Yep, it's my annual October Horror Movie Review-A-Thon! I have often ended my 31 days of Horror movie reviews with the Halloween movie holiday classic, but since it's 2020 and everything is ass-backwards this year, I am starting with it. Yes, that John Carpenter 1978 classic, live-reviewed by your favorite horror movie reviewer! Okay, so I needed some comfort food, and for me, horror movies are comforting. Here we go with the live review! Yeah, this is kind of stream-of-consciousness here, but hey, I'm going with it. Right about now, I am glad I am still conscious.
Halloween (1978) Michael Myers origin story, the movie that started a genre, and launched a half-dozen sequels and remakes! Originally titled the Babysitter Murders, a young Jamie Lee Curtis stars as Laurie Strode, a babysitter with a secret past that not even she really knows about. Turns out Laurie is adopted, and her older brother is a brutal murderer who just escaped from an insane asylum! On Halloween night, 1978, fifteen years after he kills his older sister at the age of 6, Michael Myers decides to hunt down his little sister, now 17, and do her in! :-o
I love all the little details in this movie. I love how it's a slow build where you, the viewer, are the only one who knows everything that's going on. Only you know that something horribly bad is going to happen, and that no one or nothing can stop it! Well, except for maybe Dr. Loomis. Dr. Loomis knows. Dr. Loomis (played wonderfully by the late Donald Pleasance) is Michael Myers' Psychiatrist. Dr. Loomis is the only one who knows what Michael really is, and in his words, Michael is just pure evil. Dr. Loomis knows, and he's tried to warn people, but no one listened! And now, now it's too late.
I love watching the daytime scenes while Michael Myers drives around the entire town all day on Halloween in a stolen car and no one ever really sees him. There's even one scene where Dr. Loomis is standing on a street corner, scanning the streets for any sign of the brutal killer, and Michael Myers is just calmly making a left turn right behind him, in full view of the camera, but out of Dr. Loomis' sight. You think, "oh man! If only he'd turned around a few seconds sooner! the police were right there, Loomis could have pointed him out and..." but that's ridiculous. The car's already gone, and Loomis missed it. Missed his one chance to stop Myers in the middle of the day, before the horror even started. Because you know what happens when night comes... All Hell breaks loose.
The character of Dr. Loomis really makes this movie work. If all you heard was "Michael Myers escapes from a facility for the criminally insane" over a radio station while Laurie is smoking dope with her friend, you're not going to pay attention. People escape from institutions from the criminally insane all the time in the old horror movies. It was pretty much a staple of campfire ghost stories and horror movies back then, when the stigma of mental illness was something horrific that nobody talked about. Not like now, when everyone you know is basically nuts, and on multiple medications for it. That doesn't build suspense. What does build suspense is Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper" playing over the radio while the girls smoke dope, watching Michael Myers following behind them in his car, after hearing Dr. Loomis tell everyone within earshot how freaking horrible this psycho killer is, how he's not just insane, he's just Evil, with a capital E. That's some suspense right there. The killing doesn't even start until later. Until then, Michael Myers is just this looming, watching, silent presence that dogs Laurie Strode all through the movie, just following her around all day, stalking her, hunting her, learning the movements of his prey. You know he's going to kill her. You know it. You just don't know when, or where, or how, and that's the important stuff.
I don't even mind that the daytime scenes were shot in Southern California, and you can see palm trees in the background in some shots. So? Who says Haddonfield doesn't have palm trees? They add atmosphere, dammit! Let's just say Illinois is having a warm Halloween day! Honestly, everything looks too green. Sure, they throw some red leaves at Laurie a few times, like a breeze is blowing them, but there's not a single tree that's not bright shiny green in this movie. Green ivy grows on everything, it's so pretty! Not really fall, but it's still pretty.
