Halloween 1978 (DVD)
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There's nothing new on the Anchor Bay reissue of John Carpenter's seminal 1978 horror film, Halloween, on DVD on Tuesday, August 14. However, this review is new (I've seen the movie approximately a bazillion times, but have never written about it except peripherally) — and since Rob Zombie's hybrid prequel / remake is due out in just a couple of weeks, perhaps this will be a good time for all of us to do a little taste test.
In the late 70s, director John Carpenter and producer Debra Hill wanted to collaborate on a horror movie because they were cheap to make, didn't require big stars for box-office draw, and were usually guaranteed crowd-pleasers. While success was hoped for, Halloween was a surprise hit, grossing over $60 million - it was one of the most successful independent films ever made, and it's spawned the many inevitable sequels over the years.
The film originally entitled The Babysitter Murders would later be known simply as Halloween, but that was really the only simple thing about it: Scratch the surface — or go behind the mask, as the case may be — and there's a lot more to the movie than meets the eye. This explains why it has become a landmark flick, and why it's endured for nearly 30 years.
The movie begins in 1963 in Haddonfield, Il., where a beautiful young teenage girl is brutally slaughtered… by her ten-year-old brother. It's in the beginning that we know we're in for something smart and slyly tongue-in-cheek in its homage to Hitchcock, the Master of Suspense (a couple of character names are nods to those in 1961's Psycho, and of course star Janet Leigh's daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis is Halloween's virginal heroine).
Flash forward to present time (a time in which high-waisted jeans and feathered hair ruled the fashion — and slashin' — scene), when that young boy now all grown up and still totally mental, (Michael Myers aka, "The Shape", played by Nick Castle), has escaped the asylum and goes home to Haddonfield to wreak havoc on teenage girls who remind him of his sister (and their boyfriends, and a hapless hound… he's really an equal opportunity eviscerater).
The plot is nothing special nowadays (and maybe wasn't, then), but the movie still holds us in its thrall because it uses tried and true techniques to keep the audience disoriented and wondering what's going to happen next — yet, those unknowns are tempered by co-screenwriters Carpenter and Hill in allowing us to know the back story, to identify with the victims, and care what happens to them. Donald Pleasance as Myers' psychiatrist borders on the histrionic at times (which certainly fits in with the character's constant urgency), Curtis is cute and competent, while her posse (PJ Soles, Nancy Kyes) are your typical wisecracking teens.
On the technical side, the disorientation is presented through the use of a constantly-moving camera – handheld and Steadicam snaking, but thankfully never shaking. DP Dean Cundy's anamorphic Panavision framing, using a 2:35:1 aspect ratio, helps immensely in keeping Halloween's low, low budget a secret. There are some classic Hitchcockian and Argentoesque POV shots from The Shape, and the darkness he inhabits as he stalks his victims is inky, without ever being overly obscuring. Much has been written about the music, so I won't add to the symphony much except to say that yes, Carpenter's original score (composed in a mere three days) is that important to the overall success of the film. Here, it's been digitally restored by Lucasfilms THX digital mastering services.
As for the DVD, there are your requisite original trailers, TV spots, radio spots, cast bios, and so on, but the main attraction is the retrospective featurette, Halloween Unmasked, directed by Mark Cerulli. It's very informative and well-done, but it's been on some Halloween DVDs already (it was produced in 2000). It is packed with informative and good-natured recollections by Carpenter, Cundey, actors Curtis, Brian Andrews, Soles and Castle; also Hill, and exec producer Moustapha Akkad (both of whom have since passed on).
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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson
News for those interested in the Rob Zombie remake, hitting theaters August 31, 2007:
- Girls and Corpses magazine has recently announced that their third cover will feature scream stars Sid Haig and Scout Taylor Compton. Another star of Halloween, Danielle Harris, who is currently featured on the cover of Girls and Corpses, with be signing her issue at Dark Delicacies bookstore on Wednesday August 29th at 7:00 p.m. Danielle will also be signing the "Halloween" poster. Click on the Dark Delicacies website or the Girls And Corpses website for more details. (Also, don't forget to visit the Official Halloween Movie website, and stay tuned for Horror.com's exclusive on-camera interviews from the Halloween press junket and red carpet premiere.)