John Carpenter's Halloween<br /><br />Is it the greatest horror film of all time? no .. maybe not to everyone, but to me it is and always will be. The film is sheer genius and will always hold a very special place in my heart. <br /><br />It's unfortunate I didn't get to see this film until twenty years after it's release, but even twenty years later after so many slasher copy cats had come and gone the film still gave the same impact as it must have done then. My father suggested before I go see Halloween H20 that I whip out and rent Halloween's 1 and 2 to get the full story, and after watching Halloween it was quite clear that it defined and set the Slasher Genre.<br /><br />The film's plot is simple, In 1963 Michael Audrey Myers killed his sister Judith in cold blood with a large butcher knife. Incarcerated for fifteen years where he was treated by Dr. Sam Loomis, he escapes and returns to his hometown of Haddonfield where he begins stalking three young girls: Laurie Strode an innocent bookworm, Annie Brackett a tough talking sarcastic and Lynda Van Der Klok a beautiful and sexually vigorous young girl. Dr. Loomis tracks Michael here where he enlists the help of the town Sheriff Leigh Brackett whom remains skeptical of his story about the psychotic killer. Michael watches the girls mercilessly and begins killing them off one by one, until only sweet innocent Laurie is left who is the prime target on Michael's list.<br /><br />The casting of this film was brilliant and all the actors and actresses gave top notch performances, Jamie Lee Curtis was stunning in her first film role as Laurie Strode and Donald Pleasance gave a thrilling performance with his small role as Loomis. Nick Castle who portrays Michael did an outstanding job as the soulless and evil killer, and his walk and body movements were perfect.<br /><br />One of the great highlights of this film is it's chilling score done by John Carpenter himself who created one of the most recognizable horror themes known today. The Blue Lighting was creepy and effective and one of the great moments in this film is when young Laurie is cowering against a wall after seeing her dead friends, and in the shadows behind her Michael's face materializes before he strikes. Michael's mask was one of the thing's that sent chills down my spine the most, the white emotionless face worked perfectly.<br /><br />What makes this film so great is that it is not a gory film unlike the cheesy Friday The 13th films, in fact there is little blood in this film at all and works instead on suspense and tension. <br /><br />It became so clear that Halloween spawned movies like Friday The 13th and characters like Jason Voorhees, whom he is a mere rip off of Michael Myers.<br /><br />To sum it up, I suggest you see this film at least once in your life as it is a landmark in film making and is without a doubt if not the greatest then one of the greatest horror films of all time.