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Halloween (1978)

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From Time Out Film Guide

A superb essay in Hitchcockian suspense, which puts all its sleazy Friday the 13th imitators to shame with its dazzling skills and mocking wit. Rarely have the remoter corners of the screen been used to such good effect as shifting volumes of darkness and light reveal the presence of a sinister something. We know, and Carpenter knows we know, that it's all a game as his psycho starts decimating teenagers observed in the sexual act; and he delights in being one step ahead of expectation, revealing nothing when there should be something, and something - as in the subtle reframing of the girl sobbing in the doorway after she finally manages to kill the killer, showing the corpse suddenly sitting up again behind her - long after there should be nothing. Perhaps not quite so resonant as Psycho to which it pays due homage, but it breathes the same air.

Author: TM

Time Out Film Guide

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User reviews of this film

Joe Hoare said...

Posted on Sep 23 2008 13:34 As the reviewer claims, Psycho may be the more resonant film in its skewered take on modern Americana, coupled with its killer's complex pathology, but Halloween is of the same ilk: exsquisitely crafted, satisfying in its simplicity and almost mystical in its storytelling. Everything seems fittingly sheared down to the basics: the faceless white of the mask, the single-strand plotting, which - aside from exerting a raw power over the viewer - showcase Carpenter's early talent. And that soundtrack...

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