What’s it rated? R
When? 1978
Where’s it showing? Thursday, Oct. 31, at 7 p.m., in the Palm Theatre of San Luis Obispo
Writer-director-composer John Carpenter helms this classic slasher film about mental patient Michael Myers, committed to a sanitarium at age 6 for stabbing his teenage sister to death with a chef’s knife. It’s now 15 years later, and Myers escapes, returns to his hometown, kills a mechanic and dons his coveralls, steals a white mask from a hardware store, and in his iconic garb begins to stalk teenage babysitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut) and her friends. Meanwhile, psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis (Donald Pleasence) pursues Myers.
It received mixed reviews on its release, but over the years, Halloween has gained a reputation as a deftly made thriller that makes effective use of stalker-point-of-view camera angles and has a very lean and effective score created by Carpenter that consists of a piano melody in an unsettling complex 5/4-time signature that’s now as iconic as the John Williams’ Jaws theme song. It simply communicates tension.
The film also earned Curtis a reputation as the quintessential scream queen. She went on to reprise her role as Laurie in several of the 13 films in the franchise. The Michael Myers character has also become iconicāan emotionless blank slate with no apparent motive. (91 min.) Ī
This article appears in Oct 31 – Nov 10, 2024.