Then the killing starts. Nobody notices. Dr. Loomis has a good talk with the sheriff. They can't find a damned thing wrong. No Michael Myers, no bodies, no Halloween Hijinks. The Sheriff wants to call everything off, but Dr. Loomis convinces him to stay on the case, for just a few more hours. Little do they know it, but all Hell is about to break loose. I know, because I've seen this movie probably several times a year since I was still in my single digits, and I'm 50 now, dammit. 40 years of horror movies, and I still love this one! That's got to say something, right there. Well, yes, it says I am old, but not JUST that. It says this movie is a Halloween classic! Funny how it's all Babysitters that die. No wonder it was called the Babysitter Murders originally. Good move on the name change, Mr. Carpenter. Good move.
The music in this movie is awesome, written by John Carpenter himself. Really draws you in, those high tinkling notes that aggravate your spine like a crying baby, then those low ominous tones that let you know that things are not going to go well for anyone in this movie. There's actually a variety of different background music going on in this movie, all of it different, but it's all those high tinkling tones mixed with low ominous notes, the contrast between sounds contrasting how everyone thinks everything is going fine while people are dying all over the place. Special effects are minimal, and considering this movie was made in 1978, they've held up beautifully over the years.
I love how Michael Myers is just basically wearing Captain Kirk's (William Shatner's) face through the whole movie, a Halloween mask painted stark and lifeless white. There's a break-in at a hardware store during the day. The Police suspect "kids" because all they're taken is rope, knives and Halloween masks. Of course it's Michael Myers, you ninny! But this is sleepy little Haddonfield. Michael Myers hasn't been around since 1963. Haddonfield is a safe little town. Safe, until the bodies start dropping. I don't even think they found all the bodies. I feel bad for the tow truck guy laying in some hay, early on. They never show him dying. Michael Myers needed some work clothes, boots. Killed some poor tow truck driver for it. Just, offed him for his clothes. Like the Terminator. Years before Arnold Schwarzenegger. Years. Nobody ever found the tow truck guy, at least not that they showed. Dr. Loomis was standing like ten feet away, but nope. Didn't see the body. Missed that one. Probably still rotting there, poor bastard. Dead on a bale of hay. Just bones now. Forty years later, just dry bones.
Fifteen minutes left in the movie, and Laurie Strode finally meets her older brother. Jamie Lee Curtis was typecast as a "scream queen" from this movie, mostly because she does a lot of damned screaming in the last 15 minutes. Nobody is around to help. Nobody can hear her screaming. Either everyone is already dead, or asleep, or out at a party somewhere. Must have been one damned fine party. Dr. Loomis finally finds the abandoned car from the mental hospital, 12 minutes left in the movie. Nothing like waiting tilt he last minute, Doc! There's that tense music, going on in the background. Laurie Strode manages to survive her first encounter with Michael Myers, but like little Tommy says (no not Tommy Jarvis, that's Friday the 13th), "You can't kill the boogeyman!" I'm surprised she manages to even wound the guy. He's practically unstoppable for anyone else. She always goes for the eyes. "Go for the eyes, Boo!" Yes, that's my mantra, too. Three minutes to go. Dr. Loomis finally finds his former patient. Nice timing, Doc! Damn, took you long enough! You know what happens. You've seen this movie, too.
Spoiler alert, 40 years too late. Dr. Loomis unloads his gun into Myers. Point-blank range. 6 shots in the chest. Laurie survives to come back for the sequel, but Dr. Loomis goes to check on the body, and it's just... gone. It's like little Tommy knows what no one else does. "You can't kill the boogeyman." You can't kill the boogeyman. You just can't! Save it for the sequel.
Phew, what a ride. Comfort food, indeed. Got my fill of horror for the night. Halloween is on AMC's Fear Fest, something they do every October. Just like me, they are horror movie fans. In other news, I am going to try and post a review every day this month, but who knows how that is going to go? The real challenge is finding the time and finding a movie to review, every day. Can I do it once more? Or will I finally fail? I will, someday. Not sure when. Could be tonight. Hopefully not. I have 30 more days worth of horror movies to enjoy, I'd hate to miss the rest. See you guys next time! :-)
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