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Movies / On DVD / Halloween
Halloween

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Halloween (1978)

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Reviews Counted:42

Fresh:39

Rotten:3

Average Rating:8.4/10

Consensus: Scary, suspenseful, and viscerally thrilling, Halloween set the standard for modern horror films.

Runtime: 1 hr 44 mins

Genre: Horror/Suspense

Synopsis: Perhaps the most influential and successful independent film ever made, HALLOWEEN is the movie that put director John Carpenter on the map as a viable filmmaker. An exercise in simple, pure horror,... Perhaps the most influential and successful independent film ever made, HALLOWEEN is the movie that put director John Carpenter on the map as a viable filmmaker. An exercise in simple, pure horror, HALLOWEEN takes us into the world of a mad killer, Michael Myers, who at a very young age stabbed his older sister to death. Locked away for many years in a mental hospital Michael escapes one night and returns to his hometown to continue his killing spree. Jamie Lee Curtis, in her first role, plays the resourceful babysitter who is chased by the killer on Halloween night. Produced for very little money and a tight shooting schedule, HALLOWEEN was a stunning success when it was released. Written by John Carpenter and his longtime producer Debra Hill, the film set their careers on fire, with both of them working together many times over the next 25 years. The film also made a star out of Jamie Lee Curtis and turned the slasher movie into a viable, successful genre. HALLOWEEN has been copied, parodied and even turned into a franchise of its own, but the original is still considered the best of the bunch. HALLOWEEN was John Carpenter's first foray into horror, and remains the standard to which all other modern horror films are measured. [More]

Starring: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, P.J. Soles, Nancy Loomis

Starring: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, P.J. Soles, Nancy Loomis, Charles Cyphers, Kyle Richards, Arthur Malet, David Kyle, Nick Castle, Peter Griffith

Director: John Carpenter

Director: John Carpenter
Screenwriter: John Carpenter, Debra Hill
Producer: Debra Hill
Composer: John Carpenter

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Oct 28, 1997

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Reviews for Halloween

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1 - 20 (sorted by comments)
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After a promising opening, Halloween becomes just another maniac-on-the-loose suspenser.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment 34 Comments
08/27/07
Variety Staff
Variety Staff
Variety

It's boring. It's not scary. There. I said it.

Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment 23 Comments
11/02/01
MaryAnn Johanson
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher

...the kind of fright flick in which the plodding monster has his victim in his grasp and then inexplicably stabs the couch five feet to the right of her.

Full Review Source: Sun Publications (Chicago, IL) | comment 21 Comments
08/23/07
Josh Larsen
Josh Larsen
Sun Publications (Chicago, IL)

Halloween is an absolutely merciless thriller, a movie so violent and scary that, yes, I would compare it to Psycho.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment 2 Comments
10/23/04
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Virtually perfect. It is the one horror film that I would beg each and every lover of movies to watch, if I could pick only one.

Full Review Source: Antagony & Ecstasy | comment 2 Comments
07/13/08
Tim Brayton
Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy

To call Halloween merely brilliant isn't giving it enough credit. As a horror film and as a historical milestone that single-handedly shaped and altered the future of an entire genre, it's downright transcendent.

Full Review Source: DustinPutman.com | comment 1 Comment
10/27/08
Dustin Putman
Dustin Putman
DustinPutman.com

It's hard to get behind a main character who's so unexciting. But maybe Michael Myers is the real main character. In which case, mission accomplished: I'm freaked out.

Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment 1 Comment
11/29/03
Eric D. Snider
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com

Effective little thriller, but about as far from a great classic as you can get.

comment 1 Comment
02/02/03
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

A modern horror classic.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
08/27/07
TV Guide's Movie Guide

John Carpenter and Debra Hill's film is a genuine landmark in the horror-thriller genre.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
09/21/07
Channel 4 Film
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
10/18/08
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Responsible for jump-starting Jamie Lee Curtis’s career, this one so thoroughly and thoughtfully exploited American angst that it’s no wonder we had to sit through a slew of derivative slasher flicks for the better part of the next decade.

Full Review Source: Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus | comment Comment
01/01/00
Bryant Frazer
Bryant Frazer
Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus

Regardless of how silly you think it all is, this will have you scared witless by the time the end credits roll; low budget horror hog heaven.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
08/27/07
Chris Hewitt (UK)
Chris Hewitt (UK)
Empire Magazine

One of the scariest movies ever made.

comment Comment
10/21/05
Chuck O'Leary
Chuck O'Leary
FulvueDrive-in.com

One of the best horror films ever made. John Carpenter deserves a medal for his effective build-up of suspense, his knack for casting and his sensationally-scary Michael Myers!

comment Comment
03/18/06
Clint Morris
Clint Morris
Moviehole

John Carpenter's 1978 tour de force, perhaps the most widely imitated film of the 70s.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
08/27/07
Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Arguably, the greatest horror film of the past thirty years.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/08/02
David Grove
David Grove
Film Threat

One of the more successful indie forays into the slasher/horror film genre.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
10/31/02
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Perhaps not quite so resonant as Psycho to which it pays due homage, but it breathes the same air.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Derek Adams
Derek Adams
Time Out

The film hits us at a level deeper than most slasher films, and even as we are entertained by it, we are drawn in by its powerful suspense and implications.

Full Review Source: DVD Review | comment Comment
09/05/07
Felix Gonzalez Jr.
Felix Gonzalez Jr.
DVD Review
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by comments)
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