Rotted Soul
11-26-2004, 01:17 PM
Halloween (1978)
The Halloween series is often looked upon with much prejudice. “Not another Halloween film” I am certain must have been running through many heads when Halloween Resurrection hit cinemas last year, and it has to be said that as of late the films have become rather a parody of themselves. This unfortunately casts a huge shadow over the original, simply entitled Halloween. Released in 1978 the film has inspired countless number of sequels and other horror movies, and is often considered the founder of the ‘slasher’ genre.
Halloween popularised a number of themes and techniques that today are now clichés. It was written and filmed on an astonishingly low budget by two, at the time, unknown filmmakers but managed to become one of the top money making horror films of all time. It also gave birth to Michael Myers, one of the three biggest horror-movie psychos of the modern era (the other two being Friday the 13th’s Jason Voorhees and A Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy Krueger).
Halloween is often used in the same breath as Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street for the fact they were the three films that defined the horror era of the 80’s. Unfortunately this is an injustice and somewhat an insult to the original Halloween. The film does not rely on gore to sell its scares, or sexy teenagers to appeal to the audience. It is clever filmmaking, good acting and an incredible score that make this film so successful.
A good score is something often taken for granted. Ask any one who has seen Halloween one thing they remember from the film and I would bet a large percentage of them would mention the haunting music. The theme tune plays during the opening credits and grips the audience instantly, immediately drawing them into the film. It is then repeated during particularly tense and suspenseful moments.
The methods used to film the movie complement the score. This is very effective as one feature alone would be adequate but when coupled they make it that much more memorable. Unlike so many films in this genre, Halloween is genuinely frightening, not because of its use of graphic gore, or visually stunning effects (there really aren't any in this film) but because it plays on the things that scare us most. The filming methods highlight this. Rather then allowing the camera to focus on Michael in his scenes, where he is generally stalking his helpless victims, the camera allows the viewer to notice him themselves bringing a whole new intensity to the film. You wonder whether it was the emotionless killer you saw materialize through the shadows or whether your mind is just playing tricks on you. To help you work this out the distinct music generally picks up during these eerie moments so even if you don’t notice Myers the score will give the same frightening effect.
The cast may have been selected from a group of novice actors, bar veteran horror actor Donald Pleasence, but they all give very convincing performances. Jaime Lee Curtis wasn't yet completely comfortable in front of the camera, but that mostly works in her favour here, lending to her besieged character's vulnerability, and she is naturally quite likeable. The fact her weak personality becomes apparent so soon makes the viewers assume she wouldn’t stand a chance against a killer, who murdered his sister with a knife when he was just five on Halloween night and hasn't spoken a word since. This automatically makes her the underdog and she gains the backing of the audience. The film now has the main principal of all horror films, good against evil.
The star of the film for me has to be Michael himself. He escapes from a mental asylum, where he was placed as a child to wait until he could stand trial at court once he was an adult. He returns to his hometown to kill his remaining family members. Laurie Strode, the character played by Curtis, is not aware that she is Michael Myers’ sister but she soon gets acquainted with him and his kitchen knife.
The reason Michael steals the show is the plain fact he is what makes the film scary, from standing in Laurie’s back yard staring up at her bedroom window, to stalking helpless teenagers through seemingly constantly shadowed streets. Everything he does will send a shiver from head to toe. One of his main selling points is that the victims just cannot escape him, he never runs or panics in perusing his prey, he never gets that last gun shot wound that would finish him off for good, he is always just a casual stroll away from being within a knifes distance of them. This gives a sense of the victims never being able to escape him, no matter what they do he will always haunt them. This not only allows the victims to be able to venture around the town to an endless amount of settings and still be perused by their nightmare, allowing a variety of scenes but also leaves the film open to sequel after sequel as Michael appears to be immortal, a route the producers decided to take.
