Could someone please explain Halloween?

[Constable Cool]

okay, i'm sorry, but i've watched Carpenter's Halloween twice in the last week and i just don't get it - what makes this such a classic? all i saw was some dude from a mental asylum going around killing people.
a) firstly, that is soooo original, man, an escapee from an asylum stalking people - and you can say that it was original back when it was made, but we all know that's just a dirty rotten lie.
b) Michael Meyers breaks into a hardware store and steals...knives! wow! with all the potential killing equipment involved in a hardware store, he steals knives. what a terrifying unstoppable juggernaut.
c) everyone dies the same, being strangled or stabbed.
d) it is soo cliched...i left this for last, cos i know Halloween invented many of these cliches, but still...Jamie Lee Curtis turning her back on the killer, Meyers' body disappearing at the end (actually if you want to see the exact same scene, shot exactly the same, watch Slumber Party Massacre 2...on second thoughts, don't, cos that's THE worst movie of my brief foray into bad movies.)

yeah, i know that it was suspense rather than gore that the movie built its name on, and maybe the suspense has faded after all these years. but surely it should demonstrate a measure of imagination?
Maybe it was just cos i watched Braindead (Dead Alive to you americans) and the Evil Dead series this week as well. But could someone please tell me where the attraction comes from? Perhaps you had to have been there during the whole slasher craze, which was around the time i was busy being born.
Hail to the King, baby,
Constable Cool.

[J.R.]

I have to admit I'm youngun, too that's seen more than my share of slashers, but I still like Halloween. Michael doesn't just go around slashing three or four people in the first hour, only to knock off about a dozen in the last twenty minutes, he slowly and methodically stalks his victims,  watching them voyeuristically, and we, the audience get to see this. Also, Carpenter's score is excellent.

[NeonNudel]

To truly enjoy Halloween, one also has to consider a few things about Michael's obsessions. I hardly have the patience to be quiet for a 1/2 hour period during the day, and some folks can't do a year of silence before entering a monestary/convent! But here comes Michael Meyers, the boy stays silent for 15 years!!!! That shows how dedicated he is to his task. (there is a similar scary dedication betweenJohn Doe and the Sloth victim in the movie Se7en).

Yes, the killings are not exactly gore-laden, but let's consider that the budget was pretty low for this movie. The original Friday the 13th had a lot of stabby killings too, and in any horror franchise, the more people who see the film, the more money can be spent on sequels with more gore effects. (for a great case in point, look at the effects from "The Evil Dead" to "Evil Dead II").

Michael liked to stick with his original weapon of choice that he used on his sister at the beginning, and why replace a tool that worked in the past for our anti-hero? You don't need harpoons, flamethrowers or machetes to induce fear, with the right formula.

What else - well, I got pretty freaked out by the conversations Dr. Loomis had with the local law enforcement. The idea that someone could simply be motivated by nothing other than evil, is hard to grab as a concept to the general populace. Most of us have a pretty decent upbringing and know the difference between right and wrong, but to see a kid from a pretty normal family come totally out of left field and kill his sister at age 6 and come back to the town 15 years later and try to finish the job is pretty damn disturbing.

When you consider a few of these factors,Halloween can be a real unnerving and unsettling film. Probably this has helped it withstand the test of time, or maybe it's just because of the mask and the music....

[Chris K.]

I find John Carpenter to be a "gifted" (if that is the right word to use) director. Sure, he is no Peter Jackson, Andy Milligan, or George A. Romero, but Carpenter has his own style. I liked his first film DARK STAR.

But I don't like HALLOWEEN that much. I found it to be the usual "stalk the ditzy chick and slash her to death" routine that has just become too apparent in the horror/suspense film trade. I don't really hate HALLOWEEN, but it's a film you are not going to find in my film library of good movies.

When are we gona get films like THE EVIL DEAD, BRAINDEAD, BAD TASTE, or RE-ANIMATOR and skip this Hollywood-censored crap. I don't know?

[No Nukes]

In the first movie, Mike dosen't even use the knife for a while...he just crushes victims with his bare hands. If he's really THAT strong, then why did he even bother with the knife? Oh well, I think it's a good movie anyway.

[No Nukes]

What I find the creepiest bout that movie is the SHATNER MASK!!!! *shudder*

I'm an evil fire-breathing Pikachu with wings, a pitchfork and a loud Hawaiian shirt  and even I'M no match for that imagery of pop-culture-turned-bad!

Read all about it here, plus how they came up with it...
http://www.magicmasi.com/myersmuseum/tidbits/chandlur_article.html

-No Nukes, the Satanic Pikachu

[AndyC]

I'm still not entirely clear on why Halloween should get the blame for a whole subgenre of movies ripping it off. Complaining about all of the elements of Halloween that are done in every slasher flick, and naming later movies as examples, makes no sense. The stalk-and-slash horror movie trend hadn't begun yet. Halloween was out before Friday the 13th, Prom Night or Nightmare on Elm Street. There might have been a few that came before Halloween (Black Christmas or Texas Chainsaw Massacre, for example), but Carpenter was the first one to really on the formula for success. Maybe others have refined the formula since, making better movies, or made such a slew of inferior ripoffs that the fresh ideas inevitably got stale, but that shouldn't reflect on Halloween. I suppose it's an easy mistake to make, if you see the ripoffs before you discover the original. If you had seen Halloween when it came out (or, like me, on one of its earliest TV showings), you might see it differently.

