Travis Simpkins: Halloween (1978): John Carpenter Introduces Michael Myers (and Jamie Lee Curtis)

Friday, October 19, 2018

Halloween (1978): John Carpenter Introduces Michael Myers (and Jamie Lee Curtis)

One of the most influential Horror films ever made, John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) is often credited with starting a long line of "slasher films" that continue to be produced in a similar vein today, nearly 35 years later. Like Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), the film that inspired it, Halloween differs from other "slasher" films in that the horrific violence is mostly suggestive, never too graphic. With the film, writer/producer/director Carpenter produced one of the most successful independent productions of all time, his limited budget inadvertently creating the signature feel for which it is now so well known. With the killer Michael Myers, Carpenter created one of the most memorable characters in Horror, and the theme music is amongst the most recognizable movie tunes ever recorded. Halloween also served as the debut of Jamie Lee Curtis, whose terrified antics earned her the nickname: "The Scream Queen." From an academic standpoint, some suggest there is a deep symbolism and hidden meaning behind the story of Halloween, but Carpenter dismisses such ideas.

On October 31, 1963 young Michael Myers stabbed his sister Judith to death in their family home in Haddonfield, Illinois. He was sentenced to an institution...

Halloween. 1978

Fifteen years later... October 31, 1978: Michael Myers, now a being of pure evil, has escaped from the Sanitarium and returned to his hometown of Haddonfield...

Halloween. 1978

He is stalking Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her friends, for some unknown reason...

Halloween. 1978: Jamie Lee Curtis

Myers' psychiatrist, Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence), suspects he may have returned home, and is in town trying to catch him before he starts killing again...