 It
is hard to believe that "Halloween" came out 20 years ago. John Carpenter's
classic helped to establish the slasher genre and open the flood gates for
those that followed. It was another of the great films that really turned me
onto horror.
The idea for Halloween
came to Irwin Yablan while he was attending a film festival in Milan
during 1977. He was impressed by the giallo films of
Argento and Bava.
Argento had his gloved killer, Carpenter had his masked maniac. A new
wave of exploitational films were about to hit America and this time
teenagers would feel the wrath.
Michael Myers....The
Shape. Two distinct individuals....one psychotic killing machine. He must be
recognized as one of the great horror icons of the modern day era.
Michael (no I don't mean Jackson),
Freddy,
Jason,
Pinhead, and Leatherface were our equivalent of the classic Universal
monster of the 30's and 40's. The slasher genre was very integral to the
resurgence of horror in the 1980's. It's success opened the door for the
rest of horror. Whether you like these films or not, without them you
wouldn't have
Evil Dead,
The Howling,
Hellraiser,
Re-Animator,
A Nightmare on Elm Street, etc. So give these movies some credit. To the
same extreme, they will probably bring us the death of horror in the 90's
with the success of "Scream". We are going to be sequeled to death!!!!!!
Well enough from my
soapbox....back to "Halloween". This movie had it all. A great story, great
music, and of course, an indestructible killer. Carpenter crafted the best
of the slasher films without the gore of those that followed. This
film is very well paced and the excellent score added to the suspense. I
nearly shit my pants (well not really, but you know how I felt) when I saw
Michael Myers sit up. This movie is just classic horror at its best.
I know the debate will
linger about who is the best slasher. I prefer Jason to both Michael and
Freddy, but if I were to rank the first installment in each series it would
definitely go: Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Friday the 13th.
But if I were to rank the three series overall the order would be reversed
with Friday the 13th leading the way and the Halloween series would be a
distance third.
Not only is Halloween the
greatest holiday, but "Halloween" is the greatest slasher film. This film
helped to firmly establish John Carpenter's career in Hollywood allowing him
to make other great films such as "Escape from New York", "The
Thing", "They Live", "Prince of Darkness", and "Big Trouble in Little
China". As always if there is anything you can add to this page,
please
email me.
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