Director: John Carpenter
Starring: Donald Pleasance, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nick Castle
31 Days of Horror continues with this review by Joel Robertson of Forgotten Flix. Send me your horror reviews.
“Fear is the most powerful emotion in the human race and fear of the unknown is probably the most ancient, so you’re dealing with stuff that everybody’s felt from being little babies: we’re frightened of the dark, we’re frightened of what we don’t know about; and if you’re making a horror film you get to play with the audience’s feelings.” –John Carpenter (from the documentary Fear in the Dark [1991])
“I met this six-year-old child, with this blank, pale, emotionless face and, the blackest eyes… the Devil’s eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized what was living behind that boy’s eyes was purely and simply… evil.”—Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance)
From writer/director John Carpenter, Halloween (1978) is a deceptively simple tale. Institutionalized for murdering his older sister 15 years earlier, a masked killer named Michael Myers returns to his hometown of Haddonfield, where he turns Halloween into a night of terror for Laurie Strode (Jaimie Lee Curtis) and her friends.
It plays like an urban legend, doing what all great horror movies do, stripping the story down to its essence. No fluff. No extended expository scenes where evil incarnate is explained. No overcooked plot to try and give a “reason” or motive for Michael’s killing. He just is. An unstoppable force of nature. The Bogeyman. The shape.
By using this minimalist approach, Carpenter is able to concentrate on what makes a horror film effective.
1. We have to care about the characters.
Now, this doesn’t mean they have to be likeable Pollyannas mind you. Take Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance). Michael’s Psychiatrist since childhood, he now finds himself in the role of hunting the hunter. He is Ismael, and Michael his white whale. Much like Melville’s protagonist, Loomis is driven by his obsession. He’s coarse, curt, and not particularly likeable. However, we understand his motivation. Why he’s driven to do what he does. And we know the consequences should he fail. Loomis isn’t driven by ego, but rather his desire to stop what he views as “purely and simply… evil,” which is certainly understandable. Which leads us to…
2. Don’t over explain things (i.e. evil, or the unknown).
Many horror films try and give a “reason” as to why the people, ghosts, monsters, et al. are doing what they are doing. Or they try to give us detailed backstories letting us know where a character’s madness, bloodlust, penchant for human flesh, or whatever came from. The remake of Halloween (2009) is a good example of this. It spent far too much time on Michael’s abusive upbringing. Actually, any time spent on this “explanation” for Michael was too much. It removes all the mystery. The very thing that made Michael Myers scary was that we never knew WHY he did what he did. He was the shape, lurking in the shadows, waiting to get you for reasons he alone knew.
This, at its core, is what makes Carpenter’s film such a brilliant classic. Whether by design, instinct, or accident, he made Michael an unknowable, supernatural force in human form. This disconnects us, the audience, from relating to him, which is exactly what should happen. Most people don’t want to “relate” to evil. We don’t want to give it a pass. We don’t want to explain away its atrocities. Sure, you can prattle on with the psychobabble about why someone’s childhood caused their adult pathologies, but truth be told, no one, not even the experts know exactly what “causes” a serial killer. It’s that unknown element that makes it so terrifying.
It could be anyone.
And as Carpenter shows us in Halloween, it can creep into a quiet little town like Haddonfield and prove it exists, if only for one night.
3. Gore is fine, but you gotta have suspense BEFORE the gore.
Halloween also proves it’s not gore that makes a movie scary. It’s the buildup. All the masters of horror and suspense pictures know this going back to Hitchcock. Sure, Hitch was hamstrung by draconian censorship, but it’s been argued (I think effectively) that these limitations forced Hitchcock and other filmmakers to focus on story, character development, dialogue, and, of course, ratcheting up the suspense.
Even in one of Carpenter’s gorier movies, The Thing (1982), every blood-soaked moment is preceded by almost painfully long scenes of suspense (I refer you to the scene where MacReady is testing the other men’s blood). This buildup makes the gorier moments even more powerful. Of course, it’s interesting to note that Halloween contains almost no blood at all…
Of course, Carpenter used many elements to create the suspense in Halloween. His self-created synthesizer score music is legendary, and rightfully so. Its repetitive staccato theme is as memorable and ingrained in our collective consciousness as John William’s Jaws theme is. Additionally, Carpenter’s decision to shoot the picture in Anamorphic wide-screen, despite its low budget, maximized the mood and atmosphere of the film. This choice was important for two more reasons. One, it made the movie look more expensive than it actually was, and two it allowed Carpenter to play with the frame and use it to manipulate and affect audience expectations.
Additionally, Carpenter and his equally amazing producer (the late-Debra Hill, who was dating Carpenter at the time) were savvy (and fortunate) enough to assemble an amazing cast. First and foremost was Donald Pleasance as Sam Loomis. He was not the filmmakers’ first choice; they wanted Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee (who turned them down, but later stated he regretted the decision). But I can imagine no one else in the role. Pleasance’s stout frame and short stature are offset by bulging eyes that burn with intelligence and hint at madness. His ubiquitous trenchcoat gives him the feel of a private detective hot on the trail of his quarry.
Another coupe for Halloween’s producers was getting Jamie Lee Curtis in what would be her big screen debut. As the daughter of Hollywood acting royalty (the late-Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh), Curtis had talent in her DNA. However, it wasn’t only her pedigree, or talent, that made her such an inspired choice to play mousy, insecure Laurie Strode, Michael’s primary target. It was also the young actress’s connection, through her mother, to another horror classic, Psycho (1960).
The supporting cast is effective with familiar actors from other Carpenter works, like Nancy Loomis, who plays Annie and was also in Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 1I (1976) and The Fog (1980). Also from Assault on Precinct 13 is actor Charles Cyphers. He plays Sheriff Leigh Brackett, who is also Annie’s father. Cyphers appeared in other great Carpenter films like Escape from New York, The Fog, the seldom seen T.V. movie Someone’s Watching Me! (1978), and the 1979 television movie Elvis. And actress P.J. Soles, who appeared in Carrie (1976) prior to working on Halloween, adds some comedic (and sexual) relief as valley girl-talking Linda.
Of course, there’s The Shape himself, Michael Myers, who was played with reserved, yet terrifying effectiveness by future film director Nick Castle (The Last Starfighter [1984], The Boy Who Could Fly [1986]).
Halloween deserves to be remembered, not only as a classic of the horror genre (which it is), but as a classic of American, independent cinema. Its iconic characters, images, and theme music will live on forever as long as you, the faithful film fan, keep watching and talking about it.
