Halloween [Blu-ray] starring Donald
Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony
Moran, Nancy Kyes, P.J. Soles
John Carpenters Slasher Masterpiece
Halloween is as pure and undiluted as its title. In the small town of
Haddonfield, Illinois, a teenage baby sitter tries to survive a Halloween
night of relentless terror, during which a knife-wielding maniac goes after
the towns hormonally charged youths. Director John Carpenter takes this
simple situation and orchestrates a superbly mounted symphony of
horrors. Its a movie much scarier for its dark spaces and ominous camera
movements than for its explicit bloodletting (which is actually minimal) .
Composed by Carpenter himself, the movies freaky music sets the tone;
and his script (cowritten with Debra Hill) is laced with references to other
horror pictures, especially Psycho. The baby sitter is played by Jamie Lee
Curtis, the real-life daughter of Psycho victim Janet Leigh; and the
obsessed policeman played by Donald Pleasence is named Sam Loomis,
after John Gavins character in Psycho. In the end, though, Halloween
stands on its own as an uncannily frightening experience--its one of those
movies that had audiences literally jumping out of their seats and shouting
at the screen. (No! Dont drop that knife!) Produced on a low budget, the
picture turned a monster profit, and spawned many sequels, none of which
approached the 1978 original. Curtis retur ned for two more installments:
1981s dismal Halloween II, which picked up the story the day after the
unfortunate events, and 1998s occasionally gripping Halloween H20,
which proved the former baby sitter was still haunted after 20 years. --
Robert Horton
Theres not a lot that can be said about this awesome piece of horror art
that hasnt been said: John Carpenter and company, with a small budget
but a huge vision crafted a tale for the ages.
Simplicity is the key to this movie: Yes, the Rob Zombie remake (which Im
NOT dissing, I enjoyed it on its own merit) gave us more of a backstory,
humanized the character of Michael Myers, and gave us some insight into
why he is and what motivates him...but the original proves that all of that
wasnt really necessary.
What works in Halloween is that you DONT know what caused this little
boy to go off his rocker; it raises the possibility that the boogeyman is a
REAL thing; Myers is more of a force of nature than a troubled youth that
fell into madness; he is instead an unstoppable evil that wreaks its havoc
on that one night that all is free to roam the earth...
...and thats whats so frightening. Theres not any gore to speak of, but the
dread that the story, cinematography, and the chilling score builds in your
heart is a palpable thing. The fine cast really puts forward the fact that
terror has come to the little town of Haddonfield, and even the good Doctor
Loomis, whos had fifteen years to figure it out, doesnt really know what the
hell precipitated this rampage...nor just what it IS in the masked spectre
that makes him what he is.
The simple fact is that he is OUT there, and he is looking for...maybe YOU.
What explanation do you really need?
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