Halloween (1978)

Spooky season is here and what better way to kick things off than with one of the most iconic Slasher Killers in movie history. Halloween (1978) isn’t just a horror film, it’s the blueprint that countless others would later try to copy. Written, directed, and scored by John Carpenter, the film was made on a modest budget with largely unknown actors at the time, and a painted William Shatner mask for the villain. Yet against all odds, it raked in a huge box office return and became one of the most pivotal horror movies ever made. Its legacy as a cultural milestone is untouchable.

The opening title credits alone are enough to put you in the mood. That simple, slow zoom into a glowing pumpkin while Carpenter’s iconic theme builds is enough to fill you with dread before anything has even happened. The score for the Halloween movies is so good and instantly recognisable that it has practically become shorthand for terror itself. Even now, just hearing those piercing piano notes is enough to send a shiver down your spine and transport you back to Haddonfield.

I absolutely love the camera work in this movie. The use of POV shots through Michael’s eyes, starting right from that infamous opening murder of his sister, is terrifying. It immediately makes the audience complicit, forcing you to look through the gaze of a killer. What makes it even scarier is the silence, Michael is always preying, always watching, a figure of menace who doesn’t need words. Even in non POV shots, Carpenter frames the scenes so that you always feel a stalker could be lurking in the background, hidden in the shadows, just waiting.

Of course, let’s be honest, some of the acting here is dreadful. The death of Michael’s sister in the opening scene is almost laughable in its delivery, and there are other moments where the supporting cast falters. But for every clunky performance, you have Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence carrying the film with their intensity. Curtis, in her first major role, embodies Laurie Strode perfectly, giving horror one of its greatest “final girls.” Pleasence, as Dr. Loomis, brings gravitas and obsession, grounding the supernatural edges of the story with his conviction.

Now, I know it’s been mentioned countless times over the years, but I have to bring it up: how on earth does Michael Myers know how to drive a car after spending 15 years locked in a state hospital since the age of six? Yes, Pleasence briefly references it, but come on, it’s one of those nagging questions that will never make sense no matter how many times you revisit the film. In some ways though, that mystery only adds to Michael’s unsettling aura.

Even after decades of imitators, Halloween still has moments that make me jump. What’s fascinating is that it takes nearly 50 minutes for adult Michael to kill anyone, which is a long build up in a film just over an hour and a half. The pacing is deliberately slow, letting the tension simmer until it finally boils over. By today’s standards the gore is practically tame, there are no rivers of blood here, just carefully orchestrated moments of shock. Carpenter knew suggestion and suspense were scarier than splatter, and it still works.

That said, some character choices are baffling. The neighbour who sees Laurie screaming for help, switches on their porch light, and then just turns it back off again? Really? Who does that? It’s one of those horror movie frustrations that has you yelling at the screen, but it also adds to Laurie’s helplessness, forcing her to survive without anyone else stepping in. By the time the climax arrives, Jamie Lee Curtis cements her place in horror history, embodying resilience, fear, and vulnerability all at once.

The ending is what seals Halloween as legendary. Loomis shoots Michael, he falls, and then he’s gone. The idea that a man could sustain gunshot wounds and still rise again shifts him from human killer to something more. Is Michael Myers a man, or is he something greater, a force of evil that can’t be stopped? That lingering dread is what makes this film unforgettable. Over 40 years later, it still holds up as the definitive slasher film that shaped an entire genre.