Halloween (1978) Review

Happy Halloween! It’s day 31 and the last October review for 2018. Thanks for sticking with me this long.

© Compass International Pictures © Falcon International Pictures © Falcon International Productions

In 1963 on Halloween night, 6-year-old Michael Myers murders his older sister, Judith, with a kitchen knife. Jump forward 15 years. Michael has escaped the asylum he was being kept in, before he was due to appear in court. The next day, teenager Laurie Strode is going to be spending her Halloween night babysitting. Luckily, her friend Annie is babysitting across the street. During the day, Laurie keeps seeing an unknown figure lurking around town, which makes her slightly on edge.

This was made as an independent film, which was probably not expected to become such a huge franchise. It spawned eight sequels, and sadly a remake which also had a sequel. The second movie was set during the same night, after the events taking place in the first movie, where Laurie is taken to hospital. The third movie was supposed to be an entirely different story, which was to be part of an anthology series. This didn’t work out as fans just wanted more Michael Myers. If the fist movie had been called “Halloween: Michael Myers” and the second one “Halloween: Michael Myers part II”, or something like that, then it would have indicated that the third film was unrelated to the first two. I will review the other movies another time, but probably not the remake as I have no interest in seeing either of them.

This movie is part of my Halloween tradition. I have to watch this movie on Halloween every year, otherwise it just doesn’t feel the same. That’s not to say I can’t watch this movie any other time. It’s probably one of my favourite slashers. The music just sets the ambience. And you have to watch it in the dark with some kind of snacks.

As much as I love this movie, I can’t take it too serious. Some of the characters, namely Laurie’s friends, are rather annoying. Annie’s a little bit too dramatic for my taste, and Linda, well… she was more annoying in this than when she was in Carrie. Linda’s boyfriend, Bob, is really weird. He looks like a 30-year-old who hangs around with teenage girls. Also he makes a really inappropriate comment about ripping a child’s clothes off. Yeah…

Dr Loomis is an integral part of the franchise and a great character. He’s your source of information throughout, and can occasionally provide some laughs (ie. Scaring the crap out of kids in the first movie). Laurie is not your stereotypical victim. Although she was a tad more pathetic in the second movie after sustaining injuries and being pumped full of drugs, but she does some fighting back in the first. The thing that made me laugh was that when she stabs Michael in the eye with the coat hanger, why did she toss it away? The same with the knife she took from him. Does she not know that those items are reusable? I also thought it was funny how much Lindsay, the girl Annie is babysitting, reminds me of me. She spends a lot of her screen time engrossed in the horror film playing on TV. That’s was me when I was that age. She kind of looks like me at that age, too.

Anyway, this is probably one you’ll have already seen, if not, why?

Of course I have the Funko POP!

On a secondary note, I’d like to share my impression of the trailer for the new movie that just came out. I haven’t seen it yet, but I will.

I kind of feel like it’s a bit… forced. If it takes place after the first movie, ignoring the sequels, and Laurie isn’t related to Michael, then I don’t understand the plot. Why wouldn’t she move away and try to live her life instead of being reminded of the events? Why would she expect him to escape and come back if he hasn’t become the unstoppable killing force he is after the first movie when he’s now 60? I get he killed her two best friends, but that was 40 years ago. They’ve been dead longer than they were alive. From the trailer Laurie looks ready for a zombie apocalypse. When I first saw the trailer, I thought “cool”. But then I thought about it. Like I said, I will see it, I just don’t have high expectations for it. Even though I enjoy the sequels (they’re not supposed to Shakespeare!), I think the franchise should have been left alone after that. I’m starting to think that filmmakers these days are just in it for the money. But that’s just my own opinion.

This concludes the October horror movie review month. I will now be preparing for the December Christmas movie reviews, so keep an eye out for that, and any other reviews that will appear before then.