Editorials
‘Halloween’ at 40: The 8 Scariest Moments from John Carpenter’s Original Classic
When Halloween released in theaters on October 25, 1978, it wasn’t an immediate hit. The indie movie made with a miniscule budget only dropped in a small number of theaters. But positive word of mouth spread fast, causing Halloween to release in more theaters across the country and four weeks later it was an undeniable hit. The stylish slasher was a perfect amalgam of talented people at the beginning of their careers; director/co-writer John Carpenter, producer/co-writer Debra Hill, final girl extraordinaire Jamie Lee Curtis, cinematographer Dean Cundey, production designer Tommy Lee Wallace, the Shape actor Nick Castle, executive producers Irwin Yablan and Moustapha Akkad, and just about everyone who had a hand in it all worked in unison to make a definitive classic.
Under Carpenter’s direction a simple premise, in which a babysitter is stalked over Halloween night by an escaped psychopath, turned into the stuff of nightmares. To celebrate 40 years of Halloween, we look back at its scariest, genre-defining moments.
Opening scene reveal
The opening sequence, set on Halloween night in 1963, sets the bar high straight away with the first-person perspective of someone dressed in a clown costume stalking then murdering their older sister mere moments after her boyfriend leaves post-coital. The voyeuristic quality makes the whole scene unnerving, and that’s before it explodes with shocking violence as we watch through the killer’s eyes while he stabs his sister to death. If you think it couldn’t get any more terrifying, the scene concludes with the killer being unmasked; he was only a child.
Stalking his prey
Between Michael Myer’s escape from Smith’s Grove Sanitarium and his systematic homicidal spree on Halloween night, this silent killer is content to lurk in the background, stalking and studying his prey. All of whom are oblivious. Nothing really ever happens in the safe little town of Haddonfield, right? Wrong. Michael Myers’ consistent background appearances are creepy. It’s an effective means of building tension; we know these teens are in trouble long before they do.
Head Tilt
Lynda Van Der Klok’s boyfriend Bob goes downstairs for a beer but finds himself with a knife to his gut instead. Nevermind the sheer strength displayed, as Michael Myers lifts Bob off the ground and then pins him to the wall with the knife. What makes this so scary is Michael Myers subtle, simple head tilt. It’s a small gesture that has massive implications, namely in just how evil this killer really is.
Bob’s body swings down
Poor Laurie found much more than she bargained for when she went across the street to investigate the Wallace house. She finds her friend Annie’s dead body splayed across the bed with Judith Myers’ headstone at her head. It’s a traumatic enough moment, but her escape is then blocked by the swinging dead body of Bob. It’s unexpected both for Laurie and for the viewer; when we last saw Bob he was pinned downstairs to a wall. This is a jump scare done well.
Annie’s death
Halloween is a slasher that favors mounting dread over overt violence, so when there are violent moments it really packs a punch. Annie Brackett’s death is the perfect example. The audience is always clued in to Michael Myers’ presence long before the protagonists and waiting for Annie to finally catch on feels like an eternity. The dread coils tighter by the minute. When Annie finally realizes something is amiss, it’s too late. Yet, it still catches us off guard. The loud honking of the car horn is enough to give us a jolt, but that Michael Myers isn’t just content to strangle Annie, but slit her throat too is bone-chilling.
Let me in!
As if you needed any more proof that Halloween is a master class in fear, I present you with this intense chase scene. Our observant final girl, Laurie Strode, is suspicious that something’s not quite right. So, she leaves the kids she’s babysitting behind to venture across the street to the Wallace household and investigate. She survives her first encounter with Michael Myers and a harrowing chase ensues as she rushes back to the Doyle house. The door is locked, but will the kids open it in time before Michael Myers closes in?
He’s not a monster
When you think of the Boogeyman, you think of something much more ghoulish and hideous. Someone who systematically stalks and kills without emotion is surely a monster, right? But just as he’s finally about to kill Laurie, she makes him pause when she rips off his mask. For the briefest moment, the audience sees that there’s nothing monstrous at all about Michael Myers. It’s a frightening reminder that killers could be anyone and anywhere; they could appear normal.
But he is the Boogeyman
Up until the final moments, Michael Myers was just a human. Albeit, a psychotic killer, but human nonetheless. When Dr. Sam Loomis shoots Myers six times, knocking him off the second-floor balcony into the yard below, the killer should be dead. Yet seconds later our worst fears are realized when Loomis discovers Myers is gone. The boogeyman is real, and he could be anywhere.
The problem with filming sequels back-to-back is that, unless you can afford expensive reshoots, there’s no easy way to adjust course in between movies if fans react badly to where the story is headed. That’s why it’s important to have a complete narrative thought out well in advance lest you accidentally kill a budding franchise.
However, this isn’t always the case. Every once in a while, it seems like the cinema gods smile upon certain chaotic productions and gift moviegoers with complete franchises that feel like more than the sum of their hastily produced parts. Ted Nicolaou’s Bloodlust: Subspecies III is precisely one of these miraculous pictures, with the raw talents of the artists involved (as well as the continued support from Romania) turning the feature into an effective conclusion for a series that kind of made things up as the filmmakers went along.
