A FILM TO REMEMBER: “HALLOWEEN” (1978)

Before I get into this, I want to make mention “A FILM TO REMEMBER” will be a series about films that have reached a milestone anniversary since their origin in being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. The articles will contain the film’s plot outline, director, cast, a compilation of trivialities, various photos, movie trailer, critical reception and more. So, let’s start:

We are here to mark the celebration of the 40th Anniversary of John Carpenter’s “Halloween”. Let’s take an inside look at the film.

PLOT OUTLINE:

Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, the psychopathic killer known as Michael Myers (aka The Shape) escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield to kill again.

STUDIO:

Columbia Pictures

DIRECTOR:

John Carpenter

CAST:

• Donald Pleasence … Dr. Sam Loomis
• Jamie Lee Curtis … Laurie Strode
• Nick Castle … Michael Myers / The Shape
• Tony Moran … Michael Myers — Unmasked
• Will Sandin … Michael Myers — Child
• P. J. Soles … Lynda Van Der Klok
• Nancy Kyes … Annie Brackett
• Charles Cyphers … Sheriff Leigh Brackett
• Kyle Richards … Lindsey Wallace
• Brian Andrews … Tommy Doyle
• John Michael Graham … Bob Simms
• Nancy Stephens … Marion Chambers
• Arthur Malet … Angus Taylor
• Mickey Yablans … Richie Castle
• Brent Le Page … Lonnie Elam
• Adam Hollander … Keith
• Sandy Johnson … Judith Margaret Myers
• David Kyle … Danny Hodges
• Peter Griffith … Morgan Strode
• Robert Phalen … Dr. Terence Wynn

GENRE(S):

Horror | Thriller

TAGLINE:

Happy Halloween!

The film is known for setting the standard for slasher films and as a horror feature let alone a historical milestone, it single-handedly shaped and altered the future of an entire genre, laying the foundation for the slasher sub-genre and creating one of the most legendary film psychopaths in cinematic history. Director John Carpenter effectively crafts an alarming atmospheric experience that immediately draws the viewer into the proceedings…hitting us at a level deeper than most slasher films, and while being entertained by it, we’re drawn in by its powerful suspense and implications in this immersive, visceral dynamo of a stylistic kill fest of spine-shivering terror. The film is based from an original concept from John Carpenter and Debra Hill as the first in a long line of slasher films inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho,” it was primarily critically praised and became a transcending benchmark of the horror genre.

Here’s what some of the critical receptions have been for the film over the years:

Tom Allen from Village Voice says: “It’s as sociologically irrelevant but ceding its Hitchcock-like technique as effective and the most honest way to make a good schlock film.”

Roger Ebert from Chicago Sun-Times says: “‘Halloween’ is an absolutely merciless thriller, a movie so violent and scary that, yes, I would compare it to ‘Psycho.’”

Pauline Kael from The New Yorker says: “Maybe when a horror film is stripped of everything but dumb scariness — when it isn’t ashamed to revive the stalest device of the genre (the escaped lunatic) — it satisfies part of the audience in a more basic, childish way than sophisticated horror pictures do.”

Ron Pennington from Hollywood Reporter says: “Carpenter obviously knows the genre well and he builds a properly terrifying atmosphere through his well-paced direction. It’s an effective entry for its intended market.”

Tom Milne from Time Out says: “Perhaps not quite so resonant as ‘Psycho’ to which it pays due homage, but it breathes the same air.”

As you can tell by the critical reactions, the film garnered much praise but some critics have suggested that the film may encourage sadism and misogyny by audiences identifying with its villain. While others have suggested the film is a social critique of the immorality of youth and teenagers in 1970s America, with many of victims in the film being sexually promiscuous substance abusers, while the lone heroine is depicted as innocent and pure, hence for her survival. Nonetheless, Carpenter however dismisses such analyses, as it achieves its considerable power almost entirely through its visual means and effective build-up of suspense, making it one of the first and staunchly compelling thrillers of the horror genre, that broke the mold and set the bar with this slashing trick or treat classic. But I’ll let you decide…

So, to get a better look at the film, here’s a link to the movie trailer of John Carpenter’s “Halloween”:

Here I have provided 12 interesting and intriguing trivia facts (I wanted to keep it limited) about “Halloween”:

