearly announces that [the film's] primary concern will be with the way in which we see ourselves and others and the consequences that often attend our usual manner of perception". During the conception of the plot, Yablans instructed "that the audience shouldn't see anything. It should be what they thought they saw that frightens them". Carpenter seemingly took Yablans' advice literally, filming many of the scenes from Michael Myers's point-of-view that allowed audience participation. Carpenter is not the first director to employ this method or use of a steadicam; for instance, the first scene of *Psycho* offers a voyeuristic look at lovers in a seedy hotel. Telotte argues, "As a result of this shift in perspective from a disembodied, narrative camera to an actual character's eye ... we are forced into a deeper sense of participation in the ensuing action". Along with the 1974 Canadian horror film *Black Christmas*, *Halloween* made use of seeing events through the killer's eyes.

The first scene of the young Michael's voyeurism is followed by the murder of Judith seen through the eye holes of Michael's clown costume mask. According to one commentator, Carpenter's "frequent use of the unmounted first-person camera to represent the killer's point of view ... invited [viewers] to adopt the murderer's assaultive gaze and to hear his heavy breathing and plodding footsteps as he stalked his prey". Another technique that Carpenter adapted from Alfred Hitchcock's *Psycho* (1960) was suspense with minimal blood and gore. Hill comments, "We didn't want it to be gory. We wanted it to be like a jack-in-the box." Film analysts refer to this as the "false startle" or "the old tap-on-the-shoulder routine" in which the stalkers, murderers, or monsters "lunge into our field of vision or creep up on a person." Carpenter worked with the cast to create the desired effect of terror and suspense. According to Curtis, Carpenter created a "fear meter" because the film was shot out-of-sequence and she was not sure what her character's level of terror should be in certain scenes. "Here's about a 7, here's about a 6, and the scene we're going to shoot tonight is about a 9½", remembered Curtis. She had different facial expressions and scream volumes for each level on the meter.

Carpenter's direction for Castle in his role as Myers was minimal. For example, when Castle asked what Myers' motivation was for a particular scene, Carpenter replied that his motivation was to walk from one set marker to another. The documentary titled *Halloween Un-masked*, featured in the 22nd anniversary DVD of *Halloween*, John Carpenter states he also instructed Castle to tilt his head a couple of times as if he was observing the corpse, particularly in the scene when Myers impaled one of his victims against a wall.

### Music

Another major reason for the success of *Halloween* is the moody musical score, particularly the main theme. Lacking a symphonic soundtrack, the film's score consists of a piano melody played in a 10/8 or "complex 5/4" meter composed and performed by director John Carpenter. Critic James Berardinelli calls the score "relatively simple and unsophisticated", but admits that "*Halloween*'s music is one of its strongest assets". Carpenter stated in an interview, "I can play just about any keyboard, but I can't read or write a note." In the end credits, Carpenter bills himself as the "Bowling Green Philharmonic Orchestra" for performing the film's score, but he did receive assistance from composer Dan Wyman, a music professor at San José State University.

Some songs can be heard in the film, one being an untitled song performed by Carpenter and a group of his friends who formed a band called The Coupe DeVilles. The song is heard as Laurie steps into Annie's car on her way to babysit Tommy Doyle. Another song, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by classic rock band Blue Öyster Cult, appears in the film.

The soundtrack was first released in the United States in October 1983, by Varese Sarabande. It was subsequently released on Compact Disc in 1985, re-released in 1990, and again in 2000.

## Release

### Theatrical run

*Halloween* premiered on October 25, 1978 in Kansas City, Missouri (at the AMC Midland/Empire) and sometime afterward in Chicago, Illinois, and in New York City. It had its Los Angeles debut October 27, 1978. It opened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on November 22, 1978. The film grossed $47 million in the United States and an additional $23 million internationally, making the theatrical total $70 million.

On September 7, 2012, the official Halloween Movies Facebook page announced that the original *Halloween* would be theatrically re-released starting October 25, 2013 in celebration of the film's 35th anniversary in 2013. A new documentary was screened before the film at all locations, entitled, *You Can't Kill the Boogeyman: 35 Years of Halloween,* written and directed by HalloweenMovies.com webmaster Justin Beahm.