One of Carpenters achievements with Michael and the films setting in general is his manipulative use of off screen space and sound. With the small town of Haddonfield Carpenter has created a universe where characters can only see where they look and they cannot hear what the plot does not serve them to hear - the sound perspective is manipulated well by Carpenter, adding much effect to the film, and the genre as a whole. The scene when Laurie is walking, then looks behind her, then turns and bumps into a town Sheriff is a prime example. She did not see him approach, nor did she hear him when she turned around, and so he just appeared, all adding to the cinematic effect. It is this manipulation that allows Carpenter to put the characters in danger and allow us to call out 'he's behind you' – examples featuring Myers would be when Michael approaches Laurie after the 'Judith Myers grave' sequence. In this scene the audience can hear him breathing she cannot. Another example of this is when an apparently dead Michael sits up, in his distinctly rigid fashion, silently behind Laurie.
With 'Halloween', Carpenter did not frown at the low budget, but did the best he could, and as a result was creative. He does create a claustrophobic atmosphere, and emphasises the terror of the characters well. The film is filled with homage to Hitchcock's 'Psycho' - the murderous 'rape', the name of Pleasence's character, the fact that Jamie Lee Curtis is Janet Leigh's daughter, and a few others that are thrown in here and there. The opening is certainly memorable, it is a long POV shot that puts us in the murderers shoes at the tender age of five and sheds light on his motives. The tension builds well in the story, as we follow Loomis (the doctor assigned to Myers, played by Pleasence), the hunter, and the babysitters, the hunted. This parallel between the two, how they are so close yet so far, gradually builds up the tension. The last twenty minutes - notably the 'chase' - is so well timed that the audience are caught up in the movies atmosphere and excitement and do not notice the films, all though inevitable, evident flaws.
Many people will understandably still have reservations about this film but they should set them aside and watch it. Approach it with an open mind, take into account the year it was made and what it did for the horror genre. If at first it doesn’t impress, give it a chance, it is a film that needs to be watched again and again to be totally appreciated...but watch it with the lights on, because Michael Myers might be there, in the shadows, waiting.
The Halloween series is often looked upon with much prejudice. “Not another Halloween film” I am certain must have been running through many heads when Halloween Resurrection hit cinemas last year, and it has to be said that as of late the films have become rather a parody of themselves. This unfortunately casts a huge shadow over the original, simply entitled Halloween. Released in 1978 the film has inspired countless number of sequels and other horror movies, and is often considered the founder of the ‘slasher’ genre.
Halloween popularised a number of themes and techniques that today are now clichés. It was written and filmed on an astonishingly low budget by two, at the time, unknown filmmakers but managed to become one of the top money making horror films of all time. It also gave birth to Michael Myers, one of the three biggest horror-movie psychos of the modern era (the other two being Friday the 13th’s Jason Voorhees and A Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy Krueger).
Halloween is often used in the same breath as Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street for the fact they were the three films that defined the horror era of the 80’s. Unfortunately this is an injustice and somewhat an insult to the original Halloween. The film does not rely on gore to sell its scares, or sexy teenagers to appeal to the audience. It is clever filmmaking, good acting and an incredible score that make this film so successful.
A good score is something often taken for granted. Ask any one who has seen Halloween one thing they remember from the film and I would bet a large percentage of them would mention the haunting music. The theme tune plays during the opening credits and grips the audience instantly, immediately drawing them into the film. It is then repeated during particularly tense and suspenseful moments.
The methods used to film the movie complement the score. This is very effective as one feature alone would be adequate but when coupled they make it that much more memorable. Unlike so many films in this genre, Halloween is genuinely frightening, not because of its use of graphic gore, or visually stunning effects (there really aren't any in this film) but because it plays on the things that scare us most. The filming methods highlight this. Rather then allowing the camera to focus on Michael in his scenes, where he is generally stalking his helpless victims, the camera allows the viewer to notice him themselves bringing a whole new intensity to the film. You wonder whether it was the emotionless killer you saw materialize through the shadows or whether your mind is just playing tricks on you. To help you work this out the distinct music generally picks up during these eerie moments so even if you don’t notice Myers the score will give the same frightening effect.
