This Is As Classic As They Come

This is hands down one of my all time favorite horror films.  Though John Carpenter was a bit late on getting in his take on the Slasher genre, when he did, he took it to a whole new level.  Here he's sets the stage for a slew of movies, ranging from excellent to awful, exploring the concept in the 1980's.  Here is the first uber slasher villain that really can not die; or at least stay dead for a long.  These guys just keep coming back!  With the invention of Michael Myers, even directors like Wes Craven, who had helped establish the genre in the 1970's, got in the act with his own "horror character franchise" in Freddy Kruger.  This is the original!

ORIGINAL RELEASE DATE

25 OCTOBER 1978

The two most notable actors here were juxtaposed in the stages of their careers.  In Donald Pleasence we have the veteran and in Jamie Lee Curtis the literal newbie.  Pleasence would go on to occupy the role of Loomis until his death in 1995 in numerous sequels, while Curtis, who had agreed to come back for part 2 of Carpenter's story in Halloween 2 (1981), would only show up in one sequel set 20 years on (well, she did have an uncredited voice part in Halloween III, but that is not a Michael Myers vehicle).  Although other slasher franchises have characters that show up that have deep upstanding of the evils that the young people face; that are there to help and mentor or explain things to the soon-to-be victims; they usually change with each movie.  Take the nun character in Nightmare III: Dream Warriors, this is the first time she makes an appearance in a Freddy movie.  With Dr. Loomis, though, we have a sort of Dr. Van Helsing like authority--he makes it clear, he isn't going anywhere; like Van Helsing vows to stick out and get his Count; Loomis, with his Columbo like appearance and tenaciousness, never stops trying to get Myers, even when it becomes clear that his foe is a lot more invincible than a vampire.  That for me, is what sets the Halloween franchise apart from the others.

Of course, the other thing that sets it apart is the soundtrack.  Director John Carpenter is well known at this point for his penchant to produce all or part of his own film's soundtrack--on a synthesizer.  The the success of this film, his creepy sparse musical approach to scoring horror movie become heavily emulated (or maybe "ripped off" is a better term!), but no one does it like he does--and the simple repetitive strain in 5/4 time is perfect!

Runtime:  91 Minutes

Sound Mix: Mono (original)

Gross To Date:  A staggering $47,000,000 (from an est. budget of a mere $320,000)

Some Trivia:

This was Jamie Lee Curtis' first film.

Despite that it supposed to be set in the central part of country in Illinois, it was actually shot in California, mostly in and around Pasadena.  And it was in the Spring. not Fall.  It was shot in 21 days.

Carpenter list the "Bowling Green Philharmonic" as the soundtrack performer(s), of course it only just his music and his performance.  Carpernter is from Bowling Green KY (inside joke, ha, ha!).

The so-called "Michael Myers Mask" is really a cheap mask of William Shatner that someone in props picked up from a costume store.  The mask was spray painted white and the hair teased out.  Shatner for years reportedly had no idea that the mask was on old Kirk mask.

The movie playing on the Television were Laurie is babysitting is Howard Hawks' The Thing From Another World (1951).  Carpenter went on to a kind of remake of the movie in 1982.

Michael Myers is named after the European distributor of Carpenter's earlier film Assault on Precinct 13--it was meant as a "thank you."

Curtis supplied Laurie Strode's wardrobe.  She spent less than $100 at a local JC Penny for the lot.

The most expensive drain on the tiny budget was by far the Panavision cameras--they took more than half of the allocated funds.

The original title of the film was "The Babysitter Murders."

Voted the 5th scariest movie of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

Another large expense on the budget was, oddly enough, pumpkins.  As it was spring in California, pumpkins were really scarce and expensive.

Both Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing were approached to play the role of Loomis, and both turned it down flat.  Lee said later that it was one is greatest regrets regarding his acting career.