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Poster (c) Anchor Bay Entertainment
Each of the three pivotal teen slasher movies had one rising star. A Nightmare on Elm Street had Johnny Depp, Friday the 13th had Kevin Bacon, and Halloween had Jamie Lee Curtis. While the former two were just side characters, undeveloped and there for slaying, Curtis was given the lead role of Laurie Strode (her first movie role, too). And, amazingly enough, she performs quite well. The rest of the movie doesn’t perform as well, though.
Michael Myers (Tony Moran) killed his sister when he was six years old, and then locked up in a mental institution for fifteen years. He escapes and returns to his hometown, where babysitting highschool/thirty-year-old Laurie (Curtis) is. Myers proceeds to wreck havoc on the town for no reason at all…well, he doesn’t really wreck havoc, all he does is indiscreetly murder a few people while Jamie Lee Curtis screams.
I’ve heard this referred to as being “the scariest movie ever,” blah blah blah. There was almost no horror to it; the way director John Carpenter sets it up is so blasé and dull. He didn’t create any tension leading up to anything: all he did was have a couple murders, a bland sex scene, and young kids. Usually those three things can be put together for an entertaining ride, but here they don’t add up to anything.
Technically, however, Halloween was good, considering its small budget. Its cinematography was almost too good for the movie itself. Many shots seemed like on take, and the angles were impressive. I’ve always liked when first person shots were done, and many times we saw things from Michael Myers’s point of view, which was more impressive, too.
On the other hand, not only was it not scary, but it wasn’t believable. I know that movies weren’t as violent back then, but there was absolutely no blood throughout the entire movie. I’m not much of a gore hound, but I actually wanted some to add some authenticity. When someone is stabbed, blood comes out, whether the knife is taken out or not. Also, I find it kind of sad when I know more about and care about the cold-blooded killer than the heroine. The character of Laurie is not only the world’s worst babysitter but isn’t a pleasant character. I almost hope that Carpenter remakes this movie.
One thing I abhor about movies like this is that they almost know that there’s going to be multiple sequels, so they don’t explain everything, especially about Michael. I won’t be seeing the sequels, that’s for sure, so I would have liked to know what actually happened. Then again, that’s some clever plot to make me see them. Although I may grow to like it more, which I probably will, Halloween is not the horror classic everyone makes it out to believe.
Rated R for scary situations?
Review Date: October 17, 2003