by Jacob Puhr

The horror genre has undergone a shaky history to say the least.  On the one hand, horror films like Psycho, Silence of the Lambs, The Exorcist and The Shining exemplify how striking yet astonishing the genre can be.  Overtime, however, the genre has deteriorated like an abandoned haunted house.  Powerful tales rich with mystery, suspense, tension and fascinating themes concerning the dark side of both the human and supernatural world have devolved into dull, predictable flicks void of the entrancing questions that once made the genre so great.  One movie that’s held up as the shining (see what I did there) beacon of what horror and slasher films can be is John Carpenter’s Halloween.  The question posed now is whether Halloween truly exemplifies the horror genre, or if it’s simply another unwatchable slasher flick?  

For starters, we must examine what makes Halloween such a good horror film in the eyes of many.  We should ask what this film does best that sets it above so many in its genre?  A variety of film essays and critical reviews offer no shortage of insights.  For instance, the reverend critic, Roger Ebert, rates Halloween with 4/4 stars.  He details Halloween as a “visceral experience”, one where the film is happening to us.  The movie isn’t just something we watch, but something we experience, as if we’re present in the film.  He also praises Carpenter’s use of foregrounds and the realistic depiction of the victims.  In particular, he mentions how the victims are all very real people.  The dialogue exchanged between Laurie and her companions feel genuine, as if we’re watching real teenagers in their normal daily life.  When they’re killed, it’s more piercing to our nerves because we feel as if real people are brutally strangled, stabbed and slashed.    

Besides the film’s treatment of its characters, the film has also been praised for its treatment of women in particular.  It’s not uncommon for slasher films to sexualize women only to have them killed in atrocious ways.  Halloween handled its treatment of women differently.  Yes, woman are still shown in sexually explicit ways and murdered, but the woman themselves are characters, not just “cannon fodder” as an article by Parade wrote.  Instead, Carpenter employed the assistance of his producer, Debra Hill, to write dialogue between the three main female characters.  These girls sound authentic and as a result, we sympathize with them.  Meanwhile, the killer, Michael Myers, is nearly impossible to sympathize with and for the whole movie, we’re rooting for Laurie to make it out alive.   Laurie, herself, is portrayed as a competent protagonist.  She’s an innocent teenager who’s level headed and when push comes to shove, she fights back against Michael.  Laurie also protected the children she was babysitting for which results in the audience rooting for her even more.  Not only is Laurie intelligent, but she’s devoted to protecting those even less defenseless than her.  We want her to survive.  For its positive and realistic portrayal of its woman characters, especially its protagonist, Halloween has outdone its competition.      

  The technical aspects of the film were highlights of what made the film so great; many of which were innovative at the time.  Notably, the film used the Panaglide camera, which “ approximates the movement of the human body but with an unearthly, ghostly smoothness” as stated by the LOC.  The shot was first used at the film’s beginning, when Michael murders his sister.  We first see Michael from this lens and the movie later uses this shot even when he isn’t involved in a scene.  Consequently, Michael’s presence is felt even when he’s gone.  We, the audience, feel as if the gloomy, menacing presence of the killer never leaves.  The minimalist soundtrack is nothing short of iconic.  The main theme is instantly recognizable to every horror movie fan; it’s rivaled by only the main theme of Jaws.  As explained by the LOC, the theme “ is in 5/4 time, its unevenness in the repetition of certain phrases; it is dominated by a rhythmic ostinato that continually sequences through a number of minor chords, destabilizing any sense of tonal certainty.”  Once more, Michael is felt in every scene, and we the audience are subjected to never ending tension and suspense.  In particular, the music is slightly uneven as explained by the 5/4 time, so we always feel on edge, gripping our seats; the unevenness of the music creates a crescendo of uncertainty. 

The film’s antagonist, Michael Myers, is possibly one of the greatest, if not the greatest horror movie villain in existence.  As one review from the New York Times said, “He is not a character so much as an absence of one, an abstraction in the middle of a mundane slice of suburban life.”  This description adequately describes why Michael has earned his place as the top horror movie villain.  Others,  such as Jason Vorhees, have developed backstories in their movies.  In the original Friday the 13th, we are told that Jason drowned and his mother killed the camp counselors in order to achieve vengeance.  Later on, he’d rise from the dead and kill because his decapitated mother’s head instructed him too.  Michael was different.  He murdered teenagers and his sister because…well that’s just the point, we don’t know why he does.  His motives are left ambiguous unlike others like Jason’s.  

His whole demeanor is one of mystery, a demeanor absent of any personable features.  The credits refer to him as The Shape as if he’s a shadow, a lurking, shapeless entity of evil that’s slithering in the dark.  His clothes are even plain and his white mask is blank of any expression.  As Dr. Loomis said, “I was told there was nothing left.  No reason, no conscience, no understanding.”  He’s simply a shape, and an unkillable one too.  Why won’t he die?  We’re never told during the movie how he survived the injuries he sustained.  What’s perhaps most mortifying is that in the final act Michael’s mask is removed.  In the few seconds it’s off, Michael is seen to be just an ordinary looking man.  More questions than answers are begged by this revelation.  Is he superhuman?  How can a man survive what he has?  Is he really a man at all, or something far more sinister?               

Halloween is a special type of horror film. Despite being a small budget, rushed feature, it went on to surpass its budget by millions upon million of dollars.  The film’s innovative techniques, skillful and respectful portrayals of its characters, and the creation of one of cinema’s greatest antagonists truly cement Halloween as an unforgettable horror film, one that will be held up as one of the greats for decades to come.