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 town's hormonally charged youths. Director John Carpenter takes this simple situation and orchestrates a superbly mounted symphony of horrors. It's 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 movie's 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 Gavin's character in Psycho. In the end, though, Halloween stands on its own as an uncannily frightening experience--it's one of those movies that had audiences literally jumping out of their seats and shouting at the screen. ("No! Don't 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 returned for two more installments: 1981's dismal Halloween II, which picked up the story the day after the unfortunate events, and 1998's occasionally gripping Halloween H20, which proved the former baby sitter was still haunted after 20 years. --Robert Horton
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: Love it! Comment: An old classic now better than ever. I bought as a gift for my son.
He loves it. Customer Rating: Summary: WOW. Super improvement. Comment: I watched the movie and was quite impressed at how great it looked for such an old movie. I popped in my old regular dvd and WOW! Man was it poor quality. This Blu-ray rocks! Customer Rating: Summary: Halloween. What else can be said?. Comment: I think HALLOWEEN has been around so long that nothing new can be said about it. It is a classic and shall forever be. I was a senior in high school when it came out. It has forever changed the Halloween season for me. I cannot imagine Halloween without HALLOWEEN. I think it has a lot more meaning for us "older" kids. Just like DAWN OF THE DEAD, FRIDAY THE 13th, CARRIE, and my personal favorite, THE SHINING. they were all pioneer movies. The music and the mood of these films will never be matched, copied, yes. I highly recommend all five of these movies. There are alot of other decent horror movies out also, but if I want to "go back in time", I just pop in one of these and let the memories & goosebumps start. Customer Rating: Summary: Very Impressed Comment: I've watched this movie many times over the years. It's creepy and scary, yet it has no gore. If you like horror classics with a good, creepy score, rent it. You'll be satisfied. I would like to buy it and you might, too! Customer Rating: Summary: An absolute masterpiece of Terror!!! Comment: This DVD, released last year, is an absolutely terrific representation of John Carpenter's vision of terror in a suburban setting. The picture is nice and crisp, thanks to THX, the sound and video system developed by Lucasfilm, a great restoration of this true classic of horror. In the film, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is terrorized by the man who later is found out to be her brother, Michael Myers, an unstoppable juggernaut of a masked killer. Myers is pursued by his Doctor, Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance in a very memorable role), who seems to encounter hints of Myers' evil as he chases him down to attempt to apprehend or kill him. 30 years later, this film still does not disappoint to frighten everyone. But hey, as Sheriff Leigh Brackett points out, "Everyone's entitled to one good scare." Plus there is a terrific behind the scenes featurette, along with cast bio and behind-the-scenes photos. Get this one if you can. 5 stars!!!
