Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
    • Television
      • TV by Decade
        • TV – 1950s
        • TV – 1960s
        • TV – 1970s
        • TV – 1980s
        • TV – 1990s
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Kids TV
      • Variety
      • News & Sport
      • Advertisements
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • Music – 1950s
        • Music – 1960s
        • Music – 1970s
        • Music – 1980s
        • Music – 1990s
      • Artists – A to K
        • Artists – A
        • Artists – B
        • Artists – C
        • Artists – D
        • Artists – E
        • Artists – F
        • Artists – G
        • Artists – H
        • Artists – I
        • Artists – J
        • Artists – K
      • Artists – L to Z
        • Artists – L
        • Artists – M
        • Artists – N
        • Artists – O
        • Artists – P
        • Artists – Q
        • Artists – R
        • Artists – S
        • Artists – T
        • Artists – U
        • Artists – V
        • Artists – W
        • Artists – X
        • Artists – Y
        • Artists – Z
      • Artists – 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Playlists
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • Movies – 1950s
        • Movies – 1960s
        • Movies – 1970s
        • Movies – 1980s
        • Movies – 1990s
      • Movies – 0 to 9
      • Movies – A to K
        • Movies – A
        • Movies – B
        • Movies – C
        • Movies – D
        • Movies – E
        • Movies – F
        • Movies – G
        • Movies – H
        • Movies – I
        • Movies – J
        • Movies – K
      • Movies – L to Z
        • Movies – L
        • Movies – M
        • Movies – N
        • Movies – O
        • Movies – P
        • Movies – Q
        • Movies – R
        • Movies – S
        • Movies – T
        • Movies – U
        • Movies – V
        • Movies – W
        • Movies – X
        • Movies – Y
        • Movies – Z
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1970s
    Movies - 1970s Movies - H 3 Mins Read

    Halloween (1978)

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    John Carpenter’s low-budget classic wrings every possible chill out of its story of a psychopath called Michael Myers (not the Austin Powers one) terrorising Jamie Lee Curtis and her fellow babysitters on Halloween eve.

    The film begins in the Midwestern town of Haddonfield on Halloween night in 1963 with the brutal stabbing of a teenage girl by her six-year-old brother after he spies her fooling around with a boyfriend.

    halloween_043The psychiatrist – the nutty Dr Loomis (Donald Pleasence) – believes that young Michael is “the most dangerous patient” he has ever observed and cautions authorities about lax security at the mental hospital where the killer is incarcerated.

    Fifteen years later, the doctor’s concern turns to alarm and the now-adult Michael escapes and returns to his hometown – on Halloween.

    Wearing a mask and wielding a knife, he brazenly stalks three high school girls in the daytime, waiting for darkness to strike.

    Carpenter was only 24 when, during the spring of 1978, he shot Halloween in just 20 days on a budget of just over $300,000 (for the meagre salary of $10,000, a cut of the profits and his name above the title.) It was probably the best deal he ever made.

    He had written the film in just 10 days with Debra Hill, based on an idea by Irwin Yablans about a killer who stalks babysitters, tentatively titled The Babysitter Murders.

    After a faltering opening run, the film quickly became a critically acclaimed box-office smash that went on to gross over $50 million and spawned a raft of sequels and an entire industry of (mostly inferior) slasher movies.

    halloween_045

    It also made Carpenter the hottest young director in Hollywood, although the relationship quickly soured after a series of costly flops.

    Halloween is a masterpiece of sustained tension and looming terror, notable for its pioneering use of Steadicam, brilliant simplicity – babysitters in peril from stalking bogeyman! – and the sheer audacity of the direction.

    There are plenty of violent incidents, but no lashings of pointless guts and gore.

    What Carpenter at his best did better than anyone, was create an atmosphere of dread in which lurked suggestions of even worse things to come.

    In other words, he kept the audience in a state of permanent fright – and this movie still has the power to make you scream out loud.