### Television rights

In 1980, the television rights to *Halloween* were sold to the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) for $4 million. After a debate among Carpenter, Hill and NBC's Standards and Practices over censoring of certain scenes, *Halloween* appeared on television for the first time in October 1981. To fill the two-hour time slot, Carpenter filmed twelve minutes of additional material during the production of *Halloween II*. The newly filmed scenes include Dr. Loomis at a hospital board review of Michael Myers and Dr. Loomis talking to a then 6-year-old Michael at Smith's Grove, telling him, "You've fooled them, haven't you Michael? But not me." Another extra scene features Dr. Loomis at Smith's Grove examining Michael's abandoned cell after his escape and seeing the word "Sister" scratched into the door. Finally, a scene was added in which Lynda comes over to Laurie's house to borrow a silk blouse before Laurie leaves to babysit, just as Annie telephones asking to borrow the same blouse. The new scene had Laurie's hair hidden by a towel, since Curtis was by then wearing a much shorter hairstyle than she had worn in 1978. The television scenes were released on a two-tape "limited-edition" VHS set of the film and the television version of the film was released on a second disc in the two-disc "limited-edition" DVD release of the film in 1999, by-itself in 2001 as *Halloween: Extended Edition* on VHS and DVD and as part of the *Halloween: 30th Anniversary Commemorative Set* along with the original *Halloween* on DVD and Blu-ray, disc one from the *25 Years of Terror* documentary DVD and the DiviMax special editions of two of its sequels: *4: The Return* and *5: The Revenge* in 2008, and is on the bonus disc in the Halloween limited edition box set released in 2014.

### Home video releases

Since *Halloween*'s premiere, it has been released in several home video formats, including VHS, LaserDisc, DVD, UMD and Blu-ray Disc. Early VHS versions were released by Media Home Entertainment and Blockbuster Video issued a commemorative edition in 1995. Anchor Bay Entertainment (succeder in-interest to Media Home Entertainment and Video Treasures) has released several restored editions of *Halloween* on VHS and DVD, including "Halloween: Unmasked" a documentary produced and directed by Mark Cerulli which featured an array of interviews with original Halloween cast & crew including Jamie Lee Curtis, Debra Hill, John Carpenter, Nick Castle and others. The most recent being the 2007 single-disc restored version, with improved picture and sound quality. Anchor Bay has also released an "extended edition" of *Halloween* that features the original theatrical release with the scenes that were shot for the broadcast TV version edited in at their proper places. In 2003, the film was released on a two-disc "25th Anniversary edition" with improved DiviMax picture and audio, along with an audio commentary by John Carpenter, Jamie Lee Curtis and Debra Hill, the *A Cut Above The Rest* documentary, *On Location: 25 Years Later* featurette, the trailer, TV spots, radio spots, poster and still gallery, and DVD-ROM content. In 2007, the movie was released on Blu-ray as well, marking the film's first ever Blu-ray release. The Blu-ray features a commentary track by Carpenter, Hill and Curtis, the trailer, TV spots, radio spots, fast film facts and the documentary *Halloween: A Cut Above the Rest*. In 2008, a "30th Anniversary commemorative set" was released, containing the film on DVD and Blu-ray along with the "extended edition", disc one of the *25 Years of Terror* documentary DVD and the sequels: *Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers* and *Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers*, including a replica Michael Myers mask. The DVD release was THX certified. The film has made $18,500,000 in home video rentals.

On June 6, 2013, it was announced that a second, 35th anniversary, Blu-ray release for *Halloween* is in the works and that John Carpenter and Jamie Lee Curtis have recorded a new commentary. On July 22, the official cover art for the 35th anniversary Blu-ray release was revealed including the new special features such as the all-new high definition transfer by Cundey, the new commentary track by Carpenter and Curtis as well as a new 7.1 audio mix, the original mono audio mix, a new featurette with Curtis titled "The Night She Came Home", an "On-Location" featurette, the trailer, television and radio spots and the additional scenes from the extended television version. The 35th-anniversary release earned a Saturn Award for Best Classic Film Release.

