I’m not at all qualified to talk about this film. I’m just not. That’s not me being hyperbolic, it’s the truth. This is a film that, despite being a genre picture, is now viewed as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically relevant” and as such is protected by the Library of Congress as of 2006. This is the slasher movie. In fact, if aliens landed tomorrow and asked me (of all people) to pick one film to show them a horror movie is, it would be Halloween (1978). It’s that good. Not only that, but this film is what made John Carpenter into JOHN CARPENTER. It’s the first of his films that I saw, and I’d be willing to bet the same of most of the readers. It didn’t stick with me when I originally watched it: sandwiched between my parents as a middle schooler. My memory is foggy, but I had more than likely already seen other ‘slasher’ movies – I had almost certainly marathoned the Friday the 13th series (again, with my parents) on a Friday the 13th at this point, and I was exposed to Wes Kraven’s masterpiece A Nightmare on Elm Street at a relatively young age… I might argue too young, as I remember being absolutely terrified of Freddy Kreuger.
But that’s neither here nor there. We’re talking about Halloween. John Carpenter’s Halloween, one of the highest grossing independent films of all time. Not only did Halloween become a sequel factory (seven sequels, a retcon-ing sequel, and a remake that spawned a sequel itself), it created tropes that would become all but a checklist for future outings in the genre: the ‘final girl’ trope and the ‘premarital sex = eventual death by killer’ trope, of course. And the theme, oh the theme. This, while not my personal favorite, has to be Carpenter’s most iconic theme. Those bass notes just sound so foreboding and ominous – obviously what he was going for. There’s an absolutely amazing podcast out there – Song Exploder – where Carpenter discusses writing the theme. If you’re so inclined, click here. It’s less than 15 minutes long.
With a budget of $300,000 and making $65 million initially, the film was a huge hit – owing itself largely, again, to Carpenter: even if the audience can’t place 100% of a film’s success (or its failure) on its director, we can place 100% of the efforts of the people assembled with the director. It’s a collaborative effort, and those that Carpenter collaborates with have made some truly iconic decisions – including the creation of the mask that Michael Meyers, or The Shape as he is credited, wears in each Halloween film (besides Halloween 3: Season of the Witch, which we won’t talk about because it’s not a sequel and although Carpenter produced it, he had no real part in its creation, nor is it a direct sequel to Halloween (1978) or Halloween 2 (1981), as it doesn’t make reference to Michael Meyers at all). The legend goes that the prop department, working with but a sliver of the shoestring budget that was left over (see below), found a Captain Kirk mask (yes, that Captain Kirk, of Star Trek fame) that was slightly altered and painted white, which led to the masks oddly familiar yet very unsettling look, which is a phrase I’m going to be running with – unsettling.
The movie isn’t necessarily scary. The horror tropes that we are more than aware of in 2019 make their appearances, and as soon as a girl begins making out with her boyfriend, we as the audience are aware that their fates have been sealed. The true reason that makes Halloween so amazing is Carpenter’s ability to make us forget we’re watching a movie. At times, the film is so suspenseful that we feel like voyeurs, watching a lion stalk its prey.
| Halloween (1978) Budget | |
| Total | $300,000 |
| Panavision cameras (so the film would have a 2.35:1 scope, per Carpenter’s request) | $150,000 |
| Carpenter’s Direction, writing, score | $10,000 (and 10% of the films royalties) |
| Michael Meyers’ iconic Captain Kirk Mask | $1.98 |
| Jamie Lee Curtis’ Wardrobe | $100 (From JC Penney) |
| Donald Pleasance | $20,000 (For five days of work) |
| Tony Moran (Unmasked Michael Meyers) | $250 |
| Jamie Lee Curtis | $8,000 |
| Nick Castle (The Shape, aka Michael Meyers) | $500 ; or $25 a day (shot for 20 days) |
| Remaining after the above (to actually make the movie) | $111,147.02 |
As you can see, Halloween was made on a shoestring budget, even for the time. This is a master class in working with what is around us, and what we have to work with, not just throwing money at a director and expecting them to lay the golden egg. You can put a price on talent, but that is not necessarily always how things work – some of the biggest franchises can be born from almost nothing, comparatively.
As is little to no surprise to anyone, I rate John Carpenter’s Halloween a perfect score, although it isn’t my favorite of his works, I do believe it is his most important and relevant to this day. People who have never seen his other films have certainly seen Halloween. I rate Halloween a perfect 5/5. My ranking for all of Carpenter’s works (that I’ve seen) will appear at the end of this project.
The Porkchop Express 