The holiday claim is crap because the approach to the holiday is completely different in both films. 'The killer whose face you never see'? For one, the Shape is masked. Two, you do see his face. The breathing is also handled in an entirely different way. Billy's excited, crazy. The Shape is much more composed.

Hmm, its easily one of the most boring, the original is better, but neither are masterpieces. They have some suspense, but not enough to be good. Its good for the last five years though.

Legendary film critic/sometime bitch Pauline Kael on Halloween:

John Carpenter, who made this low-budget scare picture, has a visual sense of menace, but he isn't very gifted with actors, and he doesn't seem to have any feeling at all for motivation or for plot logic. An escaped lunatic wielding a kitchen knife stalks people in a small Midwestern town, and that's about it. There's no indication of why he selects any particular target; he's the bogeyman-pure evil-and he wants to kill. The film is largely just a matter of the camera tracking subjectively, from the mad killer's point of view, leading you to expect something awful to happen. But the camera also tracks subjectively when he isn't around at all; in fact, there's so much subjective tracking you begin to think everybody in the movie has his own camera. HALLOWEEN keeps you nervous and jumpy rather than pleasurably excited. Yet it has been a huge box-office success and a lot of people seem to be convinced that it's a classic. Maybe when a horror film is stripped of everything but nightmarish dumb scariness and sudden shocks it satisfies part of the audience in a more basic, childish way than sophisticated horror pictures do.

She didn't sound at all pompous.

Halloween is a true masterpiece when it comes to it. It may not be the first of its kind, if you want to be technical, both TCM and Psycho, and even And Then There were none came before, even your precious Black Christmas. There were slasher films quite before, and they were good, but Carpenter did something and combined what can only be the ultimate slasher. The one thing that is different between all of these movies, that sometmes lack atmosphere, characters, good acting, suspense, music, Halloween has all of them. Thats the one thing however that always took Carpenter to another level, he put absolute passion into his earlier work, he wrote them, directed them, and composed them. His films always should a certain love to take horror to another level, and on at least 3 occasions, he succeeded, and this is absolutley one of them.

A+++++

First of its kind, first by being a great slasher, and quite possibly the last of its kind. Not even the beloved Friday the 13th, or Nightmare on Elm Street came close to capturing what Carpenter first did.

One of the top 5 horror films ever made.

Friday the 13th is classless trash. The first, I mean. I think three of the sequels (2, 4, and 6) are quite good.

I agree with Lec on the whole Black Christmas/Halloween thing.

To me, Black Christmas is both the better made film, and the scarier film. The acting and screenplay in Halloween aint that great. Yeah, Carpenter is an absolute visual genius (and Halloween is his finest moment), but Bob Clark isn't a slouch, either. The lighting and use of camera angels in Black Christmas is superb, and simply unmatched in slasher films.

Black Christmas is one of those rare horror films for me that trenscends it's genre and becomes one of my favorite films of all time. I appreciate Halloween for it's technical prowess and Carpenter's beautiful frame, but I generally find it to be semi-overrated, at least in terms of it's supposed effectiveness.

As for the first F13 -- this is one thing that Dark Shape and I agree on constantly -- it's fucking terrible.

Not a big fan of the original Friday either, but 2,3,4,6 are very well made films.

Not a big fan of the original Friday either, but 2,3,4,6 are very well made films.

I just finished watching BLACK CHRISTMAS just yesterday and what really makes that movie eerie is the phone calls and how the Killer is able to display all those voices like he did.. Everything from a crying Baby to a woman.. You name it.. This guy was sick and it was fantastic that you never saw the Killer except that shot of his eye behind the door that looked wicked.. Because of how good this movie is, I'm predicting right now that the BLACK CHRISTMAS Remake due out this December 25th will SUCK SUCK SUCK to High Heaven for the mere fact that it's set in present day and they want to focus more on Billy and what makes him tick.. This is NOT a good thig to do is show us the Killer and with Caller I.D, how the hell is this gonna work??? That's what made the 74 movie so creepy was the phone calls..

The original Friday was okay. Not terrible, not too good either. Then again, I'd put Halloween only slightly ahead

Nightnare on the Elm Street is leaps and bounds ahead of the two.

Halloween is a masterpiece of horror IMO, one of the ten best horror films ever, the opening scene with the first person view is fucking great, one of the best openings ever.IMO Psyco is the pioneer in slasher films.

Then you must be deaf and blind, unable to register things on screen

Yep pretty overrated movie. I liked the beginning with the little boy but the rest was nothing special, imo. C

I had a longer review typed out later, but I lost by accident. Anyways...

