This film is considered to be one of the first ever slasher films and it predates the Friday the 13th saga. It's a bench mark in horror cinema and sets up the conventions of a typical slasher movie. Does it still appeal to today's audience? Well its still very iconic for sure but I feel that perhaps it has now become very predictable and doesn't pack quite so much of a scare as it once did.
What makes these films scary is the fact that it's not a monster it a person, a mad man with a knife. This is still a frightening concept and in the 70s it would have been even more of an impact.
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| Can I come in? |
There is no motive to Michael Myers' killings other than the fact he is completely mad. The film opens with his very first murder as a small child, he kills his sister with a knife. Years later Michael returns to his home town having escaped from the mental hospital he was being kept at, Doctor Loomis (played by Donald Pleasence) is in pursuit of Michael Myers and is the only one who knows what Michael is capable of. Meanwhile our heroin Laurie Strode (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) is babysitting and unfortunately enough encounters Michael.
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| Doctor Loomis |
The film is wonderfully shot, with Myers often lurking to the side of the frame half in darkness. Whenever Michael Myers strikes he seems to come out of no where, as the film progresses you start to feel that he could be hidden in any shadow or behind any door. For one of the first slasher films this is excellent and has indeed stood the test of time, when I first watched this film I did find it quite scary but the ending annoyed me. Having watched it again recently I no longer find it scary and I find the ending mysterious yet rather stupid at the same time.
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| Die! |
The most frightening aspect of this film is the look of it, the creepy mask is still scary even if the massive knife is a little over the top. The dark and shadowy cinematography works wonders too. I would recommend this film, however I think that by today's standards people are unlikely to find it scary... but then again, perhaps if you turns out the light.
