Halloween (1978) Review

I wasn’t born in the 70s when Halloween was initially released, but it has always been a movie that has intrigued me over the years. It always felt like Michael Myers was such an ominous killer, even though I had only seen one or two of them in random order. I finally watched all of them in 2019 in order of release. I was sure I wouldn’t get into the first movie, considering it was so low-budget and made so long ago. That wasn’t the case. Halloween (1978) is undoubtedly considered one of, if not the most influential, horror movies ever made.

Pioneer

Many people believe that Halloween was the first slasher movie ever made. In reality, that’s not the truth at all. There were movies like Black Christmas and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre that came out well before Halloween. However, it laid the groundwork for much of the methodology seen in more modern slasher films. There’s an invincible masked killer who never speaks, a vulnerable group of women with a standout heroine, the killer camera, and the way the killer appears and vanishes in an instant. It’s unlike anything that came before it, and it paved the way for many successful franchises that came after it, like Friday the 13th, Scream, A Nightmare on Elm Street (in some respects), and many more.

Story

Halloween (1978) centers around the masked killer Michael Myers. We first see Michael as an 8-year-old boy stabbing his sister to death, which we see through his own eyes. It’s an unsettling scene that sets the tone for the movie as Michael is institutionalized. His doctor, Samuel Loomis, played by the amazing Donald Pleasence, describes him as pure evil and believes he should never be let loose. Michael eventually escapes by stealing a car, returning to his old neighborhood in Haddonfield, and spying on his childhood house. That’s where he starts to stalk a group of teenage girls, eventually killing them methodically one by one.

Characters

Michael Myers

If you haven’t seen this movie, it’s hard to understand why Michael Myers is such an incredibly compelling villain. It’s not the fact that he’s an expressionless, voiceless stalker that makes him so scary. There have been plenty of villains like that in cinematic history. It’s the fact that there is no motive, no reason for his killings. We don’t get any explanation (in this film) for his actions. He’s just a brutal killing machine that can’t be stopped. This figure slowly and deliberately eliminates character after character with little more than a nod of the head as he examines the aftermath of his work. How he can appear and disappear out of thin air is also fantastic. There are moments when you see him stalking characters in the distance, and there are other moments when you just see his mask’s silhouette. That mechanic outfit and mask are so simple yet so haunting. He is easily my favorite slasher of all time.

Dr. Loomis

Dr. Samuel Loomis plays a big part in the mystique of Michael Myers as a character in Halloween (1978). Whenever Loomis was on screen, I felt drawn into every word he spoke. “I met this 6-year-old child with this blank, pale, emotionless face and the blackest eyes. The devil’s eyes.” How can you not be instantly interested in this evil character after a sentence like that? “I watched him for 15 years, sitting in a room staring at a wall, not seeing the wall, looking past the wall, looking at this night, inhumanly patient.” That sets the tone for the events about to transpire in the film and gives Michael an aura I don’t think he could have ever had on his own. I feel that Donald Pleasence is the second most important character in the entire film.

Laurie Strode

We were given ample time to get to know the three leading women in the movie: Annie, Laurie, and Lynda. I wasn’t very attached to any of them and didn’t feel like they were all that likable, but I might be in the minority there. It’s interesting to note that it wasn’t clear which of these girls would live or die, as is typically the case in most slasher films. In the role of Laurie, Jamie Lee Curtis emerges as the standout and plays a significant role in building up the suspense alongside Michael. The moment she sees Michael standing between the clothes hanging on the line outside and then does a double-take when he’s gone is such an iconic moment in the series’ history. Laurie is probably the most likable character of the three women, and one you want to root for when she’s in peril in an excellent chase scene with Michael, full of false endings.

Atmosphere

I enjoy the subtleties of this film. There’s a scene where the girls are listening to “Don’t Fear The Reaper” on the radio while being unknowingly tailed by Michael Myers. It’s Halloween in Haddonfield, yet not every house is decorated as seen in a modern film. It feels like an authentic setting, and I think that’s one of the reasons Halloween is so scary at times. It feels like it could be your very own neighborhood. This isn’t a film that has kill after kill, either. There are only a handful of deaths in the entire movie. The fear of what Michael might do next or where he might pop up makes it truly scary.

Music

I can’t review this movie without mentioning how good the music is. The Halloween theme song is incredible and probably my favorite piece of music in cinema history. It evokes a specific type of emotion when you hear it. I can say the same about the sound effects heard throughout the film. When tension rises, sharp sound effects come out of nowhere and startle you. The music and sounds pull this movie together and make it a masterpiece.

Final Thoughts

If you haven’t seen Halloween (1978), please check it out this Halloween season. If you have reservations because you think this film hasn’t aged well, I can assure you that it is still very watchable today. I revisit it each year and enjoy it more with each viewing.