posted by @Omara_Mike
Today’s installment of Rad-tober is a tried and true classic, a film considered to be the starting point of the slasher genre. Today, we’re going to talk about the John Carpenter classic, Halloween.
Where do I start with this movie? How do I properly confess my love for this masterpiece? The flick begins in Haddonfield with a very young Michael Myers, who witnesses his sister, Judith, go upstairs and get banged by boyfriend. Michael apparently has a huge problem with this, because he enters the house, removes a large butcher’s knife from a kitchen drawer and proceeds to go upstairs and murder his sister. This introduction scene is all done from a point of view shot of Michael; you are essentially Michael Myers here. You look through the window, you watch him put on his clown mask, which causes your vision to be through the masks two eyeholes. It’s a completely different experience than the usually 3rd person shots that we are used to- it’s great because we get to experience this POV shot a few more times throughout the film.
After this point, we jump forward 15 years. Dr. Loomis and a nurse are driving up to Smith’s Grove Sanitarium on a rainy night. Here is a great example of why this movie really holds up- its creepiness and scare factor happen in instances that are completely possible in the real world. The car’s headlights pull across numerous escaped patients of the sanitarium. Michael eventually steals the car, makes his way towards Haddonfield, murders a mechanic and adorns his iconic jumpsuit. Halloween plays heavily on a now familiar stalker vibe for the first half of the movie. During the daylight hours of October 31st, we see Myers following our protagonist, Laurie Strode, all over Haddonfield. Michael is in her backyard, drives past her in the stolen car and watches her while she is in class.
Oh shit, behind you, girl!
Once night comes, this is when the film goes all out. The sun has set, it’s Halloween, Michael Myers has come home. He proceeds to kill all of Laurie’s friends, slowly making his way to her. The final scene of Laurie hiding from Michael in the closet… the only way to describe it is “iconic”. Honestly, if you cannot picture that entire scene immediately, go refresh your memory because it’s just great.
The only moment that the movie brings in a slight supernatural vibe is after Dr. Loomis shoots Michael out of a 2nd story window, Loomis peers out the window to just see an impression in the ground where Michael was laying. Is Michael Myers superhuman? Was he wearing a bulletproof vest? (I’d like to think not) Maybe Dr. Loomis is an absolutely horrible shot.
Anyways, this movie is a classic and, like Michael Myers, will seemingly live on forever. You have to watch this movie on Halloween night, it is the only proper way to do it.
Radpocalypse 