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RATING |
| 9 |
DIRECTOR |
| John Carpenter |
CAST |
Donald
Pleasence
Jamie Lee Curtis
Nancy Kyes
P.J. Soles
Kyle Richards
Brian Andrews
Nick Castle |
YEAR |
| 1978 |
RUNTIME |
| 91 minutes |
DATE
REVIEWED |
| 11
/ 29 / 03 |
SHOPPING |
| BUY
THIS FILM |
| REVIEWER: FrighT MasteR |
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RATE THIS MOVIE:
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RATED BY:
827 FAN(S) |
CURRENT RATING:
8.77 SKULL(S)
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Halloween
Many people have asked me in the past why I don't have reviews up for the Halloween, F13 or the Nightmare on Elm Street films and my reply is always the same - why review a movie that everyone has already seen? - Plus I don't normally review movies that I've seen countless times anyway. Halloween is a movie that every horror fan knows of and has most likely already seen. It's like a movie you'd HAVE to watch to consider yourself a horror fan, but then again, needing to watch something in order to consider yourself a horror fan is rather silly, but I digress.
I've never owned this film aside from an old cheap VHS I had many years ago, so when I finally got this baby on DVD I just had to write up a review. I figured it was about time that I wrote one anyway, because I knew eventually I'd get around to it. I'm sure many will agree with me that this is one of the best horror movies ever made. The film accomplishes in scaring the audience without the overuse of gore or pop-up scares. I’d consider it to be the definitive slasher film; the movie that pretty much started them all. It's funny that Halloween was originally going to be a sequel to Black Christmas, but that didn't work out and director John Carpenter ended up doing his own thing, which is what we see here.
The movie is directed excellently by John Carpenter (one of my fav directors). John manages to put the audience in Michael's point-of-view, which was pretty new at the time, and also put the audience in the victim's predicament. Doing that succeeds in creating a lot of tension and fear for the viewer. Although by today's standards it's not as effective for the modern horror fan. I saw this movie when I was a lot younger, and even then I never got scared, but seeing it now I can see how it can can scare some people. The creepiness of "the shape" just standing there in the white mask can creep anyone out. Not knowing he's standing behind the person until it's too late. Good stuff.
Who knew that Captain Kirk's face would end up scaring the hell out of people. It's amazing that this little indie film by some up-and-coming director would end up being on of the highest grossing independent movies ever made. The performances by a young Jamie Lee and veteran actor Donald Pleasance were both excellent. Even the performance by Carrie star P.J. Soles was pulled off well. Jamie Lee is another example of big stars first starting out in a horror film. It's interesting that John Carpenter originally wanted Peter Cushing to play Dr. Loomis, but he turned it down, then he wanted Christopher Lee, who also turned it down. I think it wouldn't have been the same movie with either of the two.
Another great thing that makes this movie so memorable is its excellent score done by Carpenter himself. Who can get that infamous Halloween tune out of their head? I know I can't. I'm not quite sure if the first time I saw this movie was on TV or not, but I know if you watch this on television it'll have some extra footage thrown in. Apparently when they were first premiering it on TV, the network wanted them to make it a little longer to air, because it was a couple minutes too short, so John Carpenter filmed a few short scenes just for that. If you haven't seen the extra footage you can read about it here.
After watching this movie over I realized that we really don't get to see a full shot of Michael wearing his mask until the last 20 minutes of the film. Aside from that all we really see are shots from a distance or parts of the mask by looking from a different angle. That's another reason that makes the movie "scary" for the audience. The fact that you can't see what or who it is makes things a lot creepier. Too bad Hollywood now-a-days still hasn't picked up on that. Another thing I noticed is that Michael sure likes to stalk people. That mofo basically stalked Laurie through the whole movie. In a way he almost seems like a perv, but we all know he just wanted to kill her and nothing more.
This is obviously one of my favorite horror movies, along with Michael Myers being one of my favorite horror icons. The film is close to being perfect, but being my picky self, gave it a 9-rating instead. Why? I guess if there was a little more action then I would have given it a 10, but I honestly think it's fine the way it is. I love this movie.
