Today's Film: Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone! To celebrate, let's watch again the original Halloween movie, by John Carpenter.

This is an awesome movie. From the start, this movie sets the tone: the long pauses that builds the tension, the depiction of the teenagers as they really are (smoking, having sex, lying -- today it seems silly, but back in 1978 it was groundbreaking) and the little twist showing the origin of Michael Myers.

This scene really shocked me the first time I saw it.

And then, there's the tension. John Carpenter shows us for about an hour the life in this neighbourhood. From now on, it all happens, duh, on Halloween. Simultaneously, Michael Myers escapes from a mental institution and Dr. Sam Loomis, the psychiatrist who treated him as a kid, starts chasing him and warning the police.

This film is all about tension.

This is all I will say about the plot, in case you never saw it and want to give it a try tonight. Don't bother with the sequels or the remake: watch this one, the original. It's one of John Carpenter best works, and he knows how to direct an horror movie. It's not about the blood, it's not about the guts, the gore, the explicit shit: it's all about what happens in your head when you watch it.

Rating: 7.5/10