"The night he came home"

Halloween is easily one of the most influential movies of our time, as it was this that inspired Friday the 13th, and it was basically that movie and its sequels movies that inspired the 80’s slasher boom, which we are suffering regurgitation’s from today. With absolute unmitigated shit like “I Know what you did last summer” and countless other smart arse slasher movies filling seats in the multi plexus.

Donald Pleasence as Loomis and Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie

But John Carpenters Halloween had style and substance and didn’t rely on tedious pop culture references and hip young wooden stars to carry his picture along. All he had was a gem of a simplistic story and his own inimitable talent. Set in the fictional town of Haddonfeild, Illinois, it tells the story of the night murderer Michael Myers “came home”, which he does after escaping from a mental institution. Hot on his case is Dr Loomis, played by Donald Pleasance, who is determined to get him back to the asylum and keep him there for good as he believes Myers to be pure evil, as Myers was put away as a child for murdering his own sister. We also meet Laurie Strode, played brilliantly by “Scream queen” Jamie Lee Curtis, in this, her first role. Myers follows Laurie on her way home from school and she becomes more nervous by the second. But by the time she has to baby sit at night she has tried to put it to the back of her mind. One by one her friends are killed until she is the only one left. Will Loomis catch up with Myers? Will he get to Laurie before Michael does? Why is Michael after Laurie? Carpenters direction in Halloween is truly superb. With its slow moving point of view stedi-cam shots, and lingering, unnerving atmosphere, it really is a joy to watch. It’s like a film making master class.

Although I must add that Halloween does seem heavily influenced to a little known Canadian slasher flick by Bob Clark called Black Christmas, which was made a few years before. Funnily enough, Clark was actually planning a sequel to Black Christmas in which that movies killer is caught and put in an insane asylum but escapes to reek yet more havoc. Clark is said not to mind about Halloween being so similar, and he and carpenter are good friends anyway, and were at one time going to collaborate on a movie together. God I wish that had happened because I’m a big fan of both these movies.

Another thing to note is that the infamous mask that Myers dons in the movie is actually a cast from a Captain Kirk star trek mask. And you’ll notice that throughout the Halloween sequels, the mask never looks quite the same as the original. If you haven’t seen this movie then what are you waiting for? Get yourself a copy witness two of horror true icons at work, John Carpenter and “The Shape” himself, Michael Myers.

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Credit: Pictures HOUSE OF HORRORS.COM