Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Halloween (1978)

1/10/2022

Halloween (1978) - Carpenter's haunting slasher classic

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A jack-o-lantern that becomes a strong hand stabbing with a kitchen knife makes up this iconic poster for John Carpenter's Halloween

Michael Myers is evil incarnate; locked away since childhood for murdering his older sister. Now he has broken free from the mental hospital, and he is heading home to Haddonfield, Illinois on Halloween - with blood lust!

Halloween is written by co-writer/producer Debra Hill (The Fog (1980)) and great New-Yorker filmmaker, co-writer/director/composer John Carpenter (Dark Star (1974)).

It is an incredibly simple premise in one of the all-time strongest horror classics. Jamie Lee Curtis (Love Letters (1983)) is a brave sport, and Donald Pleasence (Dracula (1979)) is ideal as Dr. Loomis, who has long ago seen and recognized the dark evil in Myers.

The mask is just as important, and Carpenter's catchy musical theme. You simply can't argue with the effectiveness and screaming thrills of Halloween.

Halloween franchise: Halloween (2007) - Zombie's remake is a bloody stinker

Halloween H20/Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) - Myers spreads fresh terror in Miner's fine sequel

John Carpenter: Cigarette Burns (2005, TV movie) - Carpenter burns out in weird, tiresome TV movie

Dario Argento: An Eye For Horror (2000, TV documentary) - Great bio-doc of master filmmaker Dario Argento (interview subject)

Escape from L.A./John Carpenter's Escape from L.A./Escape from Los Angeles (1996) or, Snake Plissken in Crazy-World!
Christine (1983) or, Bad Plymouth!

Top 10: Best future-set movies
Escape from New York (1981) - Carpenter introduces Kurt Russell as action star in dystopic dream
Top 10: The best action movies and TV-series reviewed by Film Excess to date
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) - Solid action guerilla film-making

Watch a short TV spot trailer for the film here

Cost: 300-325k $

Box office: 70.2 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 216-234 times its cost)

[Halloween was released 25 October (North America) and runs 91 minutes. Carpenter earned 10k $ and 10 % of the profits for his work; Pleasence was paid 20k $; Curtis 8k $. Shooting took place in April 1978 in California, including in Los Angeles. The Myers mask was actually a cheaply bought Captain Kirk mask (molded from William Shatner's face) with widened eye holes and then spray-painted a bluish white. The film opened to a 1.2 mil. $ first weekend in 198 theaters in North America, where it grossed 47 mil. $ (67 % of the total gross). Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this one. NBC bought the original TV rights for 3 mil. $ in 1980. A novelization and a video game followed, along with 11 sequels (including remakes and reboots); Hill and Carpenter were involved as writers and then producers of the first two of the sequels, Halloween II (1981) and Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982). Carpenter returned with Someone's Watching Me! (1978, TV movie), Elvis (1979, TV movie) and theatrically with The Fog (1980). Curtis returned in The Love Boat (1978, TV-series), Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979, TV-series) and theatrically in The Fog; Pleasence in 3 TV credits prior to his theatrical return in L'Homme en Colère (1979). Halloween is certified fresh at 96 % with an 8.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Halloween?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

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1/10/2022

Halloween (1978) - Carpenter's haunting slasher classic

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