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TRICK OR TREAT
It took just 21 days and $30,000 to make Halloween. Until just recently it was the most successful independent film ever made. It was a classic sleeper hit, opening out slowly until word of mouth spread and it took more than $47m at the box office. Its difficult to imagine what the movie industry would be like if John Carpenter and Debra Hill didn't get together and make this film. It has spawned many imitations such as Friday the 13th and even A Nightmare On Elm Street borrows its theme. It has also heavily influenced the post modern Scream series. A whole new genre was born when Halloween was released. Originally entitled 'The Babysitter Murders' the movie is based around the idea of a crazed killer murdering babysitters at night. This was then later changed to Halloween when it was decided the murders should take place on Halloween night so that they could play about with the tradition, customs and imagery for it to make a much for threatening film. And thus Halloween was born. While Hitchcock's Psycho inserted the slasher technique into horror movies, Halloween expanded the idea. Now the murders were taking place in a normal town in America called Haddonfield, not a sinister hotel. The people in danger are, literally, everyone, not just adults. Its trump card is that it's unleashing a monster into Normsville of Everyday Life. Making it seem more normal and accessible to the audience works in two ways, one is that the audience can relate to it because they are familiar with it. If they are familiar with it then a sudden threat to familiarity, in this case normal teenage life, will seem a whole lot scarier than setting it in an abandoned house. The basic plot for Halloween is simplistic, and this is intentional not just because it's a horror film and they don't have any stories anyway. The basic premise is that little Michael Myers murdered his sister when he was just 7 years old, then, when he was 19 he escapes from Smiths Grove Sanitarium and goes to Haddonfield to murder his sister Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). Laurie is a quiet young woman who is more studious than being concerned about having a good time, getting high and having sex. On Halloween night she baby-sits Tommy Doyle (Brian Andrews) but gets more problems than she bargained for. While she is babysitting her friends are out making the most of Halloween night. Annie Brackett (Nancie Kyes) who is the Shrieff's daughter, is all set to meet her boyfriend. Lynda (P.J. Soles) plans to have a romantic evening with Bob, well not really romantic just teenage sex, at Lynda's house. Unluckily for them Michael Myers has come to Haddonfield. It is up to Loomis (Donald Pleasence) his child psychiatrist to try and stop Myers before he gets to Laurie and for this he has to convince Sheriff Brackett (Charles Cyphers) that Myers is in the little town. And so begins a night of trick, treats and a bit of death. Michael Myers became the first and foremost serial killer in films. Along came many others including Jason and Ghostface. Halloween is responsible for the 1980s horror craze where horror movies were rushed out by the bucket load, including the amount of blood. Michael Myers (played superbly by Nick Castle) is the prime example of a cold-blooded serial killer. Forget all the others, Myers is far scarier. This is because he is so empty, unfeeling and unfazed by what he does. He doesn't run after a person which makes it scarier than anything because its like he knows he will kill this person and he is absolutely confident about it. One of the stand out parts of the film, for me, is where Michael Myers murders a person and just stands there, tilts his head and looks at the dead body in a way of curiosity. This kind of 'reflection' after a killing is rare in a horror film when the killings are fast and furious. The mask of Myers itself is now widely known. Masks play an important part in horror films ever since the human skin mask of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre that Leatherface wore. In Scream we had Ghostface and in Friday the 13th there was the Hockey mask (not seen until Part 3 though). The Myers mask is another element that the makers get right in the film. They went through many ideas for a mask, including a clown mask which was admittedly scary but they went with the one you have seen in 6 parts of the series so far albeit in slightly different forms. Originally a William Shatner mask it was sprayed white and the eyes cut out and made slightly wider. The mask is then transformed into a blank, unfeeling human like face. This compliments the way Castle acts out Myers perfectly. No film that came after it has achieved its suspenseful and exceptional directional feel, not even any of its sequels. Friday the 13th was probably one the most successful franchises to be born out of the 1980 Slasherthon era, spawning 9 below average films and getting its tenth part Jason X later in 2002 it