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Halloween: The Gateway Drug

Halloween most certainly, for me anyway, was my gateway drug into the world of horror.

I had always enjoyed darker films, my mother, an avid reader of Stephen King, would let me watch the movies adapted from his books, and as a lot of kids of the 80s did, I recorded movies such as Beetlejuice and the Lost Boys and watched them over and over.

It wasn't until I was thirteen that I had finally picked up the movie that would—forgive me for being so cliche—change my life.

After years of thumbing through such masterpieces as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre part 2 or I Spit on your Grave, wondering what the hell these movies were about, I finally got the courage to pick one up of a particular interest.

High on fast food and the smell of the local blockbuster, I pushed the VHS tape ever so slowly into the VCR and as the sun faded into its horizontal fixture, I sat, jaw dropped, eyes brazen, and something growing inde of me, something unexplainable yet daunting, a love of fear, a love of Halloween.

One can say so much about a subject before the information becomes cyclical and meandering.

I have listened to many podcasts, read many articles and reviews, watched to my knowledge all of the documentaries on Halloween, and nothing has yet to explain to me why I love this film so much.

Obviously, it is enduring, a clasc in age and in its own time, the lighting, the atmosphere, the muc, the acting, it's all wonderful and what makes this movie work.

But for me, there is something about it that I can't fully explain in words which makes this my favorite film, ever.

More than just nostalgia, it's a mixture of family photos taking place during Halloween night, my life's experience and the atmosphere of the settings where they took place, and the time and place and where I was in my life when I saw Halloween that explains why I have obsessed over this picture for so long.A month or so after I first watched Halloween, I ran across a black clam shell veron with a sail boat lingering on the bottom

right corner.

Anchor Bay entertainment had a movie library catalog included in this special edition, like all of the films they distributed at the time, I suppose before the internet became more convenient for horror fans to find what they were looking for.

On this list were films like, The Evil Dead, Dawn of the Dead, The Stepford Wives and Succubus.

I returned after saving some more cash and bought as many as I could, got an approval from the cashier, went home and tapped my vein for “the Ultimate in Grueling Terror.” I had seen The Exorcist, but when I saw Cheryl float in the air, waving her head de to de, and that voice!!!, whoa!

I about shit myself.

I had to see its sequels, and from there view all of Raimi's movies (I had already been delving into John Carpenter's work).

In short, I had seen many brilliant horror films on and off on random hankerings for the macabre during my unguided days of youth.

It wasn't until I found something I could really appreciate and hold sacred that I could see the forest so to speak.

Halloween was the anchor that I could bring down anytime I needed reassurance that there were more gems waiting to be found underneath each pile of junk.

And now, I'm finding, its the junk that I've been waiting for all along.

So, what was your Gateway Drug into horror?

Halloween was my gateway movie into the horror genre as well. As a matter of fact it was the first horror film I ever saw. I was about 5 or 6, and it was a Halloween night. My Dad asked me if I wanted to watch a scary movie, I said "nothing scares me." So I sat in his lap as he looked at the TV guide to see what channel to turn to. He turned just in time for the opening credits. And so it began....Needless to say after it was over, I was scared shitless. I begged to sleep with mommy that night, but I had to rough it and face a night alone in my bed with the thoughts of Halloween still fresh in my head...That movie had such a huge impact on me. I began watching Halloween sequels, Friday the 13th, The Exorcist, etc. For me Halloween is still the king of the horror genre and has been my favorite movie nce the first time I saw it. I never get tired of watching it.

Thanks for sharing!

Its funny, though I think Halloween is scary, I think I was already too immune to it, having already seen the Exorcist, to be affected by it in such a way.

I was thirteen when I first saw Halloween and it was the first film in which I appreciated and understood the aesthetic value.

The more I put myself in the shoes of the characters, the more frightened I become.

It must mean the older I get, and the closer to death inevitably, the more I really can get a visceral response from films such as Halloween.

Halloween has also become my favorite film, not just in the genre, but altogether.

I suppose, to an extent, it not only was my gateway drug into horror films, but also into others, including foreign.

The remake is better.

The remake is better.Ok, I can dig that.

Why do you think the remake is better?

The remake is better.Ok, I can dig that.

Why do you think the remake is better? Oh, I was just kidding man haha. Sorry. I do enjoy the remake though.

I like these kind of stories, where other people can reply on. Nice work man. For me the addiction began with the first 3 Jaws-movies. My brother loved sharks and often drew them on pieces of paper. After Jaws came a making off of Poltergeist II and the movie frase "They're back!"

stucked in my head as a little boy of 8 years old. That movietrailer was so scary that I couldn't sleep that night, and my brother kept on teang me with that film. Years later I got to the Halloween movies and Friday the 13th's. From there on my love and so called addiction for horrormovies really grew. At age 12 I started collecting soundtracks, I can still remember the first soundtrack being that of Halloween II. Then ofcourse came Poltergeist II and at age 33 I've got an impresve collection of scores, movies, masks and stuff I think alot of the die-hard fans have. But this article is fun to read and recall my own roots of horror hahaha.

Oh yeah, Halloween 2007 is my favorite of remakes, love that one

Thanks for reading and for sharing. You reminded me of watching all the poltergeist movies as a kid. It's been so long ago, is part iii the one where Caroline is being chased in a hall of mirrors, or am I making that up?

I like these kind of stories, where other people can reply on. Nice work man. For me the addiction began with the first 3 Jaws-movies. My brother loved sharks and often drew them on pieces of paper. After Jaws came a making off of Poltergeist II and the movie frase "They're back!"

stucked in my head as a little boy of 8 years old. That movietrailer was so scary that I couldn't sleep that night, and my brother kept on teang me with that film. Years later I got to the Halloween movies and Friday the 13th's. From there on my love and so called addiction for horrormovies really grew. At age 12 I started collecting soundtracks, I can still remember the first soundtrack being that of Halloween II. Then ofcourse came Poltergeist II and at age 33 I've got an impresve collection of scores, movies, masks and stuff I think alot of the die-hard fans have. But this article is fun to read and recall my own roots of horror hahaha.

Oh yeah, Halloween 2007 is my favorite of remakes, love that one

Dude! I too got into Horror watching the Jaws films as a kid, although I did watch the black and white Dracula with Bela Lego, Halloween really stuck out to me when I watched it because he's bacally just like Jaws in that they both stalk their prey and when you hear the muc you know something is going to happen.

Jaws and Michael Myers are very milar in that aspect because they are both like phantoms, Jaws hides under the water and Micheal blends in with the background.

I have to agree with you that Halloween 2007 is a good remake but I dug the Working Print more than the theatrical run. If you haven't seen the working print, I highly recommend seeking it out.

How does one get the working print?