## Reception

### Critical reception

Although *Halloween* performed well with little advertising—relying mostly on word-of-mouth—many critics seemed uninterested or dismissive of the film. Pauline Kael wrote a scathing review in *The New Yorker* suggesting that "Carpenter doesn't seem to have had any life outside the movies: one can trace almost every idea on the screen to directors such as Hitchcock and Brian De Palma and to the Val Lewton productions" and claiming that "Maybe when a horror film is stripped of everything but dumb scariness—when it isn't ashamed to revive the stalest device of the genre (the escaped lunatic)—it satisfies part of the audience in a more basic, childish way than sophisticated horror pictures do." The first glowing review by a prominent film critic came from Tom Allen of *The Village Voice* in November 1978, Allen noted that the film was sociologically irrelevant but ceded that the Hitchcock-like technique was effective and "the most honest way to make a good schlock film". Allen pointed out the stylistic similarities to *Psycho* and George A. Romero's *Night of the Living Dead* (1968). The following month, *Voice* lead critic Andrew Sarris wrote a follow-up feature on cult films, citing Allen's appraisal of *Halloween* and saying in the lead sentence that the film "bids fair to become the cult discovery of 1978. Audiences have been heard screaming at its horrifying climaxes". Roger Ebert gave the film similar praise in his 1979 review in the *Chicago Sun-Times*, and selected it as one of his top ten films of 1978. Once-dismissive critics were impressed by Carpenter's choice of camera angles and simple music, and surprised by the lack of blood, gore, and graphic violence. Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes reports 94% of critics gave the film positive write-ups based on 50 reviews, with a rating of 8.5 out of 10 with the general consensus reading "Scary, suspenseful, and viscerally thrilling, Halloween set the standard for modern horror films."

Many compared the film with the work of Alfred Hitchcock, although *TV Guide* calls comparisons made to *Psycho* "silly and groundless" and critics in the late 1980s and early 1990s blame the film for spawning the slasher subgenre, which they felt had rapidly descended into sadism and misogyny. Almost a decade after its premiere, Mick Martin and Marsha Porter critiqued the first-person camera shots that earlier film reviewers had praised and later slasher-film directors utilized for their own films (for example, *Friday the 13th* (1980)). Claiming it encouraged audience identification with the killer, Martin and Porter pointed to the way "the camera moves in on the screaming, pleading, victim, 'looks down' at the knife, and then plunges it into chest, ear, or eyeball. Now that's sick."

More than 35 years after its debut, *Halloween* enjoys a reputation as a classic and is considered by many as one of the best films of 1978.

### Themes and analysis

Many criticisms of *Halloween* and other slasher films come from postmodern academia. Some feminist critics, according to historian Nicholas Rogers, "have seen the slasher movies since *Halloween* as debasing women in as decisive a manner as hard-core pornography." Critics such as John Kenneth Muir state that female characters such as Laurie Strode survive not because of "any good planning" or their own resourcefulness, but sheer luck. Although she manages to repel the killer several times, in the end, Strode is rescued in *Halloween* and *Halloween II* only when Dr. Loomis arrives to shoot Myers.

On the other hand, other feminist scholars such as Carol J. Clover argue that despite the violence against women, slasher films turned women into heroines. In many pre-*Halloween* horror films, women are depicted as helpless victims and are not safe until they are rescued by a strong masculine hero. Despite the fact that Loomis saves Strode, Clover asserts that *Halloween* initiates the role of the "final girl" who ultimately triumphs in the end. Strode herself fought back against Myers and severely wounds him. Had Myers been a normal man, Strode's attacks would have killed him; even Loomis, the male hero of the story, who shoots Michael repeatedly at near point blank range with a large caliber handgun, cannot kill him.

