375. Halloween; movie review

 

 

HALLOWEEN

Cert 18

87 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong threat, violence

There have been a lot of re-releases in 2020 for obvious reasons.

So, this was a chance for me to return to Halloween. My review holds good, so here it is reprised.

It is one of the most profitable low-budget independent movies of all-time and spawned a franchise of its own as well as scores of imitators. 

But does the 1978 version of Halloween, re-released this week, pass the test of time? 

Well, yes....and no. Yes, in that it made me jump three times and the John Carpenter-composed score still has a wonderful eeriness to it. 

No, because of the terribly stilted dialogue and, in particular, the 1970s sensibilities towards women (basically, they are little more than dumb sex objects). 

During, the first 30 minutes I thought Carpenter's classic was laughable but then Michael Myers began his reign of terror and I became gripped. 

Halloween surrounds the psychopath Myers who stabs his mother to death and is incarcerated ...until he escapes from custody 15 years later. 

He returns to his former town and becomes fixated on a young Jamie Lee Curtis and her pals (Nancy Kyes and PJ Soles). 

His doctor (Donald Pleasance) warns the local cops that he is on the loose and is 'evil' but, ill-advisedly, they don't take heed. 

I am sure I've seen Halloween before but it didn't make a lasting impression and now I have been reminded why.

But I can't argue with statistics and this was a $325,000 movie which made $70m. 

 

Reasons to watch: The classic seasonal horror

Reasons to avoid: Violence against children

Laughs: None

Jumps: Three

Vomit: None

Nudity: Yes

Overall rating: 6/10

Did you know? John Carpenter considered the hiring of Jamie Lee Curtis as the ultimate tribute to Alfred Hitchcock who had given her mother, Janet Leigh, legendary status in Psycho (1960). During the same period, Universal studio producers and director Richard Franklin were trying to enrol Jamie Lee in the new production of Psycho 2

The final word. John Carpenter: "It was such a different time back then and the kind of movies were different. I started when you could actually make an exploitation film, a low-budget exploitation movie and get it into theatres. Nowadays it’s so ridiculously expensive. Could I succeed if I started today? Probably not. I’d be rejected." The Guardian

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