Film Details:
Directed by John Carpenter (The Thing, Assault on Precinct 13, Prince of Darkness)
Written by
John Carpenter (Assault on Precinct 13)
Debra Hill (The Fog, Escape from L.A.)
Starring
Donald Pleasance (Prince of Darkness and about a zillion other horror films)
Jamie Lee Curtis (True Lies, The Fog)
Nancy Loomis (Assault on Precinct 13)
Review: by Melissa (e-mail your faithful reviewer)
Slasher flicks age badly.
There's something very sad about seeing this movie for the first time in the year 2003. The last half hour of the film seems like nothing but a parade of cliches, until you realize that this was the movie that started all those cliches.
Thus, Halloween has sadly lost most of its punch by now. It still exists as an excellent slasher flick, and as a fine example of a very young and nubile Jamie Lee Curtis, but it just isn't the tour de force it once was. It's kind of like watching Psycho these days -- it was once terrifying, and now it's just a fascinating piece of film history.
Don't get me wrong... It may not deliver the scares like it once did, but it is still creepy, atmospheric, and occasionally surprising.
The first five minutes of the film should captivate anyone with a taste for creative filmmaking. The opening of the movie involves a four-minute tracking shot that details the odd origin of the film's monster, Michael Myers. After that, the movie is a showcase for Carpenter's mastery of visual storytelling. Film geeks will get an inordinate amount of glee from the movie references scattered through the film, and will probably drool profusely over the lighting. This is one of the best-lit films I have seen in ages.
Those of you who aren't a fan of slasher flick may even enjoy this one. Halloween is a true oddity for its genre, considering that there is a surprising lack of blood -- instead of relying on the shock value of gore, Carpenter and his team wisely relied on atmosphere and implication.
If you've never seen Halloween, get the hell off your kiester, buy some candy corn, and rent the movie. If anything, it's a good, um, Halloween flick.
DVD Details:
Anamorphic Widescreen
THX sound
Halloween Unmasked 2000 documentary
Poster gallery
Not a great disc for features, but the documentary is quite good.
There was also a limited edition disc printed that also included the complete television version, which includes 12 minutes of additional footage.
Further Information:
Internet Movie Database