As for Michael's choice of stabbing or strangling his victims, it's more realistic, and makes sense when you consider that the stalking was the really important thing in Halloween. This was before the weapons had to get more outrageous, and the body counts higher, to keep up interest. Personally, I thought slasher movies got a little silly when killers started pulling a different power gardening tool out of their asses every five minutes. Not to say those movies weren't entertaining, just that things had changed. You have to look at Halloween in that context.

[KB]

Everyone that has replied to this silly presumption that Halloween is not a classic has valid points. One thing that needs to be reminded is that it is..just a movie. Remember that the movie was released into a culture where everything was based on peace and love, suddenly a movie comes out that portrays one of the purest forms of evil ( killing innocent people ). And what a better weapon to use than a simple kitchen butcher knife.? You know why it is so scary...??? Because we all have them and they are all accessible to intruders in our homes. Point made. What would you find more believable...Michael Myers killing someone with a mortgage calculator he found on a desk or a razor edged kitchen knife that reflects that unnerving mask that he wore. Speaking of which we all do know how scary William Shatner's face is. The one concern that I do have is why the hell would a mask be in the hardware store in the first place?? Anyhoo back to the praising.
What is so scary about Halloween? Is it the movie that frightens us? No, I don't think so..I think it is a relation between the idea and our human emotions. Anyone who has a child can imagine..what if they grow up to be a serial killer. Someone who has no emotions or can't link anything besides physical qualities to attribute that they are even indeed humans?? The idea that..this could really happen!! Matter of fact it has happened....but it was never put on the screen until 1978. If you weren't the victim..then you never experienced it. Carpenter put it on the screen with twists of his own imagination to let us experience the terror of having a lunatic stalk our children, family and friends.
People ask...why was he unstoppable? Almost Supernatural? Why don't you go ask some homicide detectives how easy it is to catch a serial killer? Ask the Boston Strangler.... Ask the Zodiac Killer.....Ask Jack the Ripper. Sure a little tap of Supernatural to make a story fun, but there was not enough to ruin the basic idea. Michael was not human, his brain was designed to do one thing.....and that one thing was to Kill.
Truly a Classic. NeonNudel wrote:
>
> To truly enjoy Halloween, one also has to consider a
> few things about Michael's obsessions. I hardly have the
> patience to be quiet for a 1/2 hour period during the day,
> and some folks can't do a year of silence before entering a
> monestary/convent! But here comes Michael Meyers, the boy
> stays silent for 15 years!!!! That shows how dedicated he is
> to his task. (there is a similar scary dedication betweenJohn
> Doe and the Sloth victim in the movie Se7en).
>
> Yes, the killings are not exactly gore-laden, but let's
> consider that the budget was pretty low for this movie. The
> original Friday the 13th had a lot of stabby killings too,
> and in any horror franchise, the more people who see the
> film, the more money can be spent on sequels with more gore
> effects. (for a great case in point, look at the effects from
> "The Evil Dead" to "Evil Dead II").
>
> Michael liked to stick with his original weapon of choice
> that he used on his sister at the beginning, and why replace
> a tool that worked in the past for our anti-hero? You don't
> need harpoons, flamethrowers or machetes to induce fear, with
> the right formula.
>
> What else - well, I got pretty freaked out by the
> conversations Dr. Loomis had with the local law enforcement.
> The idea that someone could simply be motivated by nothing
> other than evil, is hard to grab as a concept to the general
> populace. Most of us have a pretty decent upbringing and know
> the difference between right and wrong, but to see a kid from
> a pretty normal family come totally out of left field and
> kill his sister at age 6 and come back to the town 15 years
> later and try to finish the job is pretty damn disturbing.
>
> When you consider a few of these factors,Halloween can be a
> real unnerving and unsettling film. Probably this has helped
> it withstand the test of time, or maybe it's just because of
> the mask and the music....

[Deej]

I'm all for killing hippies! And use whatever ya want to do it, says I. But dammit Michael...speed it up Boyo! You know what I'd like to see? More bench-mounted vise related killings. Kind of a Joe Pesci head in the vise, baseball bat kinda thing..that would would be swell! Your average, garden variety, 70's slasher villain just doesn't seem to have enough anger to really to totally F-up the long haired flower children he's offing. Ya gotta have style man, be flashy, egg-whisk someone to death...it's the 70's....waste someone with a lawn dart!!! Use that clown head that screws into the water hose to flay someone!!! The mask is a good touch though. But the jumpsuit? C'mon...remember...the 70's...how about sequins and platform boots...high collars....eagle belt buckles....now THAT's scary!! Anyway..that's just what I think...could be the ritalin.
                                                                                     DJ