Horror classics: Halloween

Last week, we looked at older Hitchcock classic The Birds, which inspired the creation of many other horror movies in the years following its release. This week, we skip to the 70s and look at possibly one of the most famous slashers of its time. One cannot look at classic horror movies– particularly in the slasher genre– without acknowledging the 1978 movie Halloween, the movie that brought mass popularity to the genre. Directed by John Carpenter, it stars Jamie Lee Curtis as protagonist Laurie Strode in her first-ever film debut, as well as Nick Castle playing the iconic villain Michael Myers. In the film, Myers– fifteen years after murdering his sister/babysitter as a child– escapes a sanitarium and returns to his hometown to terrorize the local residents. Strode, a babysitter as well, is forced to try to escape his grasp and fight off the villain, defending both herself and her friends from his attacks.

Halloween’s origin is not particularly unique; in an interview, Irwin Yablans admitted that he had come up with the idea in a dream. He got in contact with writer John Carpenter and agreed to finance him– with a meager budget of 300,000 dollars– to write and produce the film. However, what is truly special about this movie is how much of an impact it had on the genre. Despite its low budget and relative lack of famous names in the cast, it became the most profitable independent film of all time, and retained the title until 1999. It is also regularly seen as the movie that brought the slasher genre into prominence, and brought main actor Jamie Lee Curtis into the limelight as a Hollywood star. It resulted in the creation of 12 other movies– 8 of which brought Curtis back to reprise her role as Laurie Strode– and 1 other that will come out in 2022.

Two parts of what made Halloween so thrilling were the soundtrack and the cinematography. The classic theme, written by John Carpenter, is extremely simplistic– mostly just a synth piano tune, played in a 10/8 signature– but is considered one of the most iconic horror themes; Carpenter stated that it was inspired by other horror classics Suspiria and The Exorcist, which may have contributed to the sense of dread that the tune inspires. The sudden occurrence of the score in the beginning of the movie makes the viewer jump, and its simple eeriness forces a feeling of suspense that continues throughout the film. The cinematography also contributes to this dread, particularly in the iconic opening scene. Filmed in first person, the audience watches from the view of a young Michael Myers in a nearly 4 minute unbroken shot, with his only sounds being heavy breathing before the discordant synth track takes over. We stare into a window, identifying his next victims, before he retrieves a knife and a mask– which distorts both his vision and the camera’s view– and murders his sister Judith. It is only until he has left the house and walked outside that the camera changes, revealing the murderer to be a young boy and giving us our first view (one of the only views) of Myers’ face.

One final but important aspect of Halloween to note is its arguably feminist or misogynistic stance. The film begins with the murder of Myers’ sister, which occurs after he sees her naked in her room; as the movie continues, he kills Strode’s two female friends, both after they are seen with or going to get their boyfriends. Some critics consider this to be problematic in its association of sexuality with death, which is often seen in later slashers, where more sexual female characters die early and the main female character, who is often an established virgin, is the only survivor. Carpenter explicitly expressed his disagreement with this analysis, arguing that he was not trying to make that association– or pass some kind of judgment on teenage sexuality– and instead was trying to depict more accurate and down-to-earth characters. Many other critics believe that this attempt was, in fact, successful; Halloween has been touted by some as a feminist film due to the position of Strode as a strong, clever, female protagonist. She survives Myers due to her quick thinking and protects several children while doing so, allowing her to become a fixture in other movies throughout the franchise. Even the other girls, though not survivors, are seen by these critics as a positive part of the movie: producer Debra Hill helped to write their dialogue, ensuring that the 3 teenage female leads were more authentic and relatable to the audience.

Regardless of its misogynist-feminist discourse, Halloween is truly an incredibly iconic horror movie, which sparked a massive boom in the popularity of slashers as well as being an early example of independent films reaching a wide audience. The score, cinematography, and characters are all fantastic and lead to a great sense of dread, and though some parts may be cheesy, this is a truly great film to watch if you’re a fan of the classics. I would rank this a 9/10, and highly recommend that you watch!