Halloween has become one of the most famous and beloved
horror films of all time. But how did a small independent picture with hardly
any budget grow into one of the most popular films in its genre?
Early in 1978 the young, little known director John Carpenter
was hired to make a small independent movie about babysitters. Carpenter took
the premise and created a film that has scared the world over.He created a script with Deborah Hill and together they came
up with Halloween and both produced the movie. They were given a $320,000
budget and Carpenter received almost free reign to create his movie; this in
itself a rarity in Hollywood.
Carpenter hired many character actors most not well known,
and knew he needed something special for his lead character Laurie Strode. He
settled on newbie Jamie Lee Curtis, daughter of movie stars Tony Curtis and
more importantly Alfred Hitcock’s scream queen in Psycho (1960); Janet Leigh. This was Curtis’ first movie and this fact
brought an unmistakeable innocence to the role of Laurie.With most of his players cast, he needed one more thing, a
well-known actor to take the part of Dr Sam Loomis who coincidently is named
after a character from Psycho. This came in the form of Donald Pleasence who
had been in such classics as The Great
Escape (1963) and the James Bond film You
Only Live Twice (1967). Pleasence added seriousness to a film that could
have been considered comical, and it was this aspect that has given Halloween
its staying power.
Halloween opens in 1963 with what is now considered a
famous technical shot; the continuous tracking shot through the house to reveal
the first of the movies many murders. Then with the first big twist of the
film, we discover that the killer was 6 year old Michael Myers. We then travel to present day Haddonfield where the
murder took place 15 years earlier and the house is now an empty derelict
building which kids dare each other to approach. We are introduced to teenager
Laurie Strode who we discover is an innocent virginal character trying to fit
in with her friends who are meeting boys
and smoking, while she looks on with a certain amount of envy. Meanwhile we
learn that the institutionalized Michael Myers has escaped and Dr Loomis
suspects he will return to Haddonfield and commit further atrocities.
Myers does indeed return and begins a massacre on the
teenage friends of Laurie all the while she is unaware across the street
babysitting the neighbours children. Halloween has been famously featured in
Scream as being the film that created the modern day rules of the horror film;
characters that engage in sex, smoking and drinking will surely be a victim of
the killer. Innocent virginal and mostly naïve characters will find in
themselves an inner strength and though tormented to the brink by the villain,
they are able to overcome and fight back against the evil onslaught. During these struggles we discover another most important rule
of the horror genre; the killer never goes away and is catlike with more lives
than you can count. Whenever you think they have finally had it, there they go
again, in the case of Halloween rising up to attack Laurie in a final struggle
before she is saved by Dr Loomis.
What makes Halloween a fantastic movie is not just the story,
the characters, the locations, you need all those things to create a successful
film but there is one element that unlike other genres can make or break a
film; the music. The score for Halloween was astonishingly created in very
little time by John Carpenter himself and in making this he cemented his film
in the list of scariest ever made. His short theme is so memorable it is
instantly recognisable and still raises hairs on the back of necks. His music
makes Michael become more than just a man in a mask, but an evil presence,
always watching.
And you can’t keep a good killer down; Halloween was released
and through the pure magic of word of mouth made millions out of its tiny in
comparison budget. So Michael returned to haunt Haddonfield on seven more
occasions. With Jamie Lee Curtis returning for three of these, and making them
better films due to her appearance. The film and its sequel were also remade in
2007 and 2009 by Rob Zombie to mediocre success, but nothing beats an original.
John Carpenter though he wrote the sequel moved on, he had achieved what he
wanted with Halloween; creating a film that has lasted, he went on to make
other successful films like Escape From
New York (1981) and Big Trouble in
Little China (1986). He also maintained his image as a classic horror director
with The Fog (1980) again with
Curtis and the classic The Thing (1982)
thought by many as one of the best horrors of all time.
But it is Halloween that he will always be remembered for,
and itself Halloween will always be remembered, it will continue to appear on lists of
the best horror films, the scariest scenes and most chilling music. It had that
magical experience when all the elements come together to make a masterpiece of
cinema. Which is why I would recommend it not only to die hard horror fans, who
let’s face it have probably already seen it anyway, but also to all those who
appreciate the art of a well-made film, and naturally like a good scare.
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