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HorrorBid's 31 Days of Horror: Halloween (1978)

We here at HorrorBid will be recommending one specific treasure for everyday of the month. The ultimate goal is mple; encourage the masses to seek out stellar films that fit the seasonal mold. While I'm certain plenty of our faithful readers will find some of these films predictable, or at the least familiar, we still feel as though a friendly reminder can go a long way towards renewed enjoyment.



On deck for October 31st, is the most predictable selection imaginable, John Carpenter’s sub-genre defining feature, Halloween. Before it was cool to don a mask and stalk teenagers, John Carpenter created the shape that we now know as the prolific Michael Myers. Carpenter’s vion would go on to spark a surge of copycat films (some bad, some good), but throughout the course of history, few films have been able to pretend to rival the overall mastery of the original Halloween.

The performances here are stellar, as Jamie Lee Curtis was the perfect fit for the babytting victim, Laurie Strode, while Donald Pleasence embodies heroism and hope. There’s a fine supporting cast at work here, but behind the aforementioned Curtis and Pleasence, it’s the faceless Michael Myers that steals the show.

The visually moody model that Carpenter follows was created by Bob Clark, but it could ealy be argued that John took it to the next level, and managed to smooth out the few pertinent hiccups Clark encountered four years prior when filming Black Christmas. The milarities are blatant, but in the grand scheme of things, I’ve got to give the nod to John for producing a slightly more polished final product.

Still a holiday staple, Halloween is adored by fans worldwide; countless sequels have been birthed, as have a pair (soon to be trio) of remakes. Amazingly, the franchise shows no gn of slowing down, and that alone is testament to how extraordinary this picture is.

http://youtu.be/ljchb1tsLfs
Matt_Molgaard Monday 10/31/2011 at 07:32 PM | 86200