Halloween (1978)

In the spirit of the day....

John Carpenter's  Halloween is considered a classic, but how does the trailer hold up?

One of the first things I noticed about the trailer was that the audience looks through the eyes/mask of the young killer.   I'm not sure if you've read what I'm about to say, heard it, or observed it but...

I'm a fan of 50's and 60's B-movies, specifically monster movies.  Whether the monster is of human form or out of this world form, in the early days, the chase or attack was from the perspective of the victim - we the victim/audience could see the monster/killer descending up on us.  At some point in the evolution of the genre, the perspective changed.  Now, the audience is the monster/killer and we descend upon the victim.  Is this simply a reflection of our violent society?  Food for thought.

While the slasher movie has evolved, the psychological component, in my opinion, has not.  In the Halloween (1978) trailer, however, I found Donald Pleasence describing Michael Myers still creepy after all these years, "I spent 8 years trying to reach him, and then another 7 trying to keep him locked up because I realized that what was behind the boys eyes was purely and simply, evil."   The tag line, "The Night HE Came Home", is also pretty creepy.

The other thing about this movie that I'd forgotten is that it's from the mind of John Carpenter.  I've said that sometimes Carpenter's concepts are so great that the execution of them on film sometimes can't live up.  Given this film's "classic" status, the theory doesn't apply here.

Though the trailer seemed dated, it's the original and it is a classic and I trust it is still a scary movie.  I will likely watch it again to confirm.

Happy Halloween, 2011.