“Death has come to your little town, sheriff. You can either ignore it or you can help me to stop it.”
Halloween began it, and Friday the 13th set it straight. We hear that all the time, but without Halloween, horror movies may have gone in a completely different direction. The original was made with a budget of just $320,000, and has so far grossed over $52 million. The tale of a young boy, who in 1963, murdered his sister, and was then institutionalised for life... until he escaped in 1978 and reaped his revenge on his surviving sister, killing her friends and finally going for her. Halloween 2 follows on where the first left off and has Michael Myers pursuing his sister to the hospital in perhaps one of the best Halloween movies, but at the end his eyes are shot, and he is caught in a gas explosion. After this, he is captured once more and is treated for his injuries and kept in a high security hospital for 10 years until in Halloween 4, he escapes and attempts to kill Jamie, his niece. Apparently dying at the hands of the police, he once more escapes. In Halloween 5, the following year, he once again attempts to get to Jamie and her friends but is captured by the authorities until the mysterious Cowboy sets him free and kills the entire police force. Halloween 7 (H20) sees him once more trying to kill his sister from the original, but in the conclusion of the movie, he is stopped for good. Unlike Jason and Freddy however, Michael Myers isn’t a demon or zombie - he’s just a guy with the knack of disappearing, and a nice carving knife.
Halloween
Halloween 2
Halloween 3
Halloween 4
Halloween 5
H20
Posters
For much of the original movie, Carpenter keeps his audience off-balance by using some clever techniques including the sleight of hand which incorporates the steadicam camera for the murderer’s point of view, and because of the type of camera used, the killer could give us the impression of running and moving, and that gives you a dreamy, floating quality.
Unfortunately though, Michael Myers is now dead and gone, but we can stll look forward to other great Freddy / Jason features.
“I suppose that the time is over for the kind of movie that Halloween is. It’s time to move on, to tell other stories” - JOHN CARPENTER