OVERALL
The
slasher film that started it all. Inspired by the works of the late-great
Alfred Hitchcock, John Carpenter manages to scare the audience without
the overuse of gore or pop-up scares. No, he gets the audience by simply
using a character, whom we barely see, and show just how evil he
really is. One of the best horror films ever made. It's hard to not see
this movie, (considering it's aired on television at least once a year)
but if for some reason you haven't seen this yet... *slap*... See it now!
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Spartacus you suck, I was 12 when I first watched this and I loved it and still do and it's now up in the ranks of my all time favourite horror films and films in general, you must be high on crack 24/7 if you think everything about this movie sucks apart from the music. You must've seen the countless ripoffs and wannabes first, if so your argument is remotely reasonable seeing that they gave the film a bad name, if not you should check into movie school and learn how to get good taste.
YOU DONT MAKE ANY VALID POINTS THROUGH OUT YOUR VAGE COMMENT
ULTIMATELY YOU SAY HALLOWEEN SUCKED AND THE ONLY REASON FOR WIDE SUCCESS IS BECAUSE OF THE MUSIC?????
ITS NUMBER 1 ON THIS SITE, MAYBE ITS CUZ OF THE MUSIC??
GET OFF THE DRUGS BUDDY
YES THE MUSIC IS AMAZING BUT THATS NOT WHY PEOLE GO SEE MOVIES, YA WEIRDO
IT WAS THE HIGHEST GROSSING INDEPEDENT FILM OF THE TIME AND NOT ONLY BECAUSE OF THE MUSIC BUT BECAUSE OF EVERYTHING IS AMAZING
MUSIC, EFECTS, ACTING, DIRECTING, STORY, CINEMATOGRAPHY, ETC.
A MASTERPIECE : )
The POP UP Scares are PLENTY in this film and this movie RELIEs HEAVILY on them !!!
The acting was DEPLORABLE...even by the actors own words themselves.
What made this film work was ONE and ONLY ONE thing!
IT'S ADD CAMPAIGN.
I WAS 16 WHEN THIS FILM CAME OUT IN THEATERS
I LOVED IT
BUT LETS FACE FACTS HERE
IT SUCKED!
AT THE TIME IT WAS RELEASED THOUGH, THERE WAS ABIG LULL IN THE HORROR MOVIE GENRE AND THE PROCER, MUSTAPAHA, DID THE SMARTES THING.
HE CREATED A COMMERCIAL THAT AIRED 1 MONTH BEFORE HALOWEEN NIGHT IN WHICH THE SCENE WHERE MIKE IS LYING DOWN IN THE UPSTAIRS BEDROOM AFTER BEING SLASHED BY THE COAT HANGER BY LAURIE. HE COMES TO LIFE AND FOLLOWS HERE DOWN THE STAIRS WITH A HUGE BUTCHER KNIFE AND WHEN AUDIENCES SAW THE COMMERCILA THEY FLOCKED TO THE THEATERS IN DROVES...BECAUSE OF THE MUSIC THAT WAS PLAYING, THE SOUNDTRACK, WHILE THE MYERS CAME DOWN THOSE STAIRS.
MAKE NO MISTAKE
THE MOVIES SUCKED
BUT I DEALRY LOVE IT AS DOES EVERY TRUE FAN OF THE GENRE FOR MANY OF THE SAME REASONS YOU MENTIONED
BUT THE ACTING SUCKED
THE MOVIE SUCKED
THE ENTIRE IDEA SUCKS
BUT THE MUSIC
CARPENTER AND SOME GUY NAMES HOLLINS WORTH I THINK DID IT TOGETHER
AND THATS WHY PEOPLE RAN TO SEE IT...THE MUSIC...THE INTOR THEME IF YOU WILL...THATS WHY IT GROSSED MORE MONEY IN ONE WEEKEND THAN ANY OTHER FILM IN HISTORY AT THAT TIME
KIDS STIL LEARN THE THEME AT SCHOOL/HOME PIANO LESSONS NOW !!!
The POP UP Scares are PLENTY in this film and this movie RELIEV HEAVILY on them !!!
Look out kids....Michael's Coming!.....
Happy Halloween
the most complete horror film ever created
and as for the remake id rather watch 1-7 to be honest but it was still entertaining but not good compared to the the original horror masterpiece which is HALLOWEEN
10/10