I'm the president of a horror club at my college, and we watched Halloween the other day in a theater on campus with a decently-sized audience. I was so delighted that people were laughing and gasping when the movie wanted them to. This movie is so weirdly timeless, I love it.
Halloween 🎃 is a masterpiece. The early John Carpenter is the greatest filmmaker in history in my opinion and I am including the greatest filmmakers such as Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese. Halloween and The Shining and The Exorcist and Psycho are the four masterpieces of horror in the history of film 🎥.
He's "The Shape" to me, and will always be. Calling him Michael Myers puts too much of an identity to him (it). The little boy born Michael Myers disappeared when he was six, and The Shape took over.
Ending to the first Halloween is not only one of the best ending in Horror but one of the best movie endings of all time. I can't imagine the unease and dread people felt coming out of theaters when it first aired. They had no closure and the boogie man was never properly defeated and the good guys don't win they barely survive.
I saw this at the Bel-Air drive-in theater near Detroit in it's first run. Leaving the drive-in, my date needed to use the bathroom and she lived about fifteen minutes away. She insisted, INSISTED, we not stop anywhere, no gas station or restaurant, but drive her home immediately. Besides enjoying the masterpiece that it is ( and many times since), I'll always remember that.
Another great thing is Carpenter's ingenious use of widescreen "scope" (2.35:1 aspect ratio) which was normally reserved for sweeping epic movies. The widescreen aspect ration allows him to do so many clever things, like having a wide and varied mise-en-scene with multiple places for Michael to be hiding (as touched on when you discussed Bob's death), or having the character being observed in the center frame while also allowing Michael's head, in menacing voyeur fashion, to also be in the shot to the left or right of the character.
Amen! Without massive gore, this movie is a tense, suspenseful masterpiece. Donald Pleasance is perfect. The music is like another character. The use of various points of view throughout the picture brought you into the action and the emotions of the characters. And of course...the great Jamie Lee Curtis is perfect. And Michael Myers is the best nemesis in horror.
Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis and the music were always consistently the best things about the Halloween films they were in. Even the really bad ones incredibly benefitted from their presence.
One of my favorites ever! My wife and I spent an evening last year watching some of the Halloween sequels and then I put in the first one. She told me, “The other Halloween films were just fun. THIS one is scary!” Shows just how great this film holds up even today!
My favorite scare in Halloween doesn't have Michael Myers in it. It's when Laurie is banging on her neighbor's door, screaming for help and her neighbor peaks thru their curtains and turns off the lights. That's my biggest fear. The suburbs are supposed to be safe,but safe for who? Michael Myers was stopped after he killed his sister as a kid because the neighborhood heard the screams and intervened. Yet, Loomis spends most of the movie trying to convince the sheriff to alert the community of Myers escape. Laurie's neighbors are dicks 😆
My mom was watching Halloween at some point when I was a kid. It had to have been in the early to mid 90s. I don't think I was watching it with her since I was so little. I may have either came into the room or maybe she thought I had fallen asleep. It's hard to tell. Anyway, I remember seeing that final sequence between Laurie and Michael way before I probably should have. The part that always stuck in my mind and I gave me nightmares was the closet bit. Laurie sitting in the closet as Michael busts through and the light flickers on scared the crap out of me.
I was lucky enough to see Halloween for the first time EVER during covid in a theater, for $5. I was hooked and, to this day, can't stop watching Michael content.
I saw this in '79, right around Halloween, in a theater with a VERY enthusiastic crowd! Great experience. More of the slasher flicks that followed gradually went further and further with violence and gor,e which is fine, but there's something about Halloween's restraint that kinda makes it classy. There's plenty suspense and dread, just not much gore. I think that shows confidence from John Carpenter and Debra Hill, that they had created enough horror through superior film making.
Halloween is my favorite horror film, I also consider Halloween an all time great film for many of the reasons Dan list in this video. Masterpiece in story telling, cinematography, score and sound design/ execution.
This movie is a genuine classic and this will forever be the Halloween film I will recommend to anyone who hasn't seen it. As you mentioned this movie was put on my radar because the original Scream was my very first horror film when I was a kid. Thanks for the video Dan. You rock!
As a person who finds Halloween (the holiday) and scary movies to be not for me I still really love the score of the first Halloween movie. The use of the odd meter is soooo good.
