It’s the 31st October, happy Halloween everybody!
Whether you’re out on the town dressed like a promiscuous witch, admiring your young child as he/she/it knocks from door to door prompting strangers to fill a bucket with goodies, or carving up a pumpkin into a variety of creative designs – have a spooktastic night!
So what are we doing? Oh, you know, curled up in bed nice and warm watching a good film. Yep, that’s our plan! Our choice of film? None other than John Carpenter’s appropriately titled classic, Halloween. Without further ado, here’s what we thought of it:
The film begins on the night of Halloween, 1963 in the sleepy town of Haddonfield, Illinois. A young Judith Myers (played by Sandy Johnson) has whisked her boyfriend back to her home for a night of unbridled passion. Creeping nearby is a dark presence, skulking around by the windows and observing the couple inside. As Judith and her partner take things to the next level upstairs, the mysterious figure also chooses to take things to the next level – by snatching a knife from the kitchen drawer. Confronted by a nude Judith, we find out that our mysterious figure is a young Michael Myers and, before Judith can kick Michael out of her room, he stabs her to death.
15 years pass, and Dr Sam Loomis (played by Donald Pleasance) attend at the sanitarium to take an institutionalised and dangerous Michael Myers to a court hearing. It isn’t long though until Sam discovers that Michael has broken free, carjacked them and sped off into the distance. The evil has escaped and is on the loose! This is not a drill, people!
The remainder of the film mostly revolves around Laurie, Linda and Annie – three student friends who love nothing more than boys, weed and massive bell-bottom jeans. Whilst discussing their Halloween night plans, Michael Myers observes from a distance, and we have to say that having Michael pop up occasionally in the background was pretty chilling to watch, particularly when he is in the middle of the clothes line at Laurie’s house and when you just catch a glimpse of his iconic face in the shadows! Mr Carpenter shows all the imitators just how this classic Horror film trademark is done.
Both Annie and Laurie find themselves babysitting later that evening. Annie, bored of this plan, decides to see her boyfriend instead and cheekily ditches her child with Laurie. Whilst cooking up a bite to eat, she spills a little bit of it on herself which, for some unknown reason, makes her take off almost every single garment she’s wearing(?) (Laura and I love these little quirks in plotlines which don’t quite make sense; we have a good giggle and poke fun a la Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Anyway...) Annie puts these items in the washer and finds herself stuck in the laundry room. She’s not alone. Mike has locked her in there and is looming in the shadows. Two quick trips to her car later, and Mike’s in the back seat (this is one of Laura’s fears, which is understandable – pro tip: never get into an unlocked car before checking the back seat) strangling Annie and slitting her throat. We hear his creepy musical motif as a deceased Annie is carried back into the house.
So, who’s next? Uh oh. It’s Linda! She’s pissed, and has brought back her boyfriend for a night of drunken lust. Whilst the two make love under the watchful eye of a cheeky Jack-o-Lantern, Mike makes his way into the house. (Notice how nobody seems to lock their doors? Basic safety advice!) After intercourse lasting all of 10 seconds, the boyfriend saunters downstairs to get a drink but is soon confronted with Mike – who strangles him, raises him up and plops a knife straight into his chest. Miraculously, the boyfriend stays hung in mid air. I asked Laura, “how do you reckon he’d stay there?” to which she responded “He probably used a sword that time”. Linda is then killed, but not before alerting Laurie – Laurie investigates, discovers the trio of corpses, and things get really tense. Mike is killed – oh, wait he’s alive – three times, and eventually disappears… Duh duh duh.
“Nothing gets me going more than having sexytime while a Jack-o-Lantern watches!” – Linda
If you think about how innovative this film is, then it’s worth based solely on how fresh the film was within the genre. Scary tactics that might appear overdone when compared with today’s films, but this film started the trend and carved the way for so so many countless films to follow. Quite a few years later, the film retains its creep factor which we think is highly impressive. Particularly impressive elements include the haunting music and ominous lurking from Mike.
Give it a watch – just maybe not alone?
The Lampy-metre
(the scale of how many lamps you will need on to sleep after watching)
It's Under The Bed... 