Tag Line : The Night HE Came Home.
Without doubt, THE greatest horror film of
all time, and my own personal favourite. Mental patient Micheal
Myers escapes from an Illinois State mental Hospital, after 15
years of incarceration for the brutal murder of his Sister one
Halloween Night. Micheal returns to his home town of Haddonfield
to relive his crime, and carry out more bloody executions. Night
time falls, and what happens next is a reign of terror, as the
unsuspecting townsfolk fall prey to the unseen killer who's
lurking in the shadows.
Knowing what Micheal has planned for his old town, his therapist, Doctor Loomis ( played by the notable British actor Donald Pleasance ) heads over to Haddonfield and begins a frantic search with the local Police to try and stop him. Meanwhile, young Laurie Strode ( Jamie Lee Curtis in one of her earlier roles ) has made a shocking discovery in the house opposite, and finds herself as Myers next potential victim.
Expertly directed by John Carpenter, this is an excellent horror film, that's still unbeaten by the many modern day horrors that have come out since. The film manages to shock, scare and make you jump, without resorting to blood and gore. The chilling music and the clever camera work, showing Micheal appearing, then dissapearing in the background of each shot, whilst his next victim carries on unawares, makes for an air of tension unlike any other horror film I have seen since.
An excellent film, with a great cast and a chilling score.
Overall marks : 10/10
Other Information. The original title for the film was " The Baby Sitter Murders" until John Carpenter was brought in to direct, and suggested the change. The name of Donald Pleasance's character, Sam Loomis, was taken from the name of Marion Crane's boyfriend in the film "Psycho". The original mask that Myers wore was actually a "Captain Kirk" mask sprayed white. Apparently, the reason for this was the crew were having extreme difficulty finding a suitable halloween mask, as the movie was actually being filmed during the Spring. The part of Myers was played by Nick Castle, an acquaintance of Carpenters, and was listed in the credits as "The Shape". The actor listed in the credits as Myers, Tony Moran, just doubled for the unmasking scene. When the film was shown on the US TV networks they insisted on cutting some of the murder scenes, John Carpenter was asked to film some additional scenes to help pad out the running time which he did using the film crew from Halloween 2. These included several scenes of Loomis confronting the young Myers in his cell, and of Loomis having a meeting with the institute case review board. In addition the US TV version had a slightly differant ending, in which you don't actually see Loomis shoot Myers, instead all the gunshots are heard from outside the house. This was also used for the the flashback intro to "Halloween 2". Both version of this film are available on a special collectors 2 disc set from the UK branch of Anchor Bay. Sam Loomis's car was actually John Carpenter's and the Phelps Garage truck belonged to the catering company. Nick Castle went on to direct several childrens movies, most notably "The Last Starfighter" which starred Lance Guest from part 2 and Dan O'Herily from part 3. weird or what? |
Video Clips. Requires RealPlayer. Theatrical trailer (863KB). |
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Buy the video from Blackstar. Buy the Widescreen video from Blackstar. Buy the 2 disc DVD special edition (featuring both theatrical and TV versions) from Blackstar. Notes on affiliate sites. |
Other films in the series.
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