    The slasher formula that Carpenter laid down has proved so influential on horror cinema of all budgets in the decades since that the Scary Movie team consider it ripe for spoofing 20/30 years later.

    But you can still watch the 1978 original and feel the same dread: those point-of-view shots that lurk around houses and outside windows; the opening credits with that eternally suspended jack o’ lantern and Carpenter’s own electrifying score; the chilling moment when Donald Pleasence’s doctor arrives at the asylum and realises the inmates are loose in the dark around his car . . .

    TRIVIA
    halloween_044Paper leaves were painted in autumnal colours to help create the season, and the budget was so tight on the film that they were collected and re-used.

    The terrifying blank-faced mask worn by killer Michael Myers is actually a William Shatner Star Trek mask, sprayed white and worn inside out.

    Laurie Strode
    Jamie Lee Curtis
    Dr Sam Loomis
    Donald Pleasence
    Annie Brackett
    Nancy Loomis
    Lynda van der Klok
    PJ Soles
    Brackett
    Charles Cyphers
    Lindsey
    Kyle Richards
    Tommy
    Brian Andrews
    Bob
    John Michael Graham
    Marion
    Nancy Stephens
    Richie
    Mickey Yablans
    Lonnie
    Brent Le Page
    Keith
    Adam Hollander
    Dr Wynn
    Robert Phalen
    Michael Myers (age 23)
    Tony Moran

    Director
    John Carpenter

    Video

    Related Posts

    • Fright (1971)
      Fright (1971)
      Teenage hipster Amanda (Susan George) is babysitting for the Lloyds - Helen (Honor Blackman) and Jim (George Cole) - in…
    • Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
      Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
      Michael Myers was shot at the end of Halloween, burned at the end of Halloween II, left out of Halloween III altogether, then…
    • Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
      Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
      It's 30 October 1988, and Michael Myers has been in a coma since his pursuit of Laurie Strode was finally…
    • Ben (1972)
      Ben (1972)
      Just your typical "8-year-old-boy-with-heart-condition meets highly-intelligent-killer-rat and wreaks havoc on a small California town" story. This sequel to Willard (1971) is…
    • Innocent Bystanders (1972)
      Innocent Bystanders (1972)
      Featuring Stanely Baker’s last big-screen role, Innocent Bystanders looks and feels like a hard-boiled low-rent James Bond. Proof that Baker…
    • He Knows You're Alone (1980)
      He Knows You're Alone (1980)
      Making his movie debut in this low-budget slasher flick (filmed entirely on Staten Island) in 1980, the then-twentysomething Tom Hanks…
    • Escape to Witch Mountain (1975)
      Escape to Witch Mountain (1975)
      Tia (Kim Richards) and Tony (Ike Eisenmann) Malone are two youngsters who live in an orphanage and have extraordinary powers…
    • Halloween II (1981)
      Halloween II (1981)
      It is still Halloween night 1978 and Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is in Haddonfield Hospital recovering from Michael Myers'…

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleScrooged (1988)
    Next Article Teacher’s Pet (1958)

    Comments are closed.

    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    You May Also Like
    • Triton
      1 9 6 1 (UK) 4 x 30 minute episodes This four-part adventure […]
    • Jellyfish
      The roots of San Francisco band Jellyfish can be traced back to […]
    • Nice ‘n Juicy
      1 9 6 6 (Australia) 13 x 30 minute episodes Nice ’n Juicy was […]
    • Whac-a-Mole
      Developed in 1970 by Bob’s Space Racers, the anger-abating […]
    • Lift Off (With Ayshea)
      1 9 6 9 – 1 9 7 4 (UK) 144 x 25 minute episodes Ayshea was […]
    • Delta
      1 9 6 9 – 1 9 7 0 (Australia) 23 x 60 minute episodes The […]
    Twitter Feed
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Popular Tags
    1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games Britpop Canada Crime Disco Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Power Pop Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Surf music
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2022 Nostalgia Central
    • About
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.