Halloween (1978): A psychotic murderer institutionalized since childhood escapes on a mindless rampage while his doctor chases him through the streets.
For some reason I’ve never seen this film. I’ve heard so much about it, but I never felt very interested in it. I’ve seen many other horror movies, just not this one or any of its 8 sequels.
I rectified this because I really felt left out. Watching this almost 30 years later is obviously a very different experience, so I hope I won’t upset anyone with this review.
You probably guessed I was a little bit disappointed. The expectations were too high, and this is an old movie, so my sensibilities are very different.
I liked the first scene, with Michael as a kid. The POV shots from behind the mask was very effective, and when they pull off the mask it was a shock to me.
After that it was all build up and introducing the characters and their situation. We would see Mike from behind him, but never seeing his face. I liked that camera choice a lot.
It wasn’t very clear why Mike was after Laurie, apart from the fact that she was his sister. But why kill your own relatives? A bigger problem though was why did he have to kill everybody around her, before killing her?
The fact that he doesn’t run bugged me a little bit, but since he’s insane I guess that’s ok. The mask was a good twist, I kept wondering why he looked deformed.
As much as I like the theme music (it is one of the most recognizable), I thought they played it too many times, especially in the first half of the movie, when it was just build up. Maybe it’s because I already knew that theme, but I was distracted by it whenever it was playing.
Don’t get me wrong, I did like this film, it did scare me. I just didn’t fully satisfy my expectations. However I am not interested in watching any of the sequels, I really don’t think I need any more.
Thanks to the Hollywood Saloon podcast I won’t have to. They produced a great episode all about the Halloween movies, so I know all about them without needing to watch them. The only one that I might watch is H20, because it seems to give a definitive ending to the franchise.
Rating: 3 Stars