@@jC-kc4si Good question, I'm not sure I imagine it suggesting anything (which may be why I was fine with running around in a dark wood with just a headlamp as light source while listening to the soundtrack for one of the Dark Pictures Anthology games). I'm mainly hearing cool things in the music and enjoying the vibes rather than having it suggest things.
Thank you so much for bringing up that audience reaction video, amazing historical material I didn't know existed. Also, that last "totally!" just killed me! 🤣🤣🤣
It still works so well today. There’s something about it’s simplicity that makes it feel like it could happen today. This is what makes it so great. The atmosphere of Halloween night is exemplified in this film-I still get a pinch spooked around late fall because of this!
I saw this when it first aired on television in 1981. I'd just finished carving a pumpkin on the kitchen floor with a steak knife (because my parents were lunatics and those little saws weren't around yet). My favorite chunk of the movie happens before the sun even goes down. All those shots of the characters walking along the streets of upper-class suburbia in Illinois (in reality about a half-block from Sunset Blvd.) made a huge impression on me. Never cared that the leaves were fake and never will.
Same! Was way too young but loved horror movies & first saw Halloween at home, '81 I believe, or not long after. I was shook!! Heard the soundtrack in my head forever and began my habit of always looking over shoulder/behind me, especially in the kitchen!
Love this series coming back! Even if I don't love the movie you're discussing, these always give me new appreciation for them. Since watching your videos, I have also come to adore Jaws and Robocop. Maybe the same can happen for the original Halloween
I'm personally more of a 2018 guy. I know it's different, but the atmosphere is delicious, every side character and bit performer is delightful, and it was the first movie that truly made me afraid of Michael Myers. The movie made Haddonfield feel so alive and lived in, which made me aware of the fact that this killer could be in _my_ neighborhood, walking down _my_ street, coming into _my_ house. The same primal fear you discussed affecting me in the same way 4 decades later.
Rewatched this movie & 2 at least 5x last weekend. One of the most iconic horrors that didnt need gore to be awesome. The tension ALONE is enough or as you phrased it, Primal Terror
I love the music because it's singable. I feel like so many scores that get praised nowadays are just ambient pads with some tension notes. It gives the air of profundity without the composer having to make the effort to compose a memorable theme or give real movement or structure to the piece.
1. You NEVER see the shark in Jaws till the end. 2. Cujo doesn’t do a single thing until 40 minutes into the movie 3. Sir Anthony Hopkins won an Oscar with only 16 minutes of screen time and he wasn’t the main bad guy in the film.
At my age considering how many slasher films I've seen I imagine at the time when this movie came out it was truly something to behold because it was so new to people. A lot of slasher films you see today fall under the trap of not trying to do something that can transform the genre. You get one like Happy Death Day that's VERY different then usual but at the same time follows a lot of the same cliches. What makes a slasher film great I feels come a lot more from the filmmakers behind it then most other things. The score of Halloween is generationally incredible, John Carpenter's presentation through his direction is fantastic and that's I think so important to make a slasher film great and memorable. I may not go back and watch the original a lot if at all but I totally see how big this film was for so many people and for the horror/slasher genre.
"#1 The music." Ab-so-lutely. 👏 Great list. I have Cinematography at #2 of what I love most. #3 the stalker phase. The first two ACTS are actually my favorite part of the film. It is just perfection.
Works better for me that way. The small glimpse that Annie misses lets us know he’s still not very far away. Probably wasn’t intentional, but as I say I think the moment is better for it.
I agree with all of this whole heartedly. Halloween is not only a nearly perfect horror film but also a nearly perfect film. It was the first to perfect the slasher film formula and tropes and inspired many others over the years. And while it takes some time to get to the kills, it’s never ever boring. I’ve unfotunately seen some older horror clasics that I didn’t like because they felt too slow and boring like The Exorcist. Halloween never has this problem because it keeps tension up constantly by having Michael stalk the potential victims and having Loomis (great performance from Donald Pleasance) reminding people of the danger Michael poses. To paraphrase Dr. Frank N. Furter; the movie is full of ”antici…. …pation.”
"Bonus to Michael Myers for dressing up as a ghost... I'm not really sure why he did it...." He's telling Linda without words that Bob is dead, and now a ghost. Also he finds chasing his prey undignified, so he finds ways to get close.
Great video. The part with Myers dressed as the ghost just adds to his unnerving creepiness. There’s so much he does in this movie that is just off. Add in Loomis’ thoughts on him and you come away asking “What exactly is this guy? Is he even human?” Like I said before unnerving creepiness. He’s just The Shape.