Aviva Briefel argued that moments such as when Michael loses his mask are meant to give pleasure to the male viewer. Briefel further argues that these moments are masochistic in nature and give pleasure to men because they are willingly submitting themselves to the women of the film; they submit themselves temporarily because it will make their return to authority even more powerful. Critics, such as Pat Gill, see *Halloween* as a critique of American social values. She remarks that parental figures are almost entirely absent throughout the film, noting that when Laurie is attacked by Michael while babysitting, "No parents, either of the teenagers or of the children left in their charge, call to check on their children or arrive to keen over them."

Another major theme found in the film is the dangers of pre-marital sex. Clover believes that killers in slasher films are fueled by a "psychosexual fury" and that all the killings are sexual in nature. She reinforces this idea by saying that "guns have no place in slasher films" and when examining the film *I Spit on Your Grave* she notes that "a hands-on killing answers a hands-on rape in a way that a shooting, even a shooting preceded by a humiliation, does not." Equating sex with violence is important in *Halloween* and the slasher genre according to Pat Gill, who made a note of this in her essay "The Monstrous Years: Teens, Slasher Films, and the Family". She remarks that Laurie's friends "think of their babysitting jobs as opportunities to share drinks and beds with their boyfriends. One by one they are killed... by Michael Myers an asylum escapee who years ago at the age of six murdered his sister for preferring sex to taking care of him."

The danger of suburbia is another major theme that runs throughout the movie and the slasher genre itself, Pat Gill states that slasher films "seem to mock white flight to gated communities, in particular the attempts of parents to shield their children from the dangerous influences represented by the city". *Halloween* and slasher films, generally, are supposed to represent the underside of suburbia. Michael Myers was raised in a suburban household and after he escapes the mental hospital he returns to his hometown to kill again; Myers is a product of the suburban environment.

Carpenter himself dismisses the notion that *Halloween* is a morality play, regarding it as merely a horror movie. According to Carpenter, critics "completely missed the point there". He explains, "The one girl who is the most sexually uptight just keeps stabbing this guy with a long knife. She's the most sexually frustrated. She's the one that's killed him. Not because she's a virgin but because all that sexually repressed energy starts coming out. She uses all those phallic symbols on the guy."

### Awards

*Halloween* was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Horror Film by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films in 1979, but lost to *The Wicker Man* (1973). In 2001, *Halloween* ranked #68 on the American Film Institute TV program *100 Years...100 Thrills*. The film was #14 on Bravo's *The 100 Scariest Movie Moments* (2004). Similarly, the Chicago Film Critics Association named it the 3rd scariest film ever made. In 2006, *Halloween* was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2007, the AOL 31 Days of Horror countdown named *Halloween* the greatest horror movie. In 2008, the film was selected by *Empire* magazine as one of *The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time*. In 2010, *Total Film* selected the film as one of *The 100 Greatest Movies of All Time*.

**American Film Institute lists**

* AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – #68
* AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains:
	+ Michael Myers – Nominated Villain
* AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – Nominated

## Influence

*Halloween* is a widely influential film within the horror genre; it was largely responsible for the popularization of slasher films in the 1980s. *Halloween* popularized many tropes that have become completely synonymous with the slasher genre. *Halloween* helped to popularize the final girl trope, the killing off of characters who are substance abusers or sexually promiscuous, and the use of a theme song for the killer. Carpenter also shot many scenes from the perspective of the killer in order to build tension. These elements have become so established that many historians argue that *Halloween* is responsible for the new wave of horror that emerged during the 1980s. Due to its popularity, *Halloween* became a blueprint for success that many other horror films, such as *Friday the 13th* and *A Nightmare on Elm Street*, would follow.

The major themes present in *Halloween* would also become common in the slasher films it inspired. Film scholar Pat Gill notes that in *Halloween*, there is a theme of absentee parents but films such as *A Nightmare on Elm Street* and *Friday the 13th* feature the parents becoming directly responsible for the creation of the killer.

There are slasher films that predated *Halloween*, such as *The Texas Chain Saw Massacre* and *Black Christmas* which contained prominent elements of the slasher genre; both involving a group of teenagers being murdered by a stranger as well having the final girl trope. *Halloween*, however, is seen by historians as being responsible for the new wave of horror films because it not only used these tropes but also pioneered many others.