The cast may have been selected from a group of novice actors, bar veteran horror actor Donald Pleasence, but they all give very convincing performances. Jaime Lee Curtis wasn't yet completely comfortable in front of the camera, but that mostly works in her favour here, lending to her besieged character's vulnerability, and she is naturally quite likeable. The fact her weak personality becomes apparent so soon makes the viewers assume she wouldn’t stand a chance against a killer, who murdered his sister with a knife when he was just five on Halloween night and hasn't spoken a word since. This automatically makes her the underdog and she gains the backing of the audience. The film now has the main principal of all horror films, good against evil.
The star of the film for me has to be Michael himself. He escapes from a mental asylum, where he was placed as a child to wait until he could stand trial at court once he was an adult. He returns to his hometown to kill his remaining family members. Laurie Strode, the character played by Curtis, is not aware that she is Michael Myers’ sister but she soon gets acquainted with him and his kitchen knife.
The reason Michael steals the show is the plain fact he is what makes the film scary, from standing in Laurie’s back yard staring up at her bedroom window, to stalking helpless teenagers through seemingly constantly shadowed streets. Everything he does will send a shiver from head to toe. One of his main selling points is that the victims just cannot escape him, he never runs or panics in perusing his prey, he never gets that last gun shot wound that would finish him off for good, he is always just a casual stroll away from being within a knifes distance of them. This gives a sense of the victims never being able to escape him, no matter what they do he will always haunt them. This not only allows the victims to be able to venture around the town to an endless amount of settings and still be perused by their nightmare, allowing a variety of scenes but also leaves the film open to sequel after sequel as Michael appears to be immortal, a route the producers decided to take.
One of Carpenters achievements with Michael and the films setting in general is his manipulative use of off screen space and sound. With the small town of Haddonfield Carpenter has created a universe where characters can only see where they look and they cannot hear what the plot does not serve them to hear - the sound perspective is manipulated well by Carpenter, adding much effect to the film, and the genre as a whole. The scene when Laurie is walking, then looks behind her, then turns and bumps into a town Sheriff is a prime example. She did not see him approach, nor did she hear him when she turned around, and so he just appeared, all adding to the cinematic effect. It is this manipulation that allows Carpenter to put the characters in danger and allow us to call out 'he's behind you' – examples featuring Myers would be when Michael approaches Laurie after the 'Judith Myers grave' sequence. In this scene the audience can hear him breathing she cannot. Another example of this is when an apparently dead Michael sits up, in his distinctly rigid fashion, silently behind Laurie.
With 'Halloween', Carpenter did not frown at the low budget, but did the best he could, and as a result was creative. He does create a claustrophobic atmosphere, and emphasises the terror of the characters well. The film is filled with homage to Hitchcock's 'Psycho' - the murderous 'rape', the name of Pleasence's character, the fact that Jamie Lee Curtis is Janet Leigh's daughter, and a few others that are thrown in here and there. The opening is certainly memorable, it is a long POV shot that puts us in the murderers shoes at the tender age of five and sheds light on his motives. The tension builds well in the story, as we follow Loomis (the doctor assigned to Myers, played by Pleasence), the hunter, and the babysitters, the hunted. This parallel between the two, how they are so close yet so far, gradually builds up the tension. The last twenty minutes - notably the 'chase' - is so well timed that the audience are caught up in the movies atmosphere and excitement and do not notice the films, all though inevitable, evident flaws.
Many people will understandably still have reservations about this film but they should set them aside and watch it. Approach it with an open mind, take into account the year it was made and what it did for the horror genre. If at first it doesn’t impress, give it a chance, it is a film that needs to be watched again and again to be totally appreciated...but watch it with the lights on, because Michael Myers might be there, in the shadows, waiting.