Storyline
In John Carpenter's horror classic, a psychotic murderer, institutionalized since childhood for the murder of his sister, escapes and stalks a bookish teenage girl and her friends while his doctor chases him through the streets.
Directors
Cast
Barry Bernardi, P.J. Soles, John Carpenter, Mickey Yablans, Nick Castle, Charles Cyphers, Jamie Lee Curtis, George O'Hanlon Jr., Donald Pleasence, Nancy Kyes, Tony Moran, Will Sandin, Kyle Richards, Brian Andrews, John Michael Graham, Nancy Stephens, Arthur Malet, Brent Le Page, Adam Hollander, Robert Phalen, David Kyle, Peter Griffith, Darla Rae, Gwen Van Dam, Sandy Johnson
Trailer
Reviews
100
Halloween is an absolutely merciless thriller, a movie so violent and scary that, yes, I would compare it to “Psycho.”
100
ReelViews
From a shock-and-suspense point-of-view, Halloween is the rival of Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho." With only a few arguable exceptions (such as "The Exorcist"), there isn't another post-1970 release that comes close to it in terms of scaring the living hell out of a viewer... A modern classic of the most horrific kind.
90
Chicago Reader
Carpenter displays an almost perfect understanding of the mechanics of classical suspense; his style draws equally (and intelligently) from both Howard Hawks and Alfred Hitchcock.
88
Chicago Tribune
Don't see Halloween in an empty theater on a weekday afternoon. See it on a weekend night in a packed house. Halloween is a film to be enjoyed with a boisterous crowd; it's an "audience picture," a film designed to get specific reactions from an audience at specific moments. With Halloween, the most often desired reaction is screaming. It's a beautifully made thriller -- more shocking than bloody -- that will have you screaming with regularity. Halloween was directed by John Carpenter, 30, a natural filmmaker and a name worth remembering. [22 Nov 1978]
80
There's nary a drop of blood on screen in this rollicking funhouse of a movie but there is enough sheer cinematic ingenuity on display to coax screams out of the most jaded gorehound.
