Okay, so I hate Halloween. I cannot fully explain why, but I can try. First, I hate people in large groups. There are a lot of people out on Halloween. Thus, it is not my holiday. I don’t like going outside on Halloween. There is craziness. So, in the sense of still celebrating the holiday, this leaves the traditional scary movies on television. However here is the other problem: I hate scary movies.
I am not the traditional wimp, though I can get a little jumpy. However, my bigger problem is with how badly they are traditionally made. Also, they spawn sequels which saturate the theatres and just get worse and worse. It is acceptable for scary movies to be poorly written. It is okay for bad actors to perform very badly in these films.
So, in most circumstances throughout the year, I avoid “scary movies”. And, on Halloween, I watch anything but scary movies for the most part (as I edit this post I am watching A Few Good Men, some might call that scary, but I think not). However, there is one film that makes me forget my normal rules. There is one film I will sit and watch over and over again, and even on Halloween. That film is John Carpenter’s Halloween.
This film is one of the only truly deserving successors to Romero’s work (Night of the Living Dead) and Hitchcock’s Psycho. Halloween’s opening sequence is classic, and no one that has seen it for the first time can deny its power. For the first five minutes, the only shot is one continuous point of view shot from a stalker of a teenage girl. It never cuts and firmly establishes a relationship between viewer and stalker. Eventually the character goes upstairs and stabs the young girl more than a dozen times. We find out at the end of the sequence the attacker is a young boy in a clown suit on Halloween night. And thus Michael Myers in introduced.
The single moving camera approach is iconic, and has been reused many times. However, in this movie, it is especially powerful considering we are introduced to what we assume to be the killer through OUR perspective. There is an immediate identification that quite simply creeps people out. We don’t want to be the killer, the stalker, the attacker. However, because of the extended scene, we become them whether we want to or not.
Halloween has originality and power, and can be legitimately scary, rather than only “things jumping out of the dark” scary. Carpenter’s film actually creates dread and suspense. Carpenter’s killer, Michael, actually stalks his prey for a long time. He plays with them, firmly establishing how he can move around without being noticed. Doctor Loomis continually reinforces the fact that this character is pure evil, and also continually comments on how no one is watching. This is something the audience wants to shout to the characters throughout the movie. One of the scariest things in real life is how evil personified exists all around you without noticing. I would much rather be faced with an assailant head on than know one existed without striking range for days on end and I would have able to do nothing about it. That is terrifying.
The fact that there are very few adults in the movie makes it very creepy. There is an innocence and partial stupidity to the fact that the teenagers are going through the motions of a Halloween night completely unaware of their danger. The children are so exposed, and the teenagers are not taking care of them. Because of this, the “safety” factor is pretty much gone. We do not feel like there is any level of protection against Michael. The sheriff doesn’t really believe there is a problem, and Doctor Loonis is treated like he is Doctor Loony for a huge portion of the film.
The music of Halloween is an element that sets this film apart from other horror films. It is creepy and helps build the suspense and sense of dread. It is overdone in some ways, but clearly supports the pacing that sets this movie apart from others. Too many films simply throw violence at people. Other horror films just have a “fun” first half, with partying, a road trip, a gratuitous sex scene, etc. Then, in the second half 3/4s of the cast dies in the most gruesome deaths imaginable. However, John Carpenter’s film is different. It splices suspense all the way through the film. The pacing is slow, not fast and jumpy. The dread builds to a point where the audience feels the terror. Some people find the first half boring for this reason. I believe it makes you more invested in the characters. The technique is brilliant.
This film opened up the genre of horror for serial killers. Like Star Wars for science fiction, Halloween provided for the future of its genre. There would be no Jason, Krueger, Scream, etc, without Michael Myers. He is the original silent, creepy, and inhuman killer. Films that provide for a genre are inherently more important. This film fits that criteria and is incredibly unique.
Finally, Halloween has aged really well. We are at year 32 of its existence, but it is still really watchable and fresh. If you are a film buff, a scary movie lover, or just someone who enjoys a well crafted film, you awill tremendously enjoy Halloween.
BLISS
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