A-

Excellent. What strikes me about Halloween is that unlike say Nightmare, this is a storyline that at the end of the day could happen to you, it's grounded and realistic. In Elm Street, Freddy is an ingenious character, but at the end of the day you know it's a fantasy horror, you never have any doubt that it is impossible. But in Halloween, however sick and twisted Myers may be, he's a regular man, an escaped serial killer on your street, something that is far from the realm of impossibility, this film takes itself very seriously, and I think that works well in it's favor. The persona of Michael Myers, with the child backstory, and the escape plot, is one of the most terrifying in horror history, because he seems real, the feeling of a masked man arriving at your house and attempting to kill you like that is frightening indeed. The way that the movie unfolds, with that aspect, is what makes it one of the scariest movies I have ever seen.

I have to commend Carpenter on his filmmaking skills here. The cinematography is perfect really, from the intro POV shot, to the long shots of Michael looking in on the houses, to the shadows as he stalks his victims, to the brutal kills. The film has an atmosphere to it, it jumps out at you. Really, you can't find a much better directed horror film than this, he is flying on all cylinders. The script is fairly tight, again with the plotline, as well as the character devlepment, and Pleasence's monologues, it definitley is a strong aspect. In terms of quality filmmaking, this is miles ahead of almost any other horror I have seen, I love The Ring, but it is not created in a quality way like this.

My few criticisms are that it is a little slow with the buildup, and the ending was a bit too abrupt. Also, I guess it's because the movie has been copied so much, the victims running thing seemed a bit predictable and seen it already tons, though that is no fault of it's own, though I can't ignore it.

Watched it again tonight, and damn is the acting bad.

It still gets props for being suspenseful, the always wonderful score, and the setting - this movie is Halloween. I always have fun watching it, even if it isn't the classic most make it out to be.

B-

I was going to let the Friday criticism slide, but not Halloween. The acting is bad? By whom? Donald Pleasance? Jamie Lee Curtis? Not sure what you mean. This is a classic horror film and one of the 25 best films ever. IMO.

Jamie Lee? Who offers muffled cries to a cheap microphone? I really like her, but she didn't have much to work with here. And it shows.

Pretty much the whole cast screamed B movie. Pleasance was also unremarkable. I still like the film, don't get me wrong! I'd say it is one of the best horror films that I actually *enjoy* watching and perhaps the most iconic. Then again, I don't know jack about the genre.

Genre-defining horror film, but it's neither underrated or overrated - it's just good. It's pretty much the definitive Halloween film, and the one that I think of whenever I think of the holiday. Carpenter's direction is terrific; his ability with a camera is never questioned, as some of the shots are very impressive and the film is that much scarier because of it. The Shape is a terrifying horror icon, and the character is never scarier than he is in this film. Furthermore, the music is one of the best horror scores ever. But the film is merely good; the main reason is the acting and the dialogue. Pleasance is unremarkable, but he's easily the best of the cast: everybody else are terribly wooden, and their lines are cringe-worthy because of it. I don't know if its the writing or the acting, but the dialogue is incredibly bad. The superb atmosphere manages to overcome it, but this is not one of the best horror films of all time.

Best

Horror

Movie

Ever

I thought this movie was loved by all. I watched it today, and I didn't find much to like. Other than the music and fantastic visuals. : (

I was just about to be like WTF? cause I thought this thread was for the 07 movie lol.

Halloween is a classic horror film that doesn't get old. Too bad the much anticipated remake couldn't live up to the originals standard.


A-

Still a classic example of true horror. Carpenter has made many brilliant choices here, among them is the aknowledgement that suggestion and atmosphere is superior to any "money shot", and is essencial to truly make the audience nervous. And of course, the fact that we have no real explanation to either Michael's psychotic behaviour or why he's stalking these people in particular is by itself, unsettling.

30 years later, this is still the perfect choice for a Halloween evening.

Saw this is a shockingly full (by Covid standards) theater on Friday. It was obvious a bunch of people had not seen the film. This is an exceptional low-budget horror film. The story is so simple, JLC is excellent, the music and atmosphere are tremendous.

The movie really picks up steam once Michael invades the babysitters houses. The final 30-35 minutes, starting when the boyfriend goes to get beer, are non-stop suspense. Easily the best thing about this, as opposed to more high-concept films, is that Michael is clearly just a person (in this one anyway) who is nuts.

The shots of Myers face slowly appearing over JLC shoulder in the hallway, the shots of him striding across the yard, the shot of him slowly rising after the closet attack are flawless.

A