It’s funny you posted this today. My local Cinemark is doing their annual October screening of Halloween today and I’m about to go watch it! I’m 31 years old and it’s my all time favorite horror movie. I watch it every year and I never miss the chance to see it on the big screen!
THANK YOU for bringing back this series!! Would love more “why I love ___” videos from you! Halloween is one of my favorite movies and I can’t wait to watch it Tuesday!
Halloween scarred me for life; I saw it when I was too young and have had Michael Meyers nightmares ever since, even as an adult. But it is my favorite horror movie of all time, followed closely by Halloween 2018.
Just watched this with my two oldest (15 and 12 year old). My 15 year old is an aspiring screen writer and animator. He loved it. My daughter is getting into the horror genre and she wants to watch all of them now.
David Gordon Green's 2018 Halloween is the only sequel worthy of attention. Everything else (including Halloween Ends) retroactively damages the original.
I never thought Loomis was being a dick to the kids. I just thought he was trying to get them away from the house in the quietest way possible because he knew Michael was around
Great video Dan! Watched this last night at my local Alamo Drafthouse. This film holds up so well. It was a sell out crowd. A testament to the legacy of this classic.
Dan thank you so much for being the only Movie UA-camer that is still objective and really analize movies. I love you man, gracias so much. You give me hope.
Fun fact: The main reason Michael's arm is "distorted" in the beginning of the movie is because thats Debra Hills arm reaching for the mask. But im so glad to see other people who feel the EXACT same way I do about this masterpiece. Halloween is the Greatest horror movie in history. It is MY personal all time favorite work of fiction ever. Which beats out a plethora of epic pieces of storytelling: Jaws, The Sopranos, Shawshank Redemption, Star Wars, Game Of Thrones, Matrix series, LOTR, Stranger Things, Goodfellas, Scarface, Terminator, Predator, Full Metal Jacket, Breaking Bad, Silence of the Lambs, Anime like; Attack on Titan, Death Note, Demon Slayer, HxH and more. You get the point, i cant name the THOUSANDS of movies, books, and TV shows. And I LOVE you explained why younger generations don't appreciate Halloween as they should. It's because they've seen every movie that COPIED Halloween before actually SEEING the catalyst of what those tropes came from. Basically desensitized to what started it all. Also the fact that every generation that's newer think that everything ever was invented during their gen.🙄 Oh, and I wouldn't call Dr. Loomis a dick because he scared off Lonnie and those P0S kids. Remember even though Loomis didn't know this, but those were the same kids who bullied Tommy Doyal at school earlier that day. So that was just karma, they deserved the shit scared out of them. 🤣 Btw, nice touch with putting the crowd reaction in the vid to show how different it was to see a fresh innovation displayed to a brand new audience. 100% John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) is one of the greatest movies ever made. In the same breath, DGG and Danny F'CKIN McBride's Halloween Ends is one of the WORST movies and reimaginings ever conjured up by a human being.
Quite possibly the best film score ever. A film that founded and defined a genre as well as launched Jamie Lee Curtis career. Doesn't get much better than this.
You nailed it! These is all the reasons why I love Halloween as well! I was an 8 year old kid in a movie theater with my dad and this movie scared the living daylights out of me and traumatized me for years to come! I am now 52 and I still absolutely love this movie! it is one of the greatest movies of all time!🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃
It’s My favorite Horror movie of All Time! They used Micheal just enough to keep you wondering when he’d show up next. The suspense was on point, and the finale was perfect!!!
I came here to try to get convinced this is a great movie. To me it’s just fine. I prefer Black Christmas. However, I do agree that the main theme is AMAZING!
I really appreciate these expanded reviews of your favorite films. This and Jaws point out things that just make me appreciate it even more. Would love to see more videos down the line of other classic movies!
I adore Halloween and loved dressing up as Michael for Halloween and seeing so many young kids so truly happy seeing and high fiving Michael. I used to do it every year with my step kids too before their mom and I broke up. Which is why what happened the other night genuinely hurt my feelings. I uploaded some vids of what happened and never in a million years would have expected karens and cops would, or could, ever hurt me for being a fan of Halloween (both the film and the holiday).
Great video Dan! I could not agree more. The 78' Halloween is immortalized as an all time great for the Horror genre and the Halloween season together. The various sequels have their ups and downs, but none are as perfect as the original.
