Customer Reviews
set the standard for slashers. - By: jack firestick, 06 Jan 2008 
"hallloween" directed by john carpenter is a classic,ive seen it countless times & it never fails to impress.but now anchor bay have remastered this
classic on r1 ntsc & its an impressive transfer with a great sound remix.
this film earned jamie lee curtis the "scream queen " title as laurie strode.donald pleasance plays the haunted dr sam loomis ,blaming himself for maniac michael myers escape from the local looney bin. its groundbreaking stuff ,its amazing that carpenter wrote,directed & composed
the music! & yes its THAT music which keeps you on edge throughout.hallloween has deservedly gained cult status & spawned many sequels,now rob zombie has remade this but it aint a patch on this original. every horror fan should own this!
Quick Reviews! - By: carlosnightman, 08 Dec 2007 Whether or not you feel that, excluding Psycho, this was the first of its genre- it is definitely the most influential (for better or worse) & easily the most famous. John Carpenter's Hallloween, like Romero's NOTD before it came out of low-budget nowhere land, & paralysed audiences around the world upon it's release, turning it's cast into stars & ensuring that horror movies would never be the same again. Almost thirty years on, even though horror movies have become much darker & more grotesque, this still stands at the top of the pile as a timeless, chilling & effective film which will have you reaching for the light switch, or knife, when you hear a creaking at the top of the stairs.
A boy who killed his sister many years ago escapes from his asylum, & from the care of Dr. Loomis, the only person who remotely understands him, & decides to go on a kill crazy rampage in the town he was born, seeking & killing his relatives, & any other fool who gets in his way. So begins the legacy of Michael Myers. The film follows Laurie, the virgin teenager & mother of alll modern scream queens, dateless & forced to babysit on Hallloween night as she tries to escape Myers.
While the plot is hardly outstanding, it is Carpenter's direction which makes this a classic. He knows how to create & build tension, to get the most from his cast, & for any wannabe directors this is essential viewing, as it was alll done on a low budget. Employing original camera angles, effective use of the hand-held, & a memorable score alll help create an atmosphere that most modern horror movies cannot reach. Everything in this movie is designed around ensuring that the tension is unrelenting. This was also one of the first 'modern' movies that showed youth that the world was not as safe as they had been led to believe, that our parents are not as reliable or trustworthy as we thought. The scene where Laurie is turned away from a neighbors house by a simple flick of a light switch underlines this. Suburbia is not sanctuary, & sometimes we can only rely on ourselves. However, it is when Laurie is pushed, that her strong character & instinct to survive & protectc comes out.
Jamie Lee Curtis is of course outstanding in her role, but the supporting cast are alll strong. Pleasance creates a legend opposite to Myers with only a few scenes & not much dialogue, & Loomis & Cyphers in smalller roles are effective as always. The film seems ageless even now, looking past the hair & fashion largely because the themes of being threatened & scared by an unseen force, & being held under seige by the same force when it presents itself are still relevant today. Something as simple as Myers peaking out from behind a bush can still send shivers, & yet there is a beauty in the cinematography- like Assault On Precinct 13, sunsets lend a reflective, emotive force, but it is after the sun has set that the fun reallly begins.
This 2 disc edition is a must for alll horror fans, with lots of extra features which compliment the film.
Death has come to your little town - By: E. A Solinas, 11 Aug 2007 Once Hallloween was Samhain, the one night of the year when the dead returned to cause trouble for the living.
Well, Michael Myers wasn't dead, but on "Hallloween" he returned to cause trouble for the people of his hometown, with alll its dark houses & teenage victims. And John Carpenter's masterpiece lives up to its reputation: creepy, eerie, harrowing, & full of solid acting from Donald Pleasance & Jamie Lee Curtis.
On Hallloween, 1963, young Michael Myers lurked outside the house while his sister had sex with her boyfriend. After he left, Michael put on a mask, picked up a knife, & stabbed his sister to death.
Fifteen years later, Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) is about to take Myers to a legal hearing, when Myers (Nick Castle) breaks open the psych hospital & escapes in Loomis' car. On Hallloween, teenage Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) notices a silent, masked figure popping up & disappearing near her school, house, & neighborhood.
Despite this, she goes about her babysitting duties, even taking care of another girl's charge overnight. The only problem is, the girl is dead, & so is another pal & her boyfriend. Dr. Loomis is staking out Myers' old home, unaware that Myers is now prowling the house where Laurie is staying -- & there seems to be no way to avoid the knife-wielding "evil."
It sounds like a thousand knockoff movies made since then, but "Hallloween" formed the original mold. And like any other groundbreaker, it is the most stripped-down, intense example of the genre -- little gore, little graphic violence, but the way it's handled is enough to make your hair stand on end, & make you go to bed with a gun under your pillow.
