Halloween is directed by John Carpenter and stars Jamie Lee Curtis as Lori Strode a young high school girl who is babysitting on Halloween night while also hanging out with her school friends but an evil presence has descended upon their night in the form of Michael Myers and Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance) is the only one who knows how evil he really is.
Halloween is a very effective horror film that I found very refreshing to watch for three reasons:
- First is John Carpenter’s direction, score and screenplay also co written by Debra Hill the two of them really take the time to both develop the main characters, build up the menace of Michael and the dread of when he will strike and the way the 3 strands of the storytelling play out is well handled by Carpenter in his direction and though it can be a little long before the killing happens it is very well done and all the more shocking when it happens as it isn’t thrown at you in a cheap jump scare like we see so often today.
- Secondly the performances are really good here, Jamie Lee Curtis is effective as Lori both as a young girl in school and as someone who is thrown into this horrifying home invasion while also trying to protect the 2 children under her care, in many ways I was reminded of Linda Hamilton in the first Terminator movie an innocent girl living her life then caught up in a horrifying situation.
Donald Pleasance is also very good here as Dr. Loomis the doctor who tried to bring Michael back to sanity but failed and is now trying to make sure he doesn’t kill anyone else one scene he has with a local sheriff is really effective.
- And lastly Michael Myers is a terrific villain, he has no dialogue, no face save for that mask and yet he is so good at instilling terror and feat wherever he goes that when Carpenter is moving his camera around it instils this sense of dread and tension in regards to when and where he will strike next and this was so refreshing to watch as today he’d be another evil creature with some apparatus that is the subject of endless jump scares, quick cuts and LOUD NOISES ON THE SOUND MIX!
And so that was Halloween a really really good horror film that is highly recommend, 4 out of 5.
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