Directed by: John Carpenter Written by: John Carpenter & Debra Hill Starring: Donald Pleasance ... Dr. Sam Loomis Jamie Lee Curtis ... Laurie Strode Nancy Loomis ... Annie Brackett P.J. Soles ... Lynda Charles Cyphers ... Sherrif Leigh Brackett Brian Andrews ... Tommy Doyle Kyle Richards ... Lyndsey Wallace Release Date: Theatrical: October 25, 1978 Rating:

A disturbed 6 year old child named Michael Myers watches his sister Judith make out with her boyfriend on Halloween night in 1963 in a small town of Haddonfield he goes into the kitchen and takes out a knife and then waits for Judith's boyfriend to leave.
Then he sees his clown mask and puts it on and goes up to Judith's room as she is naked and stabs her to death.

Michael is put away in a psych ward at the Smith's Grove-Warren County Sanitarium but doesn't say a word but sits in his room staring out his window.
But his doctor named Samuel Loomis (Donald Pleasance) never wants him out of the sanitarium.

Suddenly, it is October 30, 1978. Michael found out that he has a biological sister named Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) who was adopted and it is a stormy night.
Michael manages to become powerful enough due to his lost sanity in order to escape his room and push the other patients out on a stormy night.
Then takes of with Loomis' car back to Haddonfield where he hides out in his old home that is still for sale but along the way he murders a truck driver carrying Halloween costumes and white Captain Kirk masks and Michael takes a costume and puts on his mask and never takes it off.

On Halloween in the day he stalks his sister Laurie watching her at her house or driving by her school.
Then on Halloween night Laurie is babysitting one of her neighbors named Tommy Doyle (Brian Andrews) while her snobby friend Annie (Nancy Loomis) is babysitting a brat from across the street named Lynsey (Kyle Andrews). Michael is on the watch and then kills all of Laurie's friends.

Laurie is on an advenrture by staying alive on Halloween night. Will Dr. Loomis save Laurie on time before she gets into the clutches of her natural brother Michael?

One of the best slasher films ever!!! A true cult classic and the best one to watch on Halloween night.
A truly creepy tale. My favourite moment is the babysitting scene when Michael is ready to kill his victims.
I also loved the opening and the prologue when it shows Michael going into the kitchen to take out a knife.

The acting is very well done and probably the best acting you'll ever see in a b-slasher flick.
This was Jamie Lee Curtis' first starring role in a motion picture which was also a start to her fame as a scream queen superstar in others like The Fog, Prom Night and Terror Train. She is perfect as the nice Laurie Strode who is getting spooked by Michael watching her and is very energetic with her perfomance especially during the last half of the film when she tries to run away from Michael. Then she became a top movie star like her parents were in big time films such as Blue Steel, My Girl, True Lies and Drowning Mona. She did reprise her role in Halloween II, H20 and Resurrection.
I also enjoyed Nancy Loomis' performance as the stuck up Annie as she made me laugh with her smart remarks and does well playing that role and was extremely natural for the character.
Charles Cyphers who played her father as well as the county Sherrif was also a natural character actor too as he was one of my favourites in the film.
Of course I can't forget our lead actor Donald Pleasance as Michael's shrink who puts all he's got into this film and worked steadily with Carpenter for a long time till his death.
Kyle Richards was a very talented child star too as the little brat Lyndsey whom along with Loomis I also laughed as she had her eyes glued to the set of the TV and ignoring Lommis' character. I've also seen her in the Disney horror family classic The Watcher in the Woods and in Tobe Hooper's flick Eaten Alive.

There is brief nudity in the film as it shows a some skin on Sandy Johnson who played Judith Myers as well as cult actress P.J. Soles who played the totally annoying Lynda.

The directing is great as John Carpenter is a terrific director in general.
My favourite scene was when he directed that little boy as Michael being a child by going into the kitchen to grab a knife and then put on a clown mask, then he goes upstairs to kill his sister.
Of course this was mainly the camera with the boys hands when he grabbed the knife but it was perfect timing to make it look suspenseful.
There's other great scenes like when it shows Jamie Lee Curtis going into the house and things are too quiet. Then she discovers her dead friends and Michael is behind her with the kitchen knife ready to go in for the kill.I also loved his other horror flick The Fog which was like a Halloween reunion as it had the same makers as well as some of the same cast.