has enjoyed relative success and, like Halloween, built up a loyal fanbase. Often fans of both films will argue over which is better. Although I am a fan of Halloween, I can say with minimal bias that Halloween and its series of films is, without doubt, the best of the two even its sequels have a certain something to them even if they are not as good. There is a simple reason why Halloween is better than Friday the 13th and better than other horror movies of its time and why it remains a classic to this day. What many films made the mistake in doing is using the equation that a load of blood and sadistic, violent killings will produce a lot of scares. This is defiantly not true. Halloween has a surprisingly low body count and very, very little on screen violence. Not only does this elevate it over other slasher flicks but also gives it a far scarier feel to it. This is because of the pacing of the film. The pacing or speed of which a film goes is an important part in film making. Depending on which genre the film is depends on the pacing. Horror movies can be both fast such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th and slow Sixth Sense and The Others. If the film is well made both styles can be used. However too fast and the suspense is lost, Friday the 13th has a fairly fast pace with a whole load of kills in 90minutes. This makes the finale (a bloated 15 minutes worth) seem tame, uninspiring and boring. Too slow and you'll send people to sleep, Stephen Kings films do tend to suffer from this. Halloween gets it just right. Suspense is gradually built up during the film and most of the kills and chasing happen during the last 30 minutes and because there is relatively little violence and true horror before hand it makes it all the more worth it. Another key part to the suspense is the way Myers is seen on screen. We see very little of him at the beginning, just a back view of his head or him standing in the distance. It is not until later to we see his imposing bulk and, of course, the mask. Camera effects are used magnificently throughout the film. Myers is hidden in the darkness and slowly he will come into shot. Or he is in a wide view and you can just see him in the shadows. Brilliant stuff. There is some brilliant acting from the lead roles. Jamie Lee 'Scream Queen' Curtis is the young Laurie Strode and she does a good job at playing her. She does not over-act in any way; she doesn't burst into fits of tears all the time neither does she always scream uncontrollably though she does do some good pitiful little sobs. There is then the sadly missed Donald Pleasence who plays Dr Sam Loomis. Pleasence's moments are tremendous he creates the perfect character that is obsessed with the one thing he can not control. Carpenter wrote the dialogue for Loomis' character and Pleasence carries if off well. A mention has to go to John Carpenters fantastic musical score. This really does show just how important music is to a film. The Halloween theme is a classic and up there with The Exorcist in terms of dark and menacing style. Simplistic but it sets the mood and tone to the film perfectly. There is little variation in the music style, often it's the same few notes, but this adds to the films feel too much different styles of music would spoil it and ruin the tension. This music just builds it up. By today's standards Halloween can be seen as fairly tame. This is certainly the case in over dramtic deaths. However at its time this was a truly new experience that made it what it is today, a classic. The film still has the same eerie ambiance that it achieved back in 1978 and the directional techniques of Carpenter are still waiting to be perfected even Wes Craven has failed to dislodged Halloween from is post. The film has stood the test of time. It has now got six sequels to its name that have built up the Myers saga (apart from Halloween III: Season of the Witch). While these films have not been as good as the original they are still worthwhile and watchable films. Indeed Halloween H20 is testimony that sequels can be very well made. Halloween 8: The Homecoming is out in 2002 after a dubious reaction. Whether or not this is a sequel too far remains to be seen. Therein lies the problem with Halloween. It has spawned many imitations and for every Scream we have another ten films which are substandard. However this is hardly Halloweens fault and the movie going audiences are always game for a scare. Halloween is one of the most important films in history; it's a powerful classic in both style and substance. Forget Scream, I Know What You Did In Every Summer or the bloody and no scares style of Friday the 13th. Watch Halloween and see how a horror movie really should be made. It may be over 20 years old but its still as good as it was when it was first released. HALLOWEEN IS The way horror movies should be A milestone in movie history Suspenseful HALLOWEEN IS NOT A typical slasher Cheap in thrills Cheesy
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