I watched John Carpenter's 1978 scare classic Halloween this afternoon.  And I loved it!  They'd shown this on STAR Movies long back (more than 10 years ago... it was the time I was writing my Class X SSC exams), and I remember it specifically because it one of the few movies they showed in letterboxed widescreen, preserving the 2.35:1 aspect ratio it was shot in.  I had recorded it on videotape and watched later, but the sound wasn't proper and I also didn't watch it with full concentration, therefore, watching the movie now was like watching it for the first time.

Halloween starts off on Halloween night, 1963 in the town of Haddonfield, Illinois.  A long point-of-view shot takes us from the outside of a house to inside it, and upstairs, where the murder of 18-year old Judith Myers (by stabbing) takes place.  The POV continues till we are back outside the house, and the killer's mask is pulled off, to reveal that it was 6-year old Michael Myers who did it!  Fifteen years later, Michael escapes from the Smith's Grove Sanitarium and returns to Haddonfield to kill again, and he has his sights set on three girls — Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis), Lynda (P J Soles) and Annie (Nancy Loomis).  Dr Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence), Michael's psychiatrist pursues him and also arrives in Haddonfield.  Michael is a silent, soulless killer, the embodiment of pure evil (the credits simply list him as "The Shape"), and with his Captain Kirk mask, has a truly frightening presence.  What follows is an extremely well-done horror/thriller that deserves its status as a classic!

There are several reasons why the film is remarkable.  There are only a few locations used (most of the film is set in one neighbourhood and it all happens in about three houses), and the bulk of the film happens on one night.  I loved this minimalist approach they took for this movie, and Carpenter creates some very suspenseful stalk sequences (this film is credited for establishing the slasher genre).

The movie was made on a shoestring budget of $325,000 it seems, and made back about $47 million, which makes it one of the most successful independent films ever!  Apparently, half of the budget went towards Panavision cameras so that Carpenter could shoot in 2.35:1 widescreen (heh, lucky thing that STAR Movies showed the widescreen version, eh?).  One must appreciate how well they used the limited budget — the creativity and skill behind the camera make this movie effective (Michael Myers' Captain Kirk mask apparently cost about two dollars).  It's been almost thirty years since the movie first came out, and it still has an impact today.  Another remarkable fact is that for a film about a killer, there is very little on-screen violence and almost no blood!

One of the movie's strongest assets is the eerie music score, done by John Carpenter himself (the end credits list the music as being performed by "The Bowling Green Philharmonic Orchestra" which is just Carpenter).  He has done the music for most of his movies and they're all very unique.  They're mostly simplistic tunes but suit his films very well, and this one is no different.

I was very inspired by the movie, so did a quick drawing of The Shape.  This was done in about 10 minutes with a black ballpoint pen.  You can click the image above, for a larger version.  Oh, and here is a MIDI version [29 KB] of the Halloween theme music.  The actual version is better of course, but this is pretty close.  I downloaded this some years ago, don't remember where I got it from.