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The Bar => The Lounge => Topic started by: movie buff on October 27, 2011, 06:55:30 PM

Title: Movie buff's October Monster- Fest: Halloween
Post by: movie buff on October 27, 2011, 06:55:30 PM
Hi, moviegoers, welcome back to my Monster- Fest!
Now, we’ll be entering into my final theme for this month: Halloween itself, movies and other related things that I consider closely connected to All Hallow's Eve. I can think of no better way to start this than by looking at the original ‘Halloween.’ Made in 1978, directed by John Carpenter, and starring Donald Pleasance and Jamie Lee Curtis (In her breakout film role, no less), this is considered one of the most successful independent films of all time, spawned a total of 10 films (Including the Rob Zombie remake and its sequel) and really helped bring about the birth of the slasher- film subgenre.
We open (After an awesome opening- credits sequence) with young Michael Myers murdering his older sister Judith on Halloween night in 1963, with that part told from a brilliantly- staged POV view.
From there, the story jumps ahead to October 30th, 1978. Dr. Loomis (Pleasance), Myers’ therapist, is taking a new nurse to the mental hospital where Myers was being held and is at the moment up for parole or transfer. However, Myers breaks out of the mental hospital, releasing all the other mental patients along the way to help cover his escape, and stealing the nurse’s car to get back to his hometown of Haddonfield. He changes from his asylum outfit to the jumpsuit of a mechanic he kills, and a creepy white mask (Apparently a William Shatner mask painted white). We cut to our heroine, Laurie Strode (Curtis), who is preparing to babysit young Tommy on Halloween, and her vivacious friends Annie and Lynda are planning big hookups a few houses down from where she’ll be. All that day, Laurie, her friends, and briefly Tommy are stalked by Myers from his new car. You know that when the sun goes down, every one of them is going to be on his “To kill” list. Loomis tries to alert every relevant law enforcement agent he can to the danger Myers poses, but they all a) don’t believe him, or b) underestimate how deadly Myers really is.
When night falls, Myers continues stalking and following them before finally starting to kill them. All the while, Dr. Loomis and a local cop are trying to stake out Myers’ old house, and prepare for when he comes back. It all builds up to when Michael finally sets his sights on Laurie, the one who’s been his real target all along (Though you don’t find out why until the sequel).
I can only think of a couple problems I had with ‘Halloween’: One is that the friend Lynda came across as being too dopey/ flaky, and says ‘Totally’ way too often. The other concerns a scene in which Laurie and Annie are driving to the neighborhood where they will each be babysitting, while Michael follows them in his own car. Even though he was following them very closely for a long period, the girls never seem to notice him or suspect a thing. I thought that was a bit unrealistic.
Of course, there is a LOT to like about ‘Halloween.’ This is a truly scary film. It really does keep you on the edge of your seat. As the babysitters go about looking after their respective charges and dealing with various other things that night, you know Michael Myers is out there, just waiting to pounce. They also do a good job building up suspense about Michael Myers. There’s the scenes with Dr. Loomis talking about how purely evil Michael is to help build suspense, then for much of the movie’s first half, you only see little bits of Michael (i.e. His shoulder, the back of his head) as he’s stalking everyone, to further add to his mystery. The camera work is wonderful, too, especially near the end.
Another good point to make about ‘Halloween’ is its music. Its theme song (Composed by John Carpenter) remains in my opinion the most memorable/ iconic horror theme of all time other than possibly the theme from ‘Jaws.’ The rest of the music, when used, works out great too, sometimes to build up suspense, other times to make Myers’ sudden attacks that much more likely to make you jump out of your seat. On the subject of music, another nice touch in that regard occurs somewhat early in the film; During the scene when Laurie and Annie are driving to the neighborhood where they will be babysitting, the song playing on their car radio is ‘Don’t Fear the Reaper.’ Very nice bit of foreshadowing for what will happen later in the film.
As far as performances go, Donald Pleasance is of course great as Dr. Loomis. A Van Helsing- esque character, strong and stoic in spite of his age, determined to stop Michael at all costs. Even in the more subpar sequels, Pleasance’s performances were usually the best parts of the films. Jamie Lee Curtis does a wonderful job as Laurie. She’s a smart, caring young woman, her interactions with young Tommy are nice to see, and although she’s obviously terrified of everything she’s going through (Especially in the last third or so of the movie), she also proves to be immensely brave and determined to protect Tommy as well as herself. She makes for a great unlikely heroine.
And so, there you have ‘Halloween.’ A wonderful classic recommended to all who may not have seen it (AMC will be playing it a couple more times over the next few days, and it can be viewed for free at the film’s imdb page.
See you guys tomorrow!
Title: Re: Movie buff's October Monster- Fest: Halloween
Post by: Karin on October 28, 2011, 10:21:50 AM
I have the theme playing on my lights around my door!  That is such an iconic tune.  I heard that Carpenter actually played it himself, since they were on such a tight budget. 

Another iconic tune is the one from The Exorcist.