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Halloween (1978) Review

By David Day on October 31, 2018 22

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Halloween Movie Poster from 1978 for our Horror Movie Podcast

If you want to watch Halloween (1978), please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon link to help us support the podcast.

John Carpenter’s original Halloween released in 1978 is a pillar of the horror movie genre. Halloween helped to pave the way for slashers and created tropes and techniques that are still used to this day to great effect. When it comes to fun, seasonal horror movies, you can’t do much better than this. Today Halloween still stands up on its own but benefits greatly from a form of nostalgia that I have a great deal of respect for.

Halloween focuses on three main characters – Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) who is the virgin teen in distress, Loomis (Donald Pleasence) who is The Shape’s head doctor, and of course, Mike Meyers AKA The Shape (played by seven different actors). By today’s standards this movie is quite slow-paced, but if you feel like you can trade in the pacing for nostalgia and sleepy Midwest towns with old-fashioned values, you probably won’t regret it.

I had not seen this movie in ages, so when I learned that The Kiggins Theater in Vancouver, WA was having a showing of it the Friday before halloween, I knew we had to go. Seeing this on the big screen with a bunch of horror movie fans was the best part of this movie for me so that I may be a little drunk on the ambiance, but I will try not to let it taint my review.

My Rating

8/10


If you haven’t seen Halloween (1978), you really should. It’s just good, old-fashioned, stabbing the way your mom use to serve it up.

This is the movie that created the stamp that we commonly refer to today as slashers. If you have seen a slasher, it was influenced by this, and the spoilers section probably won’t be too much of a spoiler after all.

I like to think about the audience in 1978 who paid to see this at the theater and consider what kind of experience they probably had. Were there movies like this previously? Yes, kind of – The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and The Hills Have Eyes (1977) were similar in style but not nearly so successful as Halloween.

The musical score is iconic and created a style unique to horror movies where the audio track truly became part of the scares.

Other Halloween Movies We’ve Watched

  • Halloween II (1981)
  • Halloween III Season of the Witch
  • Halloween (2018)

Spoilers

The movie starts with the camera in the perspective of a young (six years old?) Mike Meyers stalking around the outside of his own house, peeping on his sister and her boyfriend as they make out on the couch. As things get hot an heavy, the couple decides to take things upstairs, and Mike heads into the house, grabbing a gigantic kitchen knife on his way.

A laughably short amount of time passes before the boyfriend, now done with his romantic endeavors, decides to head home, walking by a hiding Michael on his way out the front door. Michael heads upstairs, dons a mask, and proceeds to stab his sister to death brutally. The intro ends with Michael in the front yard holding the knife as his parents come home to find him with a cold look of bewilderment.

The Movie skips forward in time 15 years to October 30th, 1978 when Dr. Loomis is driving to the mental hospital to visit his pet project, Michael. It’s a dark and stormy night, and upon arriving at the hospital gates, Loomis and his passenger realize that the mental patients have flown the coop. Mental patients are wandering through the stormy night, and as Loomis gets out of the car to check the gate, Michael attacks his female companion, steals the car and drives off into the night.

At this point, we join Laurie in her hometown or Haddonfield, which just-so-happens to be the town where Michael grew up. Laurie is a high school aged girl who doesn’t do very well with the boys but babysit quite a bit. She does all the things teenagers tend to do with her girlfriends, smoke pot, drink and carve pumpkins on Halloween.

Michael enters sleepy little Haddonfield with Loomis hot on his trail and proceeds with his killing spree. Most of the victims are nude, near nude, and female. He is unstoppable, slow, and very hard to get a read on as he never speaks.

Is Halloween Worth Seeing?

Halloween has enough fun and funny moments to make this movie charming in a lot of great ways. The feel of Haddonfield is perfect, the characters are fun and believable, and if you enjoy peeping at the house across the street, this is simply a hole in one. The acting in this is very good, and the characters are enduring.

Halloween does a great job of setting the stage for the genre and giving everyone who follows it something to shoot for. Panic, jump-scares, the lone virgin, it all starts here. Watching Halloween during the fall is a must. Watching Halloween any other time of the year is similar to Christmas addicts listening to jingle bells out of season – it brings you back to where you want to be.

If you want to watch Halloween (1978), please consider renting or purchasing the movie through this amazon link to help us support the podcast.

About David Day

It goes without saying that I enjoy horror movies. I also like to run, hike, read (comics, fiction, sci-fi, fantasy), write, and spend time with my family. I am usually pretty direct and find that honesty and kindness are what is most important to me. Along with Bryce, I am a co-founder of Horror Movie Talk.

If you want to know more about my taste in horror movies, checkout my about page or listen to episode 14: "The Horrific Beginnings of Horror Movie Talk"

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. steve says

    September 28, 2020 at 1:06 pm

    I’ve been listening to your older podcasts, mainly the movies that I like and am interested in your opions. After hearing your casts about these versions of Halloween I don’t understand how you claim to be knowledgeable about horror movies given your opions of these films. You don’t seem to get the history of this movie and how it’s actually the first of these types of movies when you compare it to movies that have come after it. Your idea that this mimics those that come after? You can’t even remember the name of the town it takes place in?