• Director John Carpenter considered the hiring of Jamie Lee Curtis as the ultimate tribute to Alfred Hitchcock who had given her mother, Janet Leigh, legendary status in “Psycho” (1960).
• The original script, titled “The Babysitter Murders”, had the events take place over the space of several days. It was a budgetary decision to change the script to have everything happen on the same day (doing this reduced the number of costume changes and locations required). Producer Irwin Yablans suggested setting the film on Halloween night, the scariest night of the year, was the perfect night for this to happen. Yablans also suggest to name the film “Halloween” instead of using the originally title of “The Babysitter Murders.” John Carpenter admitted that’s when the story started taking shape for him.
• Of the female leads (all the girls are supposed to be in high school), only Jamie Lee Curtis was actually a teenager at the time of shooting.
• John Carpenter and screenwriter Debra Hill have stated many times over the years that they did not consciously set out to depict virginity as a way of defeating a rampaging killer. The reason why the horny teens all die is simply that they are so preoccupied with getting laid that they don’t notice that there is a killer at large. On the other hand, Laurie Strode (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) spends a lot of time on her own and is therefore more alert.
• John Carpenter’s inspiration for the “evil” that Michael would embody came from a visit he had taken during college to a psychiatric institution in Kentucky. There, he visited a ward with his psychology classmates where “the most serious, mentally ill patients” were held. Among those patients was an adolescent boy, who possessed a blank, “schizophrenic stare.” Carpenter’s experience would inspire the characterization that Loomis would give of Michael to Sheriff Brackett in the film.
• In an interview, Moustapha Akkad said that John Carpenter had envisioned making the film for around $300,000. Coincidentally, Akkad said he was producing and filming a major motion picture at the same time starring Laurence Olivier which was costing his company roughly around $300,000 a day. When Carpenter told him the fixed price of his film, he immediately funded it. The film was shot in 20 days in the spring of 1978 and half of the budget of the $300,000 was spent on Panavision cameras, so the film would have a 2.35:1 scope. Donald Pleasence was paid $20,000 for 5 days work. Interestingly enough, the film would pay off for Akkad, as it would become the highest-grossing independent film ever made (at that time) and remains one of the highest-grossing independent films to date.

• The Halloween theme is written in the rare 5/4 time signature. John Carpenter learned this rhythm from his father.
• John Carpenter approached Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee to play the role of Dr. Sam Loomis (played by Donald Pleasence), but both turned him down due to the low pay. Lee later mentioned it was the biggest mistake he had ever made in his career.
• A young Jamie Lee Curtis was so disappointed with her performance that she became convinced she would be fired after only the first day of filming. When her phone rang that night and it was John Carpenter on the phone, Curtis was certain it was the end of her movie career. Instead, Carpenter called to congratulate her and tell her he was very happy with the way things had gone.
• Anne Lockhart was John Carpenter’s first choice for the role of Laurie Strode.
• John Carpenter’s iconic score for the movie manifested from a female critic’s negative review after screening the film: that it wasn’t scary. At the time, there was no music in the film whatsoever. Carpenter then composed the fully improvised score in 3 days.
• John Carpenter was quite intimidated by Donald Pleasence, of whom he was a huge fan and who was easily the oldest and most experienced person on set. Although Pleasence asked Carpenter difficult questions about his character, Pleasence turned out to be a good-humored, big-hearted individual and the two became great friends. Pleasence went on to appear in two other Carpenter films. However, Pleasence would later confess to Carpenter that the main reason why he took the role of Dr. Sam Loomis was because his daughter Lucy (who was a musician) had loved Carpenter’s musical score for his previous film “Assault on Precinct 13” (1976).

To conclude, John Carpenter’s “Halloween” has an inherent charm to the basic effectiveness and fundamental workmanship on display and while responsible for jump-starting Jamie Lee Curtis’s career, its John Carpenter who obviously knows the genre well and builds upon a properly terrifying atmosphere through his well-paced direction, so thoroughly and thoughtfully exploiting the aura of dreaded angst, that it’s most compelling as a metaphorical manifestation of Curtis’ character’s sexual fears in this genuinely scary, stylistically suspenseful, viscerally thrilling and efficiently crafted escaped-maniac-on-the-loose, frightfully run-for-your-life of a definitive touchstone slasher.

NOTE: The article contains sources from IMDb and Wikipedia.

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