Post by Stu on Aug 3, 2005 9:34:27 GMT
Dir: John Carpenter
Horror movies are simply not made like this anymore. Classics like The Omen, Amityville Horror and The Exorcist are now a thing of the past. After completing the first draft for Halloween with his producer and co-writer Debra Hill and with a budget of $300,000, director John Carpenter set out to make, what was until recently, the biggest grossing independent motion picture of all time?
Wes Cravens excellent A Nightmare on Elm Street and the more recently outstanding Blair Witch Project, both ironically independently financed, are very effective in the horror genre. But its the way Halloween is directed and its chilling music score, composed in three days by Carpenter, along with some great moments of cinematography which adds the chilling suspense necessary for making this kind of movie.
The setting is Haddonfield, a very quiet and ordinary suburban town in Illinois, which is suddenly awoken from its slumber when Michael Myers (aged 6) stabs his sister to death on Halloween night. Michael is sent to Illinois State Mental Hospital, which becomes his home until, on the eve of Halloween 15 years later, he escapes and returns home to Haddonfield to relive that fateful night. The story has since become legend with the children of Haddonfield likening the myth of Myers to that of ‘The Boogey Man’.
What follows is quite chilling as Michael stalks Laurie Strood (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her friends in an attempt to re-light the fuse which was so suddenly extinguished all those years ago. Donald Pleasance plays Michael’s doctor who has followed his story with great interest. He travels to Haddonfield believing that this is where he will strike again, trying to convince the authorities that Michael Myers is back!
I still find this film hard to watch even with the lights on, a problem I don’t have with today’s horror offerings. The late seventies and early eighties produced some of the best horror pictures. At that time Carpenter, who also delivered other chilling treats such as The Thing and The Fog, had quite clearly eSTABlished himself as ‘The Boogey Man’ of modern horror.
Horror movies are simply not made like this anymore. Classics like The Omen, Amityville Horror and The Exorcist are now a thing of the past. After completing the first draft for Halloween with his producer and co-writer Debra Hill and with a budget of $300,000, director John Carpenter set out to make, what was until recently, the biggest grossing independent motion picture of all time?
Wes Cravens excellent A Nightmare on Elm Street and the more recently outstanding Blair Witch Project, both ironically independently financed, are very effective in the horror genre. But its the way Halloween is directed and its chilling music score, composed in three days by Carpenter, along with some great moments of cinematography which adds the chilling suspense necessary for making this kind of movie.
The setting is Haddonfield, a very quiet and ordinary suburban town in Illinois, which is suddenly awoken from its slumber when Michael Myers (aged 6) stabs his sister to death on Halloween night. Michael is sent to Illinois State Mental Hospital, which becomes his home until, on the eve of Halloween 15 years later, he escapes and returns home to Haddonfield to relive that fateful night. The story has since become legend with the children of Haddonfield likening the myth of Myers to that of ‘The Boogey Man’.
What follows is quite chilling as Michael stalks Laurie Strood (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her friends in an attempt to re-light the fuse which was so suddenly extinguished all those years ago. Donald Pleasance plays Michael’s doctor who has followed his story with great interest. He travels to Haddonfield believing that this is where he will strike again, trying to convince the authorities that Michael Myers is back!
I still find this film hard to watch even with the lights on, a problem I don’t have with today’s horror offerings. The late seventies and early eighties produced some of the best horror pictures. At that time Carpenter, who also delivered other chilling treats such as The Thing and The Fog, had quite clearly eSTABlished himself as ‘The Boogey Man’ of modern horror.