by Scott Kolecki

Created on: January 22, 2009

In 1978, the world was introduced to a movie that has become a cornerstone in the horror genre. Independent filmmakers John Carpenter and Debra Hill, largely unknown at the time, shot a movie that would become one of the top money-making horror films of all time on a budget of just over $300,000.00. They hired a cast of unknowns, drawing on talent that would become some of the top names in Hollywood. They set out to make a simple film, about a group of teenagers being stalked by a serial killer, and what was born was a movie that has challenged all other films of its genre-Halloween.

Set in the small town of Haddenfield, Illinois, it is the story of Michael Myers, a boy who murders his sister on Halloween night in 1963. Incarserated within the confines of the mental institution Smiths Grove, he is treated by Dr. Loomis (played by Donald Pleasance) until he can stand trial as an adult for the criminal activities of that fateful night.
Fifteen years pass, and Myers is now grown. Loomis is assigned the duty of transporting Myers back to Haddenfield for his criminal hearing. On the eve of halloween, and badgered by a horrendous thunderstorm, Loomis travels the final distance to the gates of the institution with the aid of a nurse who has been assigned to him. Upon their arrival, they discover that the inmates have been set free to wonder about the confines of the sanitarium. Loomis, who has long since grown to believe that Michael Myers in the embodiment of pure evil, rushes to the gaurd post at the front gate. In his absence, Myers overtakes the nurse and steals the car.
Loomis cries out "He's gone..the evil has gone..."
And so begins Halloween.
The balance of the story takes place in Haddonfield, where a group of unsuspecting teens will have a fatal encounter with Michael Myers. Leading the cast is Jamie Lee Curtis, daughter of veteran actress Janet Leigh (of "Psycho" fame), who plays Laurie Strode, a high-school student who begins seeing "The Shape", a non-descript man dressed in a blue coverall, wearing a white mask. She sees him again and again, through the classroom window at school, in her backyard, behind bushes.
For the majority of horror fans who have seen this film, I need go no further. For those of you who haven't, I should go no further, for the film is definitely more than the narrative I began above. It is a story that touches on the psychological truths that our society seems to function on. Whats more, it is a film that touches at our primal fears.
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