Years after he killed his sister, the now grown Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and stalks babysitters.
I didn’t see Halloween in ’78. Then it was a phenomenon. It was the beginning of a new kind of film (Not really; Bay of Blood was the beginning, but everyone didn’t start copying it till Halloween). By the time I got to it, I’d seen dozens of films exactly like it. There’s no question of its importance to the Slasher sub-genre. There are however, lots and lots of questions one can ask about it.
Outside of its place in history, is it a good film? The sad answer is no. It doesn’t have a story, just a mood. It leads nowhere. Michael kills some babysitters, chases one, is killed several times, and gets up each time. He does all that because he is the personification of evil. I suppose that’s a reason. Not much of one. The other characters have little personality and behave stupidly so that they can get attacked. Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) hides in a closet so that she will be trapped. She also likes to hang around Michael’s dead body, with her back to him. This can be forgiven once, but is a bit much the second time. Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence), the worst psychiatrist in the world, just mutters that Michael is evil (no wonder the Sheriff doesn’t take him seriously) and lurks in the bushes. Not everything is bad. John Carpenter has more style than most Slasher directors. The music is memorable and there are several well-crafted scenes (the best has Laurie by a door frame as Michael’s face fades in above her). But that isn’t worth 90 minutes of your time.
It was followed by Halloween 2, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Halloween 5, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, Halloween: Resurrection.