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.
