03/27/10 - Halloween

Halloween (1978, 91 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077651/

Halloween is my next horror movie to check out. For some reason I place Halloween in a different category than the other horror movies I've watched so far. I guess since John Carpenter wrote and directed it I want to think it's "smarter" than other slashers. I'll find out.

The film is about the escaped murderer Michael Myers (Tony Moran). Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) was his doctor while he was locked up and Dr. Loomis is trying desperately to bring him back before he kills anyone. Babysitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is the main figure from the group of kids that unfortunately serve as Myers's victims.

I will admit that the film is much smarter than something like Friday the 13th Part 2. The movie isn't about nudity and gory kills but instead it slowly and methodically builds up tension throughout the film. Not much actually happens as Myers instead seems to get closer and closer to our heroine until the final minutes when everything culminates in a final battle of sorts. All in all, this makes the movie a lot better in my opinion. Myers is occasionally made menacing when he kills but it's never shown for the sole purpose of being gruesome. For example, at one point it is revealed that Myers has brutally slaughtered a dog. But the film never shows the dog's remains since that would really only serve to disgust the viewer and that's not what Halloween is about. Finally, I'd like to say how great the first scene is. Going into "point of view" mode for the young Michael Myers we see him brutally murder his sister (but not so brutally that it goes against the above point I was making). It's shot amazingly well as it forces us to uncomfortably see the world through his eyes.

One of my biggest complaints with Halloween is Curtis's acting. Most everyone seemed okay but for some unexplainable reason, I just couldn't get myself to like her acting job. I'm really uncertain what the specific reason for this was, it was just that something about how everything came together (line delivery, movement, expressions, etc.) that rubbed me the wrong way.

Another thing that Halloween really does right is the soundtrack. There's an iconic tune that plays during the opening credits that is chilling. It works really well to set up the feeling for the rest of the film. The tune is used throughout the movie to really good effect.

I've now seen one movie each for Freddy, Jason, and now Michael Myers (since the first Friday the 13th didn't feature Jason). As it stands now, Myers is far and away the most interesting. Carpenter wrote a better back-story for him and he seems more like a real entity. Jason being a zombie (or whatever) and Freddy being trapped in the dream world hurt their overall "scariness factor" if that makes sense. Some huge brute like Myers might actually exist. Now, I have yet to see The Texas Chain Saw Massacre which actually came before Halloween where for some reason I equate Leatherface and Michael Myers to similar "monsters." Anyway, as of right now, I've liked Halloween far and away better than both the Friday the 13th series or the A Nightmare on Elm Street series. This really comes down to how Halloween is better in two facets. First, as I mentioned above, Halloween is really more a thriller than a slasher to me and this is inherently more tension inducing. Second, Halloween has the better crazed monster running around.

Overall, I gave this film a 7/10. Not much happens in Halloween and that hurts it in some regard, but I am pretty much sitting on the edge of my seat as I watch it. It's expertly paced and that goes a long way to giving it such a good rating.