Halloween Review
With its almost blood-free frights, gutsy heroine, and peerless score, Halloween became the gold standard for the late '70s-'80s teen slasher cycle (as Scream cheekily acknowledged in 1996). Taking full advantage of the widescreen frame (and offscreen space), John_Carpenter builds tension through the constant suggestion that something terrible lurks just out of Laurie's and the audience's view, whether it's behind a bush or in a passing car. Carpenter also shifts to the killer's point-of-view, leaving the audience with only the sight of the unaware victim and the sound of Michael's breathing. Evoking Alfred_Hitchcock's Psycho and Vertigo, as well as Howard_Hawks' original The_Thing, Carpenter and co-writer/producer Debra_Hill render Myers an inhuman force that paradoxically points up the psychosexual anxieties under the surface of small-town life, especially in the wake of the late-'60s/early-'70s sexual revolution. Teens responded to Halloween's thrills, as the 325,000-dollar indie film went on to gross 47 million dollars, begetting six sequels and numerous imitators, like the Friday the 13th series. Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
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