Off the Cuff Reviews Halloween (1978)

It's not often you watch a movie that shakes up your entire worldview. Okay, that's a bit of an over-exaggeration, but hear me out. Before today, I was completely dismissive of the entire slasher-film genre. I'd never seen one, but I knew all the tropes, and they just seemed too samey and too boring. Halloween (1978) showed me what a good slasher film can do, and I get it now. I understand the appeal. Not only that, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie on its own merits; it's a really great film. Starring Donald Pleasence as Dr. Sam Loomis, Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, P.J. Soles as Lynda Van Der Klok and Nancy Loomis as Annie Brackett.

Halloween (1978)

Okay, first of all, the film succeeds in putting me on the edge of my seat right from the word go. This movie is a masterclass in creating a tense and off-putting atmosphere for some scares and just holding that atmosphere for 90 minutes without letting up. I don't spook easily, at least when I'm watching a movie, so appreciate it when I say this: this movie made me jump in my seat on more than one occasion. Like I said, jump-scares don't normally get me, but these were well done. I think what makes this movie work so well is that nothing is telegraphed. It'll bring in the spooky music (which is incredibly effective, by the way) and put the characters in situations where you're expecting a scare, and nothing will happen. Then, whenever the movie does a panning shot around a room, especially while someone is turning around, you're expecting the killer to be right there behind them, but it's never the case. The movie teases the kills for so long and never delivers; it just creates even more suspense since you know it's coming. When it does happen, it's shocking, but it's almost a relief as well. It's a feeling I've never understood when people are talking about why they love slasher films; I get it now. It took an extremely clever film to do it, but I get it now.

Nick Castle as Michael Myers

Michael himself is an incredibly imposing villain for this story; everything about him is creepy and off-putting. The movie uses him to full effect as well; there are never any obvious scares with him, and it just makes him all the more unique and terrifying. I really like that the movie never tries to give us any emotional backstory for why he's like this or some traumatic experience as a child that warped him into this monster. He was just always like this and there's no explanation, and that's even more scary than any justification the movie could have even attempted. The mask is, of course, iconic, and that's in how it's used more than in the design itself. Granted, the design is creepy-looking, but it goes beyond that. I don't think the mask ever takes up more than a quarter of the screen; we never get a really good look at it, and that's a tried-and-tested formula for upping the scare factor. Michael's also less of a spook and more of a creep; the way the camera will slowly pan up to reveal him there in the background is just so unsettling. Well, except for the ghost scene, that was a little silly. He is a little too overpowered by the end; it leads to a justifyingly creepy ending, but I just don't understand how anyone could endure all that and still walk away. Takes me out of the experience a little by the end.

Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie

Not only that, but there are a few other niggling criticisms I have that do stop me from loving this movie as much as other people do. For example, while I've praised the hell out of Michael, the movie really yada-yadas away how he manages to escape the asylum and set up this entire movie's events. I mean, it really yada-yadas it away. All sides of it: why the inmates are allowed to roam the grounds, how Michael jumped the fence, who taught Michael to drive and why, none of it is given a decent explanation, and especially for the catalyst for the entire movie's plot, that's something that needs to be explained. Also, I guess in this world glass is just a non-entity. You can break it really easily in this movie. With both Michael and Laurie, both of them just give it one solid slap with an open-palm and it shatters, with no noticeable injuries sustained. From GLASS! One of the most notoriously injury-prone substances ever created by man. The movie also loves to go back to the well of 'There's nothing there, it's just your imagination' which gets a little tedious, especially when it results in our main character staying out of the action for so long. Also, as much as I liked the character of the doctor, the movie really doesn't want to use him in any meaningful way. Just give a few speeches, show up at the end and solve the problem in under a minute. Especially given the relationship they built up between him and Michael, I wanted a little more out of him; they kept bringing up how long this guy's been working on Michael and it just goes nowhere.

Donald Pleasence as Dr. Loomis

I do like the character though, don't get me wrong. Donald Pleasence plays him really well. He's only there to give speeches, sure, but those are some well-written, well-delivered speeches right there, and I loved the moment he scared the kids away from the house. It was a good, honest moment of levity in an otherwise suspenseful film. Jamie Lee Curtis does an excellent job here as well, of course. She plays Laurie in a very likeable way; she's certainly relateable, and the fact that, really, she's the only competent person we see for a bulk of the movie helps a lot. Curtis is definitely a 'scream queen' as well, she really sells the interactions with Michael, and her struggle in the final act is well-paced, well-acted and well-structured. The other side characters, being the kill fodder, do their jobs well enough. Annie gets a majority of the spotlight, given that basically the entirety of the second act is a big, drawn-out build-up to her death. I really liked this character, and Nancy Loomis played her really well. I should probably clarify that when I said Laurie was the only competent character, that's not to say none of the others are likeable, especially not Annie. The entire cast seem like fleshed out characters of their own right; it's not like we're rooting for anyone to die. It's another thing that makes Michael so scary: he's not going after a**holes or d***heads, these are just regular people he's senselessly slaughtering for no reason. It puts you in that mentality of 'this could have happened to anyone' that puts you out of kilter, since you fall under the category of 'anyone'. Makes you double-take before walking 'round a corner or venturing off into the dark, like all good horror should.

Nancy Loomis as Annie

Halloween (1978) is far from perfect, but it does what it wants to do too well for me to mark it down too much. I'd say it's a 'turn your brain off' movie, but there's too much thought put into this to justify that. It's got it's shortcomings, but it's pretty f***ing great despite that. 8.5/10