Monday, October 31, 2005

31 Days of Des' Horror Favourites: #1 Halloween

Why I like it: Whew...finally all done. It's been a long month of fun and more hard blog-work than I ever expected but it was a blast! As I get ready for November Novel Month (no, I'm not going to count down my favourite novels I'm getting into high writing gear) I give you the much anticipated #1: Halloween.

John Carpenter skillfully directed a script written by Debra Hill and himself into, what I obviously consider, a perfect masterpiece.

From the very moment the Halloween theme kicks in with its eerie minor fifths and its 5-4 time (the timing of a quickened heartbeat) you are instantly drawn in. The pumpkin close-up that splits open to reveal a skull is one of my favourite opening sequences.

Very quickly the scene is set with a young Michael Myers who unexplainably loses it and repeatedly stabs his sister to death on Halloween. It is something that always sort of fascinates me when his parents return home to find him standing in the front yard with a bloodied knife before they know full well what has occurred. What is truly fascinating with this scene is the killer's eye-view camera shot done throughout (utilised wonderfully in this film and again in its sequel).

Tragic backstory involving a young man with issues with women: check!

Enter Dr. Sam Loomis (played by Donald Pleasence, incidentally, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing both said no) who has tried to cure/get inside Michael's mind. 15 years later he has uncvered nothing except the fact that the boy is the embodiment of evil. The scene with him and the nurse in the car at the gates of the asylum has always freaked me out. All those mental patients outside in the dark, rainy night and at least one of them is totally homicidal. Michael steals the car and drives (which is what he likes to do most besides killing people, right Stacie?) back to Haddonfield, Illinois. October 31st, 1978: the night HE came home.

Premise set up including lots of mystery: check!

Back in Haddonfield, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis in her first movie role) is a high school student who goes about her daily business. We discover that she's rather normal and that she has to babysit on Halloween. She is being stalked by someone in a white Captain Kirk mask driving a station wagon. When she sees him standing across the street its absolutely invigorating.

Initial scares as well as some interesting casting choices (Jamie Lee Curtis was unknown other than the fact that her father was Tony Curtis and her mother, Janet Leigh of Psycho fame): check!

What follows is a slew of scenes involving Laurie and her friends walking home, making plans for the evening and doing chores. Myers passes them in his car and when one of them shouts at him he stops the car in a very tense few seconds. What comes next is my favourite cinematic scare of all time. When Myers steps out from behind the hedge to look directly at Laurie and her friends. Of course Laurie is the only one who sees him and when the shouting friend investigates he is gone. Christ! That scared the shit out of me when I was a kid and still does.

Laurie gets a similar scare when she looks out the window and sees Mr. Myers once again. And the film moves at a rather quick pace from this point: when Michael begins to kill.

Carpenter creates terrifying scenes (getting in the car and noticing the steam on the windshield) with such proficiency that many of them are still emulated (most notably pictured at the top when Laurie believes Michael dead and he slowly sits up). Emulated poorly but emulated nonetheless.

It's cold, dark and morbidly engrossing. This is the only film that really terrified me as a child. The confident and non-chalant way in which Myers walks towards his prey is chilling. The white mask is infinitely more terrifying than Jason's hockey mask. It walks out of the darkness much better than any other monstrous image.

The grim ending is signature Carpenter and set the high watermark for horror films as well as created the sub-genre of the slasher film (for good or bad and with apologies to Psycho).

Some great usage of the horror geography thing I won't shut up about this month. Haddonfield is set up as the perfect upper middle class town. It looks normal. The houses are nice, the lawns are cut and the teenagers are horny and mischievous. The geography is taken farther with the scene in the car, the walk home from school, the closet scene and-most effectively-when we see Myers crossing the street behind Laurie as she bangs on the doors of houses. The killer and victim in the same shot getting closer and closer is a beautiful scare tactic.

What puts this in the number one spot, besides all of what I mentioned above, is the fact that it remains current although it was filmed in 1978. The teenagers seem real even today and, barring a few haircuts and dubious fashion choices, could double as a modern set.

I have seen this film over forty times at current count and am watching it again this evening.


Thanks for coming and Happy Halloween!

Check these out:
-John Carpenter's entire filmography-They are all worth the watch. The Thing comes more highly recommened than any other but Pleasence is back in Prince of Darkness.
-Halloween II-The almost brilliant sequel starts 2 minutes before the end of the first film. The way it ought to be. While it goes too far to explain Myers and stretches things for story purposes (the whole sister thing) it still has sme wicked scares. Most notably when Myers steps out of the darkness to administer a hypodermic needle into a nurse's eye socket and injecting air. The scene with him walking through the glass door is a doozy as well. Incidentally, the "Samhain" message written on the chalkboard said more to me that he was Irish than Satanic, Stacie ;) Or maybe he's just a Danzig fan.
-Halloween III: Season of the Witch-The departure film that was originally intended to be the first in a series of anthology-type films switching directors and stories as it goes along ended up being the only one of its kind as foolish fans wanted more and more Myers.
-Other Halloween films-Pap.
-Every other slasher flick since 1978-Influenced solely by Halloween.

3 Bitching, Moaning and Praise

Blogger Stacie Ponder said...

You know, this would probably be my #1 as well. You're right about the timelessness of it- it just doesn't get any less effective with age. It's really the perfect horror film.

You've got the image of my favorite scare up at the top...when he sits up and turns to look a Laurie so fluidly and deliberately- gah! Terrifying.

Well done! What a month!

12:16 am  
Blogger Stacie Ponder said...

And yes- our Michael does love a good drive, doesn't he? :D

12:17 am  
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