I’ll add that I grew up with this movie. First on VHS and then on dvd/streaming. Trust me when I say it wasn’t very popular in the 80’s because the sequels were mostly meh. Everything was about NOES and Friday the 13th then. Halloween had a brief resurgence with H20 and then again with the 2018 version.
Although I'm not young, I think I was conditioned to think where's the horror when I saw this for the first time 2 years ago. I was watching it with a friend who grew up with it, and I asked him if this American Pie movie was going to get scary at any point. Maybe us modern horror fans have become a little jaded.
Halloween is my favorite film of all time; it was my first horror movie, it was the film that made me love the filmmaking process, and it's the only full movie score i can play on piano. This film is one of the most important things in my life and i owe so much to John Carpenter, Deborah Hill, and everyone involved in the creation of Halloween. This movie is THE slasher!
its like owning a 70 chevelle ss big block 4speed in 1971 you didnt know what it would become 40 years later this movie just got better with age ! all time fav !
Uh oh Dan you mentioned Jaws, that one person who fears sharks is now shook with fear! I bet they had a bad time when the Meg 2 trailer played in front of them
This is great, Dan, thank you! I own the original as well as H20 on dvd & watch every year but I didn't know about the newest restored version. Yesssss! Love this movie & will be watching Halloween night at the theatre in my Michael Meyers tee. 🔪 🎃
John Carpenter is one of my favorite directors for multiple reasons. He provides atmosphere and mood like no other directors. His scores are so memorable and really a character in the films. I can speak volumes of him as a director. Halloween is not his best film but he is the main reason this character became a franchise. Also, I used to love Halloween 2 but have come around to liking it less year after year because the tension, suspense and genuine scares are lacking. Thanks for the review!
I'm the president of a horror club at my college, and we watched Halloween the other day in a theater on campus with a decently-sized audience. I was so delighted that people were laughing and gasping when the movie wanted them to. This movie is so weirdly timeless, I love it.
NEEERRRRRDDD!
Just kidding, I'm glad there are still people who "get it", as opposed to the other camp who have been calling it overrated.
President of a horror club 👏👏👏 not many people like horror where I'm from.
Halloween 🎃 is a masterpiece. The early John Carpenter is the greatest filmmaker in history in my opinion and I am including the greatest filmmakers such as Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese. Halloween and
The Shining and The Exorcist and Psycho are the four masterpieces of horror in the history of film 🎥.
He's "The Shape" to me, and will always be. Calling him Michael Myers puts too much of an identity to him (it). The little boy born Michael Myers disappeared when he was six, and The Shape took over.
Ending to the first Halloween is not only one of the best ending in Horror but one of the best movie endings of all time. I can't imagine the unease and dread people felt coming out of theaters when it first aired. They had no closure and the boogie man was never properly defeated and the good guys don't win they barely survive.
That part
I think I'm in love! JK
I have always advocated for Halloween as having the greatest ending in horror movie history!
I saw it opening night and you better believe I checked my backseat when I got out to my car!
I saw this at the Bel-Air drive-in theater near Detroit in it's first run. Leaving the drive-in, my date needed to use the bathroom and she lived about fifteen minutes away. She insisted, INSISTED, we not stop anywhere, no gas station or restaurant, but drive her home immediately. Besides enjoying the masterpiece that it is ( and many times since), I'll always remember that.
Another great thing is Carpenter's ingenious use of widescreen "scope" (2.35:1 aspect ratio) which was normally reserved for sweeping epic movies. The widescreen aspect ration allows him to do so many clever things, like having a wide and varied mise-en-scene with multiple places for Michael to be hiding (as touched on when you discussed Bob's death), or having the character being observed in the center frame while also allowing Michael's head, in menacing voyeur fashion, to also be in the shot to the left or right of the character.
Amen! Without massive gore, this movie is a tense, suspenseful masterpiece. Donald Pleasance is perfect. The music is like another character. The use of various points of view throughout the picture brought you into the action and the emotions of the characters. And of course...the great Jamie Lee Curtis is perfect. And Michael Myers is the best nemesis in horror.
Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis and the music were always consistently the best things about the Halloween films they were in. Even the really bad ones incredibly benefitted from their presence.
"Minutemen didn't go away after the end of the American revolution"😂😂😂
Yep, and a classic straight delivery by Dan.
