Halloween is directed and scored by John Carpenter and essentially tells the story of good vs evil. In this case, Michael Myers is the evil unstoppable killer and the good is Laurie Strode, a shy teen girl who follows the rules. When he was six years old Micheal Myers murdered his sister and was sent away, now he has come back on Halloween to fulfill his destiny, to kill. Halloween, The Night He Came Home! It stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence and Nick Castle.

I have been wanting to see this movie for the longest time but I never got to doing it, now I didn’t really have an excuse because the new sequel is coming out and I want to be prepared and knowledged about this weird franchise. So I went back to the original 1978 movie and I have to say I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Like many classic movies you really can’t see them for the first time without a single spoiler so I knew quite a bit about the story and the ending. Despite that I love this movie and it’s definitely going to become a Halloween tradition.

This movie really is timeless in a way, sure the effects didn’t age well and the sound-editing may not be perfect and the acting sure as hell isn’t Oscar-worthy but it’s the underlying theme of good vs evil and many more that make this movie stand the test time. I did a lot of research about this movie and I now appreciate it immensely. This movie gets in your head in the easiest way possible, the unknown. Micheal is like an entity, all powerful mysterious evil presence. He presents what every single one of us is afraid of in the dark, when we’re alone and when we have that sneaking suspicion that someone is behind us. He is evil. It’s simple and effective and it works like a charm for this movie.

Halloween is great because of many things but most importantly because of two people, John Carpenter and Debra Hill. If it weren’t for these two the movie would’ve been completely different. I am unbelievably impressed by John Carpenter, he earned my respect with the opening scene. That opening scene is pure film gold and I truly mean that. The incredibly creepy and unsettling score, the mystery and then the reveal that it’s only a six-year old who just committed a murder. It’s timeless. Debra Hill wrote the amazing script and produced the movie also taking some big credit. However I am baffled at how Carpenter directed and scored this movie. It’s a perfect combo and it shows. Halloween was his third attempt at composing music for a feature film.

Halloween also gave birth to one of the most iconic villains of all time, Michael Meyers. He is the definition of less is more, he just kills, that’s his purpose, that’s all you need to know. His main rival is Laurie Strode played by Jamie Lee Curtis. This is her first role in a feature film and she makes one heck of a first impression. She is after all called the Scream Queen. I loved Pleasence’s performance as Dr. Loomis but I found him to be an extremely weird and boring character. That’s just my opinion, I know there a lot of Halloween fans who love him but not me. I do love his over-dramatized dialogue, for example referring to Michael as “the evil”.

So as much as I love this movie, it is clearly flawed. As I said the acting isn’t really good especially from the actor’s playing Laurie’s friends. You don’t really like them so you don’t really care if they die or not. Some scenes are supposed to be scary but they haven’t aged well so they come off a bit as laughably bad. That’s really all in terms of flaws, I really love this movie flaws and all.

I just have to compliment the brilliant score again. John freaking Carpenter! You know, at first I thought it was a bit repetitive and to a certain point I still stand by that point but the music is so brilliant that it doesn’t really matter if you hear it again and again. It is intense, creepy and off-putting in all the right ways. It’s so perfect for the film it’s in obviously that’s why I love the fact that Carpenter directed and scored the movie. Sure the opening theme is amazing and brilliant and all that but tracks like “Halloween 1978” and “The Shape Stalks Laurie” are so eerie and creepy. However I have to say the most off-putting, intense and creepiest track has to be “Halloween 1963”. It’s disturbing and haunting and it’s a brilliant way to open a movie like this.

Overall John Carpenter’s Halloween is as I said multiple times throughout this review, brilliant. It’s creepy as the antagonist himself. Even though the movie is fun to watch for scares and intense scenes, the movie is much more than that. It’s underlying themes of good vs evil shown perfectly by a strong, brave and smart heroine played by the wonderful Jamie Lee Curtis and the evil himself Michael. This is definitely a Halloween classic and I will most definitely make this movie a tradition during the spooky season.

RATING: A