"A relentless, terrifyingly intense masterpiece. A true horror classic."
Remember those golden years of horror? The 70’s and 80’s undoubtedly produced the most memorable and defining pictures for the genre, and John Carpenter’s 1978 classic, Halloween, is no exception.It was, and still is, the teen slasher template - the psychotic masked killer, a host of teenage victims, and of course the terrified heroine desperately trying to escape the murderous rampage. What more could you ask for?
Right from the start you can tell that Carpenter isn’t going to bullshit around with any pointless character development or coma inducing dialogue. The film begins with a seriously disturbed mental patient, Michael Myers, escaping from the hospital he’s been confined to since murdering his older sister fifteen year ago. In hot pursuit is Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance), Mike’s doctor, who mounts a personal crusade to stop the escapee. Why? Well it seems that Myers hasn’t just gone to stretch his legs. He’s making his way back to his home town to finish what he started all those years ago… and his younger sister Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) in atop the slaying list.
What follows is a relentless night of terror, and a truly engrossing movie experience, with the dark, claustrophobic atmosphere and eerie soundtrack completely immersing you within the twisted world or madness.
Okay, so it’s all pretty predictable stuff. Apart from Curtis, you know that anyone who goes into a dark room alone (flick a switch for fuck’s sake!) or drifts too far into the edge of a shot is going to get it. But hey, it’s great fun to watch.And unlike some of the other films in the genre, Halloween doesn’t rely on heaps of gore to provide the thrills. Nope, this is good clean fun, although those who aren’t seasoned horror campaigners may well consider the state of their underpants as evidence to the contrary.
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