The music was composed by who else but John Carpenter. Yes this guy's done it all.
Wrote, produced, directed (Even if he was uncredited) and the music. The whole bit.
This was probably his best he's ever done for a scary movie as the synthesiser sounds are chilling and effective and the best I've heard for a 70's slasher film.

There was also a soundtrack by the classic hard rock group Blue Oyster Cult with their #1 hit "Don't Fear the Reaper" during a scene where Curtis and Loomis are cruising in their car on a Halloween afternoon although the songtrack wasn't too memorable in the film.

U.S.A.	VHS	DVD
Canada	VHS	DVD
U.K.	VHS	DVD
Germany	VHS	DVD

The DVD features:

Marion Chambers: Don't you think it would be better if you referred to "it" as "him"?
Dr. Sam Loomis: If you say so.
Marion Chambers: Your compassion's overwhelming, doctor.

Dr. Sam Loomis: Stop here.
Marion Chambers: Shouldn't we go on up to the hospital and...
Dr. Sam Loomis: Wait!

Dr. Terence Wynn: Now, for God's sake, he can't even drive a car!
Dr. Sam Loomis: He was doing very well last night! Maybe someone around here gave him lessons!

Lynda: [concerning Annie] The only reason she baby sits is to have a place for...
Laurie: [realizing she had forgot something] Shit.
Annie Brackett: I have a place for *that*!
Laurie: I forgot my chemistry book.
Lynda: So who cares? I always forget my chemistry book and my math book, and my English book, and my, let's see, my French book, and... well who needs books anyway, I don't need books, I always forget all my books, I mean, it doesn't really matter if you have your books or not... hey isn't that Devon Graham?

Annie Brackett: [Michael Myers's car cruises by the girls walking home from school] Hey, jerk! SPEED KILLS!
[the car screeches to a halt]
Annie Brackett: God, can't he take a joke?
Laurie: You know Annie some day you're going to get us all in deep trouble.
Lynda: Totally.
Annie Brackett: I HATE a guy with a car and no sense of humor.

Lynda: So Annie, are we still on for tonight?
Annie Brackett: I wouldn't want to get you in deep trouble, Lynda!
Lynda: Oh come on Annie! Bob and I have been planning it for weeks.
Annie Brackett: Alright, the Wallace's leave at seven.
Laurie: I'm babysitting the Doyle's, it's two houses down. We can keep each other company!
Annie Brackett: Oh terrific, I've got three choices: Watch the kid sleep, listen to Lynda screw around or talk to you!

Lynda: It's totally insane. We have three new cheers to learn in the morning, the game is in the afternoon, I have to get my hair done at five, and the dance is at eight! I'll be totally wiped out!
Laurie: [sarcastically] I don't think you have enough to do tomorrow.
Lynda: Totally!

[the Shape is lurking by a bush on the sidewalk]
Laurie: Annie, look!
Annie Brackett: Look where? I don't see anything.
Laurie: That guy who passed us in the car before, the one you yelled at!
Annie Brackett: Subtle, isn't he?
[marches over to the bush]
Annie Brackett: Hey, creep!
[pauses]
Annie Brackett: Laurie, dear. He wants to talk to you. He wants to take you out tonight.
Laurie: [seeing there's nobody there] He was standing right there.
Annie Brackett: Poor Laurie! Scared another one away. It's tragic, you NEVER go out. You must have a small fortune stashed away from babysitting so much.
Laurie: Guys thinks I'm too smart.
Annie Brackett: I don't, I think you're wacko. Now you're seeing men behind bushes!

Sheriff Leigh Brackett: It's Halloween, everyone's entitled to one good scare.

[into phone]
Dr. Sam Loomis: You've got to believe me, Officer, he is coming to Haddonfield... Because I know him - I'm his doctor! You must be ready for him... If you don't, it's your funeral!

