Halloween (1978)
–I forgot my chemistry book.
–Well, who needs books anyway?
Horror movies are occasionally used to subvert the status quo as George Romero did in Night of the Living Dead, but they often reinforce the traditional mores of their culture. This began so obvious that Wes Craven mocked it in the Scream movies when his characters came up with a list of things one should not do if one wants to survive a horror movie. John Carpenter’s original 1978 film Halloween falls into this latter category. The victims of choice are teenagers and the ones that die are guilty of breaking the rules that most parents try to enforce: having sex, smoking, drinking, taking drugs, not studying, and even being rude. These sins tend to form a hierarchy of importance with sex obviously coming first in the list of taboos.
In Halloween, our victims tend to be multiple rule breakers. Michael Myers’s sister, Judith (Sandy Johnson) was obviously up to no good with her boyfriend since he comes down the stairs buttoning his shirt and she is sitting in front of her bedroom mirror combing her hair topless. Lynda (P. J. Soles) and her boyfriend Bob (John Michael Graham) obviously hit the drinking and sex violations. Annie (Nancy Loomis) smokes pot, is loud-mouthed and disrespectful and talks about having sex with her boyfriend. In this film, taking drugs is a lower-ranked offense as Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) also takes a few puffs on a joint. It’s also made apparent that she doesn’t make a habit of doing so, as she coughs quite a bit unlike Annie who is accustomed to the effects.
Laurie, of course, is our heroine and she stands in stark contrast to her friends. From the beginning she even looks different, dressed in a flowered dress with white tights and low heeled shoes like a little girl. She is studious, smart, respected, and reliable. She is the one everyone turns to when they need a favor: whether it’s leaving a key beneath a mat or last minute babysitting she’s the girl scout that handles every situation. In fact, it’s her responsibility that is her cardinal virtue. She protects little Tommy (Brian Andrews) and Lindsey (Kyle Richards). They are still young enough that they can sleep together in the same bed in all innocence and that innocence is rewarded as they come through without a scratch. Laurie briefly leaves them to investigate the house across the street – her one dereliction of duty. She is punished for this small infraction and for her few puffs of marijuana by the few cuts she gets from Michael’s attack.
Michael Myers is as Tommy repeatedly states the boogeyman. We get two brief glimpses of him beneath the mask but otherwise he is inhuman, indeed practically supernatural. Donald Pleasance is wonderful as Dr. Sam Loomis, the psychiatrist who has spent a lifetime watching Michael and trying to ensure that he never leaves the hospital. Boogeymen come out on Halloween, of course. It’s their role in life. Laurie’s teacher might even call it destiny as she talks in class about “catching up with one’s own fate,” and “fate never changes.”
John Carpenter crafts a scary movie that chills but never goes over the top. His skillful use of obstructed vision (peering through Michael’s mask, looking through a windshield hidden by dark, rain and wipers, etc.) ensures that we don’t know quite when the scare is coming, but it never reaches torture porn blood levels. Halloween also possesses one of the most effective musical scores of any horror film. The simple piano riff played over and over creates more chills down the spine than any music I can think of, bar the theme from Psycho with its shrieking violins.
I find it interesting that one of the weapons Laurie uses against Michael is a knitting needle which is typically thought of as a very feminine object. I was also amused that she used a wire coat hanger. See, Joan Crawford, they do have their uses! The only thing that annoyed me about her behavior was that she kept dropping or throwing away the knife. It was the only silly thing she does in the whole movie.
Halloween has earned its place as a classic even though it opened the flood gates for a million other teen slasher pictures. It’s a simple story but well told.
Life in a Celluloid World 