HALLOWEEN (1978)
BY CHRISTOPHER HASKELL
OCTOBER 19, 2013
“Halloween” invented the modern-day slasher thriller that we know today, from the stalking, the POV camera to the sexual ambiguity of the surviving lady, to the sexual dynamic that leads to most murders in a slasher film. Jamie Lee Curtis leads the crew, the only real, recognizable face of the film, and carries this franchise through decades to become one of the most distinguishable slasher films to date. Mike Myers, the young, blood-lusting boy turned adult, is the resident slasher, wearing a white mask and stalking the females of his home town after escaping a mental asylum. When you think of the basic structure of a slasher film, “Halloween” is the blueprint, hitting all the appropriate marks but never going much further. Give props to John Carpenter for reinventing the horror film and creating the basis for the “Nightmare of Elm Street” and “Friday The 13th” films to follow.
RELEASE DATE
October 25, 1978
DIRECTOR
John Carpenter
WRITTEN BY
John Carpenter
Debra Hill
STUDIO
Compass International Pictures
R
HORROR
THRILLER
91 minutes
CINEMATOGRAPHER
Dean Cundey
COMPOSER
John Carpenter
EDITOR
Tommy Wallace
Charles Bornstein
CAST
Donald Pleasence
Jamie Lee Curtis
P. J. Soles
Nancy Loomis
PRODUCED BY
Debra Hill
BUDGET
$325,000