The 1981 horror film spoof *Student Bodies* parodied these plot devices; characters are slain when about to engage in sex. Another slasher film with a twist was the 1986 film *April Fool's Day*. Director Wes Craven's 1996 film *Scream* and its three sequels detail the "rules" for surviving a horror film, even using *Halloween* as the primary example: no sex, no alcohol or illicit drugs, and never say "I'll be right back".

A mass market paperback novelization of the same name, written by Curtis Richards, was published by Bantam Books in 1979. It was reissued in 1982; it later went out of print. The novelization adds aspects not featured in the film, such as the origins of the curse of Samhain and Michael Myers' life in Smith's Grove Sanitarium, which contradict its source material. For example, the novel's version of Michael speaks during his time at the sanitarium; in the film, Dr. Loomis states, "He hasn't spoken a word in fifteen years." In 1983, *Halloween* was adapted as a video game for the Atari 2600 by Wizard Video. None of the main characters in the game were named. Players take on the role of a teenage babysitter who tries to save as many children from an unnamed, knife-wielding killer as possible. The game was not popular with parents or players and the graphics were simple, as was typical in Atari 2600 games. In another effort to save money, most versions of the game did not even have a label on the cartridge. It was simply a piece of tape with "Halloween" written in marker. The game contained more gore than the film, however. When the babysitter is killed, her head disappears and is replaced by blood pulsating from the neck. The game's primary similarity to the film is the theme music that plays when the killer appears onscreen.

## Sequels and remake

*Main article: Halloween (franchise)*
*Halloween* spawned seven sequels, a 2007 remake directed by Rob Zombie, and a 2009 sequel to the remake, which is unrelated to the sequel of the original. Of these films, only the first sequel was written by Carpenter and Hill. It begins exactly where *Halloween* ends and was intended to finish the story of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode. *Halloween II* was a box office success, becoming the second-highest grossing horror film of 1981 behind *An American Werewolf in London*. Carpenter did not direct any of the subsequent films in the *Halloween* series, although he did produce *Halloween III: Season of the Witch* (1982), the plot of which is unrelated to the other films in the series due to the absence of Michael Myers. He, along with Alan Howarth, also composed the music for the second and third films. After the negative critical and commercial reception for *Season of the Witch*, the filmmakers brought back Michael Myers in *Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers* (1988) which was successful enough to warrant its own direct-sequel in 1989 with *Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers*.

The sequels feature more explicit violence and gore, and are generally dismissed by mainstream film critics, although *Halloween H20: 20 Years Later* (1998) did receive better reviews than most other sequels and reboots in the franchise, yet still paled in comparison to the original film. They were filmed on larger budgets than the original: In contrast to *Halloween*'s modest budget of $300,000, *Halloween II*'s budget was around $2.5 million, while the final sequel to the original, *Halloween: Resurrection* (2002), boasted a budget of $15 million. Financier Moustapha Akkad continued to work closely with the *Halloween* franchise, acting as executive producer of every sequel until his death in the 2005 Amman bombings.

With the exception of *Halloween III*, the sequels further develop the character of Michael Myers and the Samhain theme. Even without considering the third film, the *Halloween* series contains continuity issues, which some sources attribute to the different writers and directors involved in each film. The 10 *Halloween* films, including the 2007 remake and its sequel, have had eight directors. Only Rick Rosenthal and Rob Zombie directed more than one: Rosenthal directed the first sequel as well as *Halloween: Resurrection*, while Zombie directed the remake of the original film and its sequel.

## Popular culture

A *Berts bravader* illustration shows a videotape case of the film lying on a table, with the cover showing a screaming girl-woman and the text "Alla helgons blodiga natt" ("all saints' bloody night"), which is what the film was called in Swedish.

**Films:** ***Halloween*** • *II* • *Season of the Witch* • *The Return of Michael Myers* • *The Revenge of Michael Myers* • *The Curse of Michael Myers* • *20 Years Later* • *Resurrection* • *Halloween* (2007) • *II* (2009)
**Characters:** Michael Myers • Laurie Strode • Samuel Loomis • Jamie Lloyd