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know it's hard to believe, but I've never seen John
Carpenter's "Halloween". Yes, I admit it. Despite my affinity for Teen
Slasher films of all stripes and budgets, I'm sorry to say that I've never sat
down to watch what many consider to be the seminal work in Teen Slashers.
Personally I blame it on my status as a "child of the '90s", and as
such I grew up on "Halloween's" terrible sequels, which had the effect
of making me not want to watch the franchise's earlier films. The original
"Halloween" came out in 1978, but the conventions it established is
still being imitated ad nauseam to this very day.
Then newcomer Jamie Lee Curtis ("True
Lies") plays Laurie Strode, a teen in a sleepy suburban town that
believes a shadowy figure is stalking her. The figure is Michael Myers, a
brooding killer in a white mask, who murdered his sister 15 years ago and has
just recently escaped the custody of one Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence). Back at
his old stomping grounds, and just in time for Halloween, Myers is set to kill
all over again. As Halloween night arrives, Laurie finds herself babysitting
young Tommy Doyle (Brian Andrews), who claims he saw the "bogeyman" at
the house across the street, where Laurie's friend and fellow babysitter Annie
(Nancy Kyes) starts to take off her clothes...
The rule of thumb in every Teen Slasher film is that the
promiscuous characters die first. Sex is the kiss of death and taking your
clothes off is like characters in a vampire movie taking off their cross. Our
Fair Hair Lead is guaranteed survival because she's not only virginal, but she's
a nerd to boot. She has no social life to speak of, and her friends kid that she
must have a fortune in babysitting money because she spends all her free nights
babysitting instead of going out. Besides Annie, the other friend/victim is
Lynda (P.J. Soles), who has a bad habit of saying "totally" like,
totally all the time. In fact, the late '70s dialogue is pretty funny.
Did "Halloween" scare me? Well, no, for the
simple reason that I have seen so many horror films from so many continents that
a Teen Slasher movie can only elicit two responses from me: I will either be
thrilled that the movie did what it did well, or not. "Halloween"
thrilled me, but at the same time it didn't impress me, mostly because the film
uses all the usual tricks of the trade. Of course the irony doesn't escape me
that I'm faulting "Halloween" for using conventions when it's the
movie that defined those conventions in the first place. This
"negative", if you can call it that, is purely the result of
hindsight, so take it with a grain of salt.
For the most part "Halloween" is a bloodless
affair. Carpenter isn't interested in gore and there's very little blood
throughout, even when Myers impales a victim with a butcher knife and embeds the
poor sap to the wall. Most of the dead teens are seen post-mortem, but they're
always dressed and, again, it's all very bloodless. Not that the movie is less
effective for it. If anything, it makes the film more interesting, especially
since it allows us to imagine the killings instead of having it exposed in gory
detail. Also of note is Carpenter's fantastic use of shadows and darkness to
hide, reveal, and stage the killings. Shadows have never looked more deadly.
Which isn't to say "Halloween" is a perfect film.
The acting is palatable, if a bit weak all around. Fair Hair Lead Curtis has
little to do until the film's final 15 minutes, when she, as dictated by genre
conventions, must go head-to-head with the killer by unleashing her Inner
Badass. The treat is franchise star Donald Pleasence, whose character basically
goes around making grand pronouncements about evil. Ironically, Loomis makes the
type of statements that would make an unbiased third party think he's rather,
well, loony. Regardless, Pleasence is great in the role, and it's easy to see
how he became such a favorite among genre fans.
On the negative side, the script seems to have little
ambition beyond its limited "killer on the loose" scenario. I'm told
that future sequels do expose the reasons behind Michael Myers' murdering spree,
but if one only had the original to go by, there will be a lot of head
scratching. In fact, Myers' targeting of Laurie seems to be random luck (or bad
luck, to her). He goes after her friends first, and then only comes after her
when she stumbles into his nest. And what was the point of the sheriff character
again? Oh right, so someone can listen to Loomis spout his crazy talk.
From a purely technical level, "Halloween" is a
treat. Besides the visuals, there's that familiar theme, composed by Carpenter
himself. It's so simple, and yet just so memorable, and so darn effective. With
the possible exception of the "Terminator"
theme, the "Halloween" theme just might be the most memorable theme
music ever. Also, Carpenter uses a lot of first-person perspectives and
what could be called "cheap" synthesizer music to inject a sense of
dread into almost every scene of the movie. Even a sequence of Laurie walking to
school is atmospheric to the nth degree.
Is "Halloween" scary? Not to me. But it is very
thrilling, and to me that's the height of success for a Teen Slasher.
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