Graveyard Keeper: Yeah, you know every town has something like this happen... I remember over in Russellville, old Charlie Bowles, about fifteen years ago... One night, he finished dinner, and he excused himself from the table. He went out to the garage, and got himself a hacksaw. Then he went back into the house, kissed his wife and his two children goodbye, and then he proceeded to...
Dr. Sam Loomis: Where are we?
Graveyard Keeper: Eh? Oh, it's, uh, right over here...

Dr. Sam Loomis: He came home!

Annie Brackett: Still spooked?
Laurie: I wasn't spooked.
Annie Brackett: LIES!
Laurie: I wasn't! I saw someone standing in Mr. Riddle's back yard.
Annie Brackett: Probably Mr. Riddle!
Laurie: He was watching me.
Annie Brackett: Mr. Riddle was watching you? Laurie, Mr. Riddle is eighty-seven!
Laurie: He can still watch.
Annie Brackett: That's probably all he can do!

[referring to a partially eaten dog]
Sheriff Leigh Brackett: A man wouldn't do that.
Dr. Sam Loomis: This isn't a man.

Sheriff Leigh Brackett: Every kid in Haddonfield thinks this place is haunted.
Dr. Sam Loomis: They may be right.

Dr. Sam Loomis: I met him, fifteen years ago. I was told there was nothing left. No reason, no conscience, no understanding; even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, good or evil, right or wrong. I met this six-year-old child, with this blind, pale, emotionless face and, the blackest eyes... the DEVIL'S eyes! I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up for I realized what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply... EVIL!

Dr. Sam Loomis: [pulling his gun after being startled by a crash] You must think me a very sinister doctor... oh, I have a permit.
Sheriff Leigh Brackett: Seems to me you're just plain scared.
Dr. Sam Loomis: Yeah, yeah I am...

Tommy Doyle: I don't like that story anymore.
Laurie: I thought King Arthur was your favourite.
Tommy Doyle: Not anymore
[takes out a stack of comics]
Tommy Doyle: My mom won't let me have these.
Laurie: Laser Man. Neutron Man. I can understand why.

Tommy Doyle: Laurie, what's the boogeyman?
Laurie: There's no such thing.

Lynda: Now when we get inside, Annie will distract Lindsey and we go upstairs to the first bedroom on the right. Got it?
Bob: First I rip your clothes off...
Lynda: Don't rip my blouse, it's expensive you idiot!
Bob: Then I rip my clothes off, then I rip Lindsey's clothes off, yeah I think I got it.

Lynda: [exposing her breasts] See anything you like?

[as Lonnie is about to enter the Myers house]
Dr. Sam Loomis: Hey! Hey, Lonnie, get your ass away from there!
[Lonnie and his mates run. Loomis smiles to himself as a hand grabs his shoulder. He spins around, surprised, to find Brackett]
Dr. Sam Loomis: Oh! Jesus!
Sheriff Leigh Brackett: Are you all right?
Dr. Sam Loomis: Yeah.

Sheriff Leigh Brackett: I have a feeling that you're way off on this.
Dr. Sam Loomis: You have the wrong feeling.
Sheriff Leigh Brackett: You're not doing very much to prove me wrong!
Dr. Sam Loomis: What more do you need?
Sheriff Leigh Brackett: Well, it's going to take a lot more than fancy talk to keep me up all night crawling around these bushes.
Dr. Sam Loomis: I- I- I watched him for fifteen years, sitting in a room, staring at a wall, not seeing the wall, looking past the wall - looking at this night, inhumanly patient, waiting for some secret, silent alarm to trigger him off. Death has come to your little town, Sheriff. Now you can either ignore it, or you can help me to stop it.
Sheriff Leigh Brackett: More fancy talk.

Laurie: Lynda, if this is a joke, I'll kill you!

[after Michael falls off the balcony]
Laurie: It WAS the boogeyman.
Dr. Sam Loomis: As a matter of fact... it was!