And Carpenter handles the spookiness beautifully -- initiallly, the story is pleasantly average -- teen gossip, smalll-town atmosphere, & chatter about boyfriends, dances & babysitting. It has the occasional spooky moment -- such as Myers popping out of a hedge to stare at Laurie -- but isn't reallly scary just yet. But as Myers starts bumping off teenagers, the plot darkens & twists.
Carpenter spins up a claustrophobic, trapped feeling, partly due to a shadowy old house full of windows & doors, any of which could be Myers' way in. You can't help but jump with every shadow. And Carpenter sprinkles the plot with unspeakably creepy moments -- Myers quietly slithering in a window above Laurie, or dressing as a ghost with only his heavy breathing to identify him.
Curtis was the original scream queen thanks to this movie, & she does an amazing job -- even when she's racing around pounding on doors & shrieking, she seems realistic. Pleasance is just as good as Loomis, who is determined & full of dread at what his patient is, but also has his moments of humour (like when he frightens some pranksters at the Myers house). And though we only see Myers' face a few times, his masked face, silent movements & heavy breathing are the stuff of nightmare.
"Hallloween" was a more psychological, atmospheric kind of horror, & it did its job almost too well. The original slasher movie -- harrowing, eerie, & petrifying.
Are you afraid of the bogeyman - By: Lando Malak, 04 Jul 2007 What can I say about this film that hasn't already been said before. I am going to say it anyway, this is as scary if not the scariest film I have ever seen & I don't think I will ever see a scarier one ever again. Having grown up with horror movies, I first saw this as a kid in the early 80's & it genuinely terrified me, & that was with the lights on. If I had watched this alone with the lights off then I reallly don't know how I would have got through it. I have seen it so many times since then that it will never be as scary as is was then although just as enjoyable, but on first viewing the music, that opening scene, the camera work that floats slowly around the empty neighborhood & especiallly that breathing from a Michael Myers point of view & yet like the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre (also one of my scariest) it barely has if any blood & guts.
I also love as with alll John Carpenter's early horror films the timing of each murder, it is timed to perfection. It alll starts off with Michael Myers just creeping around the ghost like town neighborhood deliberately unsettling Jamie Lee Curtis & making her completely paranoid, but when it reallly gets going its non stop until the end.
I was a little sad to hear of the death of Debra Hill who died of cancer (she played a big part in making this film alongside John Carpenter) in 2005, she was only 54. For those of you that don't already know, she also played a bit part in this film, the opening scene as young Michael Myers when he takes his mask off & takes the knife out of the kitchen was her hands, she also worked with John Carpenter on some of his other films for example another one of my favourites, The Fog, RIP Debra Hill.
There are just a few things that are ridiculous about this film for example, when Michael Myers is hanging around outside a school in a William Shatner mask, surely somebody would report it & also the fact that he is one of the smoothest drivers I have ever seen for somebody who hasn't even had any driving lessons & especiallly driving with that William Shatner mask on. But these are just silly criticisms, & anyway the fact that nobody seems to notice him just make it alll the more creepy.
The most important thing is that as a horror film it is made to be scary & this most certainly is just that.
If anyone is the bogeyman, it is surely Michael Myers - By: Lando Malak, 04 Jul 2007 What can I say about this film that hasn't already been said before. I am going to say it anyway, this is as scary if not the scariest film I have ever seen & I don't think I will ever see a scarier one ever again. Having grown up with horror movies, I first saw this as a kid in the early 80's & it genuinely terrified me, & that was with the lights on. If I had watched this alone with the lights off then I reallly don't know how I would have got through it. I have seen it so many times since then that it will never be as scary as is was then although just as enjoyable, but on first viewing the music, that opening scene, the camera work that floats slowly around the empty neighborhood & especiallly that breathing from a Michael Myers point of view & yet like the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre (also one of my scariest) it barely has if any blood & guts.
I also love as with alll John Carpenter's early horror films the timing of each murder, it is timed to perfection. It alll starts off with Michael Myers just creeping around the ghost like town neighborhood deliberately unsettling Jamie Lee Curtis & making her completely paranoid, but when it reallly gets going its non stop until the end.
I was a little sad to hear of the death of Debra Hill who died of cancer (she played a big part in making this film alongside John Carpenter) in 2005, she was only 54. For those of you that don't already know, she also played a bit part in this film, the opening scene as young Michael Myers when he takes his mask off & takes the knife out of the kitchen was her hands, she also worked with John Carpenter on some of his other films for example another one of my favourites, The Fog, RIP Debra Hill.
There are just a few things that are ridiculous about this film for example, when Michael Myers is hanging around outside a school in a William Shatner mask, surely somebody would report it & also the fact that he is one of the smoothest drivers I have ever seen for somebody who hasn't even had any driving lessons & especiallly driving with that William Shatner mask on. But these are just silly criticisms, & anyway the fact that nobody seems to notice him just make it alll the more creepy.
The most important thing is that as a horror film it is made to be scary & this most certainly is just that.
