As Good As It Gets

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

A soulless killer, Michael Myers, escapes from the asylum and returns to the Illinois town where he murdered his sister 15 years earlier to wreak havoc on Halloween night. Donald Pleasence is on hand as Myers' seriously concerned doctor.John Carpenter's "Halloween" (1978) is hailed as the progenitor and blueprint for the slasher craze of the 80s with staples like the unstoppable masked killer, fake scares, the final girl and the undead dead. Of course, "Halloween" was influenced by earlier slashers or quasi-slashers, like "Psycho" (1960), "Dementia 13" (1963), "A Bay of Blood" (1971) "Torso (1973), "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1974) and "Black Christmas" (1974). "Friday the 13th" (1980) and its sequels took the "Halloween" template and added other elements, like the summer camp setting and an devolving supernatural killer.Whilst I prefer the "Friday" films, "Halloween" has more class than many slashers that followed, like the unimaginatively blunt "The Slumber Party Massacre" (1982). It also keeps the proceedings deadly serious unlike ones that added humor and campiness, such as "Friday the 13th Part 3" (1982). The film establishes some quality atmosphere with the raining sanitarium escape and the Halloween night sequences. The creepy ambiance is helped by the moody score composed and performed by Carpenter.Although the story takes place in a fictional Illinois town, the film was shot in the Los Angeles area (South Pasadena and Hollywood, etc.), which is okay since the neighborhood scenes could be Anytown, USA. What's NOT okay is how the trees clearly reveal that it's not late October.Other problems include a tedious lack of drive and some weak dialogue, like the girls' conversation walking home from school, which doesn't ring true. Speaking of the girls, they're decent, but not nearly as good as the "Friday" films. Nancy Kyes (Loomis) is arguably the best as Annie, followed by Jamie Lee Curtis as the main protagonist (whose mother, Janet, starred in "Psycho"). Flighty, but likable PJ Soles is also on hand. Another dubious part is the doctor hiding in the bushes by the abandoned Myers' abode speaking portentously.I appreciate "Halloween" because it's classy, atmospheric and it's a superb pick for the fall season; it also holds an eminent place in horror history. But, in light of the above flaws, it's a tad overrated by gushing fans.GRADE: B

Released in 1978, pretty much everyone has heard of Halloween and its star, Michael Myers. That blank, white mask has been a staple in horror for years and this film is also viewed as the first of the slasher genre. Now, I had never seen this film or any Halloween film. But after hearing so much about the franchise and being deeply impressed with the trailer for the latest instalment, I've decided to watch the entire franchise and review each one to see if they hold up today. Therefore, does the original Halloween hold up? Not really. I know many people will hate my opinion but the scares, acting and even writing do not measure up to film-making today. The film opens with a chilling opening (that seems very similar to Friday the 13th) to introduce Michael Myers. However, this is hardly ever elaborated on and we spend the entire film not knowing why Myers kills. This is probably explained in sequels, but I'm not reviewing those. The worse thing is we never get an explanation as to why he is going after Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) and these supernatural powers he seems to have such as immortality and teleportation. As a result, it's quite difficult to be afraid of Myers when he's shrouded in confusion and it even becomes slightly comedic when he is killed and comes back to life again - think the original Child's Play, only not as exciting because we're meant to take it seriously. The acting all across the board is lacking. Curtis shows potential but she's far too inconsistent. The kids are very annoying, but nobody is more annoying that Laurie's friend whose line delivery somehow never lands. Plus, she gets stuck in a window for some stupid reason which doesn't exactly instill fear into me. The only person from Myers' past is his psychiatrist, yet he is completely wasted. He claims to know a lot about Myers yet the writer just has him wait at his house and wander about aimlessly for the entire film only to burst in at the end and end it all abruptly. Maybe if so much time wasn't spent watching Curtis walk down a street or babysitting, I would be more excited with the action. But instead, one of the best themes in all of cinema is constantly shoved down your ears until you can't bear to listen to it anymore. Seriously, the two same themes play over and over again and it drives you insane!In short, there's really no reason to go back to it watch the original Halloween. It may be a gem of its time, but today, it irritates, it bores and it disappoints.

Without a doubt, original Halloween was and still is one of the hallmarks of horror film. It set a certain standard that movies even to this day try to achieve.Perfect mix of a simple plot, not to long runtime, yet effective in all with a terrific villain.While you can nitpick any movie, this one included, but because of it's strenghts, you mostly don't want or need to. Yes, acting is a bit cheesy, but who cares. Yes, Loomis is a bit over the top whenever he speaks, but who cares. It just adds flavor to the whole mix mentioned above.One of the best descriptions of this movie and Michael Myers actually came from first Scream movie, where main villains simply explain why Michael Myers is so perfect as a villain. There's no "why", he just does what he does because he can and we are not given any explanation or a sob story about "why". And that's what makes it scary.Shot with a "visual purpose", a memorable haunting score and THE atmosphere that's been copied since, Halloween is one of the horror movie classics for the ages.

Maybe this was scary in those years, although I do not believe people have evolved so much in intelligence in such a short time .... Im really disapointed in whole movie and i can not belive that this is a so good graded horror movie. Total waste of time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this is a horor if you watch it on lage amounts of LSD or something like that tied up to a sofa with no possibillity of turning the tv off