Halloween (1978)

The Film: John Carpenter's original Halloween is in many people's minds considered the greatest horror film ever made. They say it is essentially a perfect horror film. This is the farthest thing from the truth. Halloween is a great setup for the films to come past it's 1978 debut, but it is not the greatest horror film ever made, nor is it the scariest. Is Halloween good? That's up for debate. I think it's overrated. I enjoy the film a lot, although I think there are many better. Yet this seems to be the perfect film to start with. It is a great way to get involved with the horror genre. Now to more specifics.
The Good: I love the way Michael walks in this movie. I love the mask and I adore the music. It's unbelievable how much the music adds to the film. This film also has very good actors. One of the major pluses to Halloween. I actually believe every character in this film as a person because they act real and pull it off well. Donald Pleasence is the stand out in this film however. He brought a charm to his role as Michael's psychiatrist. He just sounded crazy it was no wonder that people were skeptical to believe him. I also like the choice of weapon: a butcher's knife. Simple, yet so affective.
The Faults: Let's begin with the opening scene: That was seriously the fastest sex scene in a movie I have ever seen in my life. That was like 30 seconds. I never liked how Michael looks up at his arm while he's killing Judith. Seriously, if you visualize this in your head and do what the camera does in the scene it makes no logical sense. After it's revealed that Michael is the killer, the father and mother don't act very surprised. In fact, the mother just puts her hands in her coat pocket. I guess that's just another typical day in the Myer's house. A wrench is clearly seen in Michael's hand while he breaks the window to the car, although this is not that bad of a mistake. Palm trees are seen. People do the exact same thing two shots in a row. Near the end, Laurie clearly puts the keys in her pocket. I guess this can be explained that it was the wrong set of keys, but I think this is more of a mistake on the filmmaker's part. She doesn't even pull them out when she's trying to get back inside the door. Don't even get me started on the gore effects. Granted. Gore is not needed to make a film scary, but how ridiculous the gore effects look in this film actually detract from the overall effect. We get taken out of the movie and begin to laugh at how ridiculous the effects are in the film. The knife can be seen in one of the shots where Michael has been at the end of the film. This however is not where the knife was seen last. I also don't like Jamie's delivery of the final line. She does have a ton of emotion, but I can't understand a word she says other than bogeyman. I don't think age is ever specified in the film for Michael, you can correct me if I'm wrong. The sequel states that on the night the first movie takes place he is 21. This seems to be the age that everyone specifies him for the first film too, yet at the end credits Michael is listed as being age 23. I don't know if this is a mistake for the first film or the second film or both, but we'll just say for now that that is not a mistake for the first film.
What We Learn About Michael: As a child, on Halloween night 1963, Michael picked up a butcher knife from his kitchen, walked upstairs and stabbed his sister to death. He then proceeded to walk back downstairs where he was discovered with a bloody knife by his parents. October 30, 1978, which in the movie is present day, he escapes from the mental institution that he has been residing for the past 15 years. He steals his doctor's car and drives off. So, during this 15 year time period we must assume that Michael learned to drive. Maybe somebody gave him lessons as the film suggests or he just learned by observation. He arrives in Haddonfield on Halloween 1978. He kills a mechanic and takes his clothes before reaching Haddonfield. He returns back to his house which has been abandoned since the murder in 1963. A girl, Laurie Strode, walks up to the door to drop off a key for her dad who is a real estate agent. Michael sees this girl and makes a connection. In his mind he sees a sister figure. This is when he decides to pursue Laurie. He stalks her for the majority of the day. He then breaks into a hardware store steals: a Halloween mask, some rope, and a couple of knives. After this he follows Laurie and Annie driving behind them. After they arrive at the houses they are about to babysit at, Michael parks his car and decides to stay for a while. He stalks Annie and finally kills her by choking her and slitting her throat in a car. He then kills Bob by stabbing him up against the wall and kills Lynda by choking her to death with the telephone chord. After Laurie discovers the bodies, it is also revealed that Michael stole the tombstone to his sister Judith Myers. Laurie keeps trying to kill him. He gets stabbed in the neck with a sewing needle, gets a hanger poked in his eye, stabbed in the chest, and shot 6 times point blank. Michael just gets up and walks away. He is the personification of evil and in this world, evil will never die.
Death Total: 5 people, 2 dogs
Overall: Halloween set up a ton of cliches in the horror genre. I don't like a lot of them. I enjoy the movie, but not nearly as much as other horror movies. I would recommend it saying that it is the perfect way into the horror genre. I do not think the movie is very affective today. It is entertaining, but it is not scary, but I'm not the best judge of that because a movie has not scared me since I was 13. It is a fun, slow-paced movie that can easily be watched by anyone.