Halloween (1978)

Little Michael Myers is sent away for murdering his big sister. After fifteen years of not communicating with staff, he escapes. Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) is convinced he is returning to his home town to continue his murder spree.

I’ve seen Halloween but never uncut, and likely never all the way through. Recorded off of IFC, I did have to contend with commercials, which sometimes seemed to come every five minutes, but at least it was unedited.

Pleasence is great as the obsessive Loomis, convinced of Myers’ malevolence despite any explanation. His body of work is quite impressive. High budget and low, genre and main stream, he did it all. Although she had done some TV work (including 23 episodes of Operation Petticoat), this was Jamie Lee Curtis’ first feature film. She was the only teenager of the group of high-schoolers.

Like Friday the 13th young people are picked off one at a time. But very much unlike it, Halloween is a slow burn. We learn what Michael is capable of through the Loomis character, and our imagination does the rest. We actually get to know Curtis' Laurie character and feel her peril. The danger is real and the kills have real weight.

Halloween is more than a good slasher. It's a good film. It defined a sub-genre and has been copied for decades. AMRU 4.