That’s why I’d like to invite my fellow readers to join me on this third part of our journey through the Subspecies franchise as we look into Bloodlust and talk about how it remains a surprisingly satisfying finale to the original trilogy.
A Trilogy Planned on the Fly
Released only a year after Bloodstone found plenty of success in rental stores and mail-in VHS catalogues worldwide, 1994’s Bloodlust was produced at the same time as its predecessor in (mostly) the same locations and with the same team. This means that the movie benefited from all the same upgrades as Bloodstone, with the crew now being more experienced with the ins and outs of surviving a low-budget Romanian production and the cast really settling into their characters.
At this point, everything from location scouting to the makeup process had been streamlined, with Wayne Toth and Norman Cabrera, the main duo behind special effects, even switching out time-consuming prosthetics for latex gloves in order to speed up Anders Hove’s monstrous transformation. The titular “subspecies” demons were also once again relegated to a mere cameo appearance due to the laborious puppetry required to bring them to life.
The only real hiccup came from the fact that actress Denice Duff had replaced the first film’s Michelle (Laura Mae Tate) and was immediately expected to portray the character as both an innocent victim in part II and as a secondary villain in part III. According to behind-the-scenes interviews, the hectic production schedule that blended two different movies meant that Duff would often find herself having to alternate between two incredibly different versions of Michelle during the same shooting day – though it’s obvious that she’s having more fun with Bloodlust’s more traditionally vampiric version of her character.
In the finished film, we pick things up immediately where the previous entry left off as Rebecca (Melanie Shatner) is forced to leave her vampire sister Michelle (Duff) behind in the dungeons of Castle Vladislav due to the rising sun. This allows Mummy (Pamela Gordon) to use Michelle’s blood to revive the vicious Radu (Hove) so that he may continue his quest for the coveted Bloodstone – a magical artifact that perpetually drips the Blood of Saints.
Meanwhile, the dreamy US embassy agent Mel (Kevin Blair) agrees to help Rebecca plan a rescue mission, though they’re unaware that Radu has become infatuated with Michelle during his attempts to guide her growing bloodlust. This all culminates in a climactic confrontation meant to tie up all of the series’ loose ends in one of Full Moon Pictures’ most ambitious productions.
The Evolution of Radu
Like its predecessor, Bloodlust: Subspecies III was also warmly received by fans who argued that the series was an even bigger success than Full Moon’s other major horror franchise, Puppet Master. This praise wasn’t unanimous, however, as 1994 had seen the rise of a more modern breed of sexy vampire popularized by Anne Rice, with old-school Nosferatu like Radu being viewed as obsolete when compared to the likes of Lestat and Gary Oldman’s take on Dracula.
In a way, one might argue that Nicolaou’s film is something of a swan song for the classic vampire story, as Bloodlust combines all of the traditional elements we tend to associate with these tales into a single tragic yarn that ties a neat little bow on Radu’s story as well as the old-fashioned monster movies that he represents. The finale remains shocking despite the fact that this is the third time we see Radu get brutally killed onscreen, with the brief tease that he may one day return feeling more like a nod towards the nature of evil rather than sequel bait.
The film dabbles a bit in gothic romance and even explores the inherent power fantasy behind transforming into an immortal creature of the night, but the filmmakers never lose sight of Radu as a demonic force even when he’s willing to betray his beloved Mummy for Michelle’s sake. In fact, his twisted “love” for his fledgling makes him even creepier as we get the feeling that his passion comes from a dark and disturbing place.
Anders Hove is at his absolute best in this film, with the effects department boosting his moments of what the younger generation would call “aura farming” whenever Radu emerges from shadows like a 90s version of Count Orlok. There are even a couple of surprisingly effective jump-scares here, which is why I’d argue that Bloodlust cements Radu as one of the most memorable cinematic vampires of all time despite his humble origins.
Subspecies Saves Its Best For Last
Nicolaou and Vlad Panescu also saved the best for “last” (more on that in a bit) regarding the film’s visuals, with the cinematography and overall atmosphere of Bloodlust absolutely surpassing what we saw in the previous films. Everything feels appropriately climactic this time around (including the wonderful soundtrack that was co-composed alongside an authentic Romanian orchestra), and I appreciate how this is the fastest-paced entry in the trilogy since the film doesn’t need to waste time setting anything up.
Bloodlust still suffers from some of the same low-budget blemishes as its predecessors, but there’s so much creative passion here that no amount of wonky effects work or stilted dialogue can get in the way of appreciating the flick’s gothic grandeur. That’s why it’s not surprising that the movie’s definitive(-ish) ending would later be retconned as fans begged for more Radu.
Of course, the next entry in this series would be a different kind of vampiric endeavor altogether, with the filmmakers attempting to engage with the same trends that ultimately killed Radu and his antiquated kin. That, however, is a story for another time. For now, I’ll merely insist that Bloodlust: Subspecies III remains a highlight of Full Moon’s expansive catalogue and is definitely worth seeking out today.
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