    I’m sorry guys, simple points like that really show that you are not as you claim. You may like to watch these kinds of films, but you don’t seem to know the history of the film genre you claim to be knowledgeable in.

    Reply
    • David Day says

      September 29, 2020 at 8:02 am

      Hey Steve, it’s funny because you are correct. We switched over to saying we are spooky professionals (what is that exactly?) as a joke. We just enjoy watching and reviewing movies for what they are. We have never been great at the research and don’t proclaim to be.

      Mostly we just like to pick movies apart and look at film elements that work and don’t. Thanks for listening to the show!

      Reply
  2. Cara says

    August 16, 2024 at 8:52 pm

    This was definitely the scariest movie ever made.

    Reply
    • Matt logan says

      August 31, 2024 at 9:34 pm

      No it was not

      Reply
  3. Cara says

    August 16, 2024 at 8:53 pm

    The original Halloween was the most horrifying movie ever made.

    Reply
    • Matt logan says

      August 31, 2024 at 9:23 pm

      Nope not even close

      Reply
    • Matt logan says

      August 31, 2024 at 9:23 pm

      Nope

      Reply
  4. Matt logan says

    August 31, 2024 at 9:15 pm

    This movie did not Start the horror movie slasher genre that is bullshilt 2 years before halloween was the town that dreaded sundown

    Reply
  5. Matt logan says

    August 31, 2024 at 9:20 pm

    This is bullshit this is not even close to the scariest movie made or it is the first slasher 2 years before halloween there was the town that dreaded sundown. and oh ya and by the way friday the 13th is better then halloween

    Reply
  6. Matt logan says

    August 31, 2024 at 9:28 pm

    Halloween was not the first slasher movie to start the slaher genre we got the town that dreaded sundown, black christmas, the texas chainsaw massacre, torso, bay of blood

    Reply
  7. Matt logan says

    August 31, 2024 at 9:31 pm

    There were other movies that predate halloween that started the slaher genre we got. the town that dreaded sundown, black christmas, the texas chainsaw massacre, torso, bay of blood

    Reply
  8. Matt logan says

    August 31, 2024 at 9:38 pm

    Halloween was not the first slasher or was it the scariest. It is a overrated movie and the town that dreaded sundown came out before it

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Us Movie Review | Horror Movie Talk says:
    March 27, 2019 at 1:03 am

    […] Villains wearing jumpsuits (Halloween) […]

    Reply
  2. How Slashers Killed Good Horror Movies | Horror Movie Talk says:
    April 5, 2019 at 10:51 am

    […] Halloween (1978) Review […]

    Reply
  3. Halloween (2018) Review | Horror Movie Talk | Episode 12 says:
    September 27, 2019 at 4:58 pm

    […] Halloween (1978) Review […]

    Reply
  4. Halloween Vs. Friday the 13th | Horror Movie Talk says:
    October 7, 2019 at 2:45 pm

    […] comes to the king of masked slashers, a couple of distinct names come to mind: Michael Meyers from Halloween and Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th. So who takes home the golden knife/machete? Let’s break […]

    Reply
  5. Friday the 13th (1980) Review & JJ Villard Interview | Horror Movie Talk says:
    May 6, 2020 at 12:01 am

    […] Directed by Sean S. Cunningham (who went on to write and produce many sequels) and written by Victor Miller, Friday the 13th was the second of the big franchise slashers to hit the scene, following the success of 1978’s Halloween. […]

    Reply
  6. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Review | Horror Movie Talk | Episode 95 says:
    May 6, 2020 at 9:18 am

    […] If you are into horror movies, you just need to see it. It goes down in history with the likes of Halloween and Friday the 13th for supremely influential slashers […]

    Reply
  7. Halloween 3: Season of the Witch Review | Horror Movie Talk | Ep. 119 says:
    October 22, 2020 at 11:23 am

    […] For a better time, check out Halloween II (1981) or the original, Halloween. […]

    Reply
  8. Terror Train Review | Horror Movie Talk | Episode 130 says:
    December 30, 2020 at 7:59 am

    […] At the opening of the film, we are introduced to a group of friends including the ring leader Doc (Hart Bochner), and a sorority sister, and final girl expert Jamie Lee Curtis playing Alana. By the way, this was shot only a year after the release of Jamie’s breakout role in Halloween. […]

    Reply
  9. The Bad Seed (1956) Review | Horror Movie Talk says:
    May 16, 2021 at 11:20 am

    […] Halloween (1978) Review […]

    Reply
  10. Halloween II (1981) Review - Horror Movie Talk | Episode 65 says:
    January 25, 2023 at 9:33 am

    […] As previously stated, if you are a fan of slashers, this is a must see. It is an archetype of a classic slasher. Thin on story, but thick on kills. It’s an excellent follow up to the original Halloween. […]

    Reply

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