One of my favorites ever! My wife and I spent an evening last year watching some of the Halloween sequels and then I put in the first one. She told me, “The other Halloween films were just fun. THIS one is scary!” Shows just how great this film holds up even today!
The opening with young Michael is so haunting.. the last shot too on his face… sticks with me more than almost all other horror movies
My favorite scare in Halloween doesn't have Michael Myers in it. It's when Laurie is banging on her neighbor's door, screaming for help and her neighbor peaks thru their curtains and turns off the lights. That's my biggest fear.
The suburbs are supposed to be safe,but safe for who?
Michael Myers was stopped after he killed his sister as a kid because the neighborhood heard the screams and intervened. Yet, Loomis spends most of the movie trying to convince the sheriff to alert the community of Myers escape.
Laurie's neighbors are dicks 😆
100% spot on. Halloween is my favorite horror film of all time and Dan nailed my feelings for it.
Jason is better
One nice thing about being a Gen X’er is I was a kid and teen when most of these iconic horror films were first released.
The film finally makes sense now that we know about the Druid coven and Thorn curse!
My mom was watching Halloween at some point when I was a kid. It had to have been in the early to mid 90s. I don't think I was watching it with her since I was so little. I may have either came into the room or maybe she thought I had fallen asleep. It's hard to tell. Anyway, I remember seeing that final sequence between Laurie and Michael way before I probably should have. The part that always stuck in my mind and I gave me nightmares was the closet bit. Laurie sitting in the closet as Michael busts through and the light flickers on scared the crap out of me.
I was lucky enough to see Halloween for the first time EVER during covid in a theater, for $5.
I was hooked and, to this day, can't stop watching Michael content.
I saw this in '79, right around Halloween, in a theater with a VERY enthusiastic crowd! Great experience. More of the slasher flicks that followed gradually went further and further with violence and gor,e which is fine, but there's something about Halloween's restraint that kinda makes it classy. There's plenty suspense and dread, just not much gore. I think that shows confidence from John Carpenter and Debra Hill, that they had created enough horror through superior film making.
It's all about the atmosphere. That's where the real terror comes from.
Halloween is my favorite horror film, I also consider Halloween an all time great film for many of the reasons Dan list in this video. Masterpiece in story telling, cinematography, score and sound design/ execution.
This movie is a genuine classic and this will forever be the Halloween film I will recommend to anyone who hasn't seen it. As you mentioned this movie was put on my radar because the original Scream was my very first horror film when I was a kid. Thanks for the video Dan. You rock!
I mean... If you recommend Halloween to anyone of course it should be this one because then the other movies would be confusing.
this is my favorite horror movie of all time
As a person who finds Halloween (the holiday) and scary movies to be not for me I still really love the score of the first Halloween movie. The use of the odd meter is soooo good.
The score is great, so what do you imagine the music is suggesting if you do not like the visuals of horror films?
@@jC-kc4si Good question, I'm not sure I imagine it suggesting anything (which may be why I was fine with running around in a dark wood with just a headlamp as light source while listening to the soundtrack for one of the Dark Pictures Anthology games). I'm mainly hearing cool things in the music and enjoying the vibes rather than having it suggest things.
Thank you so much for bringing up that audience reaction video, amazing historical material I didn't know existed. Also, that last "totally!" just killed me! 🤣🤣🤣
It still works so well today. There’s something about it’s simplicity that makes it feel like it could happen today. This is what makes it so great. The atmosphere of Halloween night is exemplified in this film-I still get a pinch spooked around late fall because of this!
I agree it's one of the best horror movies ever made
I saw this when it first aired on television in 1981. I'd just finished carving a pumpkin on the kitchen floor with a steak knife (because my parents were lunatics and those little saws weren't around yet). My favorite chunk of the movie happens before the sun even goes down. All those shots of the characters walking along the streets of upper-class suburbia in Illinois (in reality about a half-block from Sunset Blvd.) made a huge impression on me. Never cared that the leaves were fake and never will.
Same! Was way too young but loved horror movies & first saw Halloween at home, '81 I believe, or not long after. I was shook!! Heard the soundtrack in my head forever and began my habit of always looking over shoulder/behind me, especially in the kitchen!
