9. HALLOWEEN
9. HALLOWEEN
(1978)
Directed by John Carpenter
October is my favorite month of the year because it culminates in that glorious celebration of masquerade, inversion and all things dark known as Halloween. This festive holiday predates motion pictures but, oddly enough, it was never used as a prominent backdrop for any of the celebrated black and white horror movies (although it was used in some entertaining shorts like "Betty Boop's Halloween Party"). The obvious cinematic appeal of flickering jack 'o lanterns and blowing leaves wasn't capitalized on until much later and, by the time it was, the result was anything but a treat for little kids. The autumnal ritual that finds many folks playfully carving pumpkins was now the territory of a masked psycho who carved people. Sure, there were some precursors to the much maligned slasher film genre before 1978 (films like "Twitch of the Death Nerve"(1971) and "Black Christmas"(1974)) but none were as masterful or as frightening as John Carpenter's little indie called "Halloween". This one wrote the book. Of course it's been ripped off so many goddamn times that it's hard for folks to step back and appreciate it as the remarkably original film that it is and yes, it's unfortunate that it spawned a legion of copy cat garbage films of the slice and dice variety but that doesn't diminish it's power. Forget the copy cats, forget the sequels (please) but don't forget the original.
(1978)
Directed by John Carpenter
October is my favorite month of the year because it culminates in that glorious celebration of masquerade, inversion and all things dark known as Halloween. This festive holiday predates motion pictures but, oddly enough, it was never used as a prominent backdrop for any of the celebrated black and white horror movies (although it was used in some entertaining shorts like "Betty Boop's Halloween Party"). The obvious cinematic appeal of flickering jack 'o lanterns and blowing leaves wasn't capitalized on until much later and, by the time it was, the result was anything but a treat for little kids. The autumnal ritual that finds many folks playfully carving pumpkins was now the territory of a masked psycho who carved people. Sure, there were some precursors to the much maligned slasher film genre before 1978 (films like "Twitch of the Death Nerve"(1971) and "Black Christmas"(1974)) but none were as masterful or as frightening as John Carpenter's little indie called "Halloween". This one wrote the book. Of course it's been ripped off so many goddamn times that it's hard for folks to step back and appreciate it as the remarkably original film that it is and yes, it's unfortunate that it spawned a legion of copy cat garbage films of the slice and dice variety but that doesn't diminish it's power. Forget the copy cats, forget the sequels (please) but don't forget the original.
posted by scottra at 12:00 AM
1 Comments:
Amen to that!
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