I love Helloween and the power it surges inside me as I listen to them
Love this series coming back! Even if I don't love the movie you're discussing, these always give me new appreciation for them. Since watching your videos, I have also come to adore Jaws and Robocop. Maybe the same can happen for the original Halloween
I'm personally more of a 2018 guy. I know it's different, but the atmosphere is delicious, every side character and bit performer is delightful, and it was the first movie that truly made me afraid of Michael Myers. The movie made Haddonfield feel so alive and lived in, which made me aware of the fact that this killer could be in _my_ neighborhood, walking down _my_ street, coming into _my_ house. The same primal fear you discussed affecting me in the same way 4 decades later.
As always, Dan hits the nail on the head on every single point he makes. "The shot" is maybe my single favorite moment in any horror movie, period.
Rewatched this movie & 2 at least 5x last weekend. One of the most iconic horrors that didnt need gore to be awesome. The tension ALONE is enough or as you phrased it, Primal Terror
I could go on about why I love Dan talking about what he loves, but the peeps here are already in the know
I love this "Why I Love" series, I've been looking forward to another one for a long time.
A timeless classic
Thanks for sharing your love.
I love the music because it's singable. I feel like so many scores that get praised nowadays are just ambient pads with some tension notes. It gives the air of profundity without the composer having to make the effort to compose a memorable theme or give real movement or structure to the piece.
1. You NEVER see the shark in Jaws till the end.
2. Cujo doesn’t do a single thing until 40 minutes into the movie
3. Sir Anthony Hopkins won an Oscar with only 16 minutes of screen time and he wasn’t the main bad guy in the film.
Totally great analysis Dan. I saw this at a classic screening and that closet scene still got a jump scare. This film Totally still holds up.
I saw this last night at the 4th Street Theatre in Moberly MO. Not much of a crowd but it was cool to finally see it on the big screen.
I love that 1979 audio bite Dan... I listen 👂 to it once a month, classic forever
So glad that audio from 1979 exists, it's amazing to still get to hear how big of an impact the movie was back then
At my age considering how many slasher films I've seen I imagine at the time when this movie came out it was truly something to behold because it was so new to people. A lot of slasher films you see today fall under the trap of not trying to do something that can transform the genre. You get one like Happy Death Day that's VERY different then usual but at the same time follows a lot of the same cliches. What makes a slasher film great I feels come a lot more from the filmmakers behind it then most other things. The score of Halloween is generationally incredible, John Carpenter's presentation through his direction is fantastic and that's I think so important to make a slasher film great and memorable. I may not go back and watch the original a lot if at all but I totally see how big this film was for so many people and for the horror/slasher genre.
I really loved John Carpenter's Halloween and back in 2022 I bought a 4K restoration of Halloween from Scream Factory blu-ray 🎃
"#1 The music."
Ab-so-lutely. 👏 Great list. I have Cinematography at #2 of what I love most. #3 the stalker phase. The first two ACTS are actually my favorite part of the film. It is just perfection.
One of my favorite movies of all time!! PERIOD
12:05 You can see Michael's shadow walking off
Works better for me that way. The small glimpse that Annie misses lets us know he’s still not very far away. Probably wasn’t intentional, but as I say I think the moment is better for it.
This was a spectacular review. TOTALLY.
This movie is simply put. Pure perfection. No way around it. It’s perfect in every single way. The perfect horror movie.
I agree with all of this whole heartedly. Halloween is not only a nearly perfect horror film but also a nearly perfect film. It was the first to perfect the slasher film formula and tropes and inspired many others over the years. And while it takes some time to get to the kills, it’s never ever boring. I’ve unfotunately seen some older horror clasics that I didn’t like because they felt too slow and boring like The Exorcist. Halloween never has this problem because it keeps tension up constantly by having Michael stalk the potential victims and having Loomis (great performance from Donald Pleasance) reminding people of the danger Michael poses. To paraphrase Dr. Frank N. Furter; the movie is full of ”antici….
…pation.”
Dan! You did another “why I love” video!!! Awesome stuff, man. Some of the best review videos on UA-cam.
"Bonus to Michael Myers for dressing up as a ghost... I'm not really sure why he did it...."
He's telling Linda without words that Bob is dead, and now a ghost. Also he finds chasing his prey undignified, so he finds ways to get close.
Great video.
The part with Myers dressed as the ghost just adds to his unnerving creepiness. There’s so much he does in this movie that is just off.
Add in Loomis’ thoughts on him and you come away asking “What exactly is this guy? Is he even human?”
Like I said before unnerving creepiness. He’s just The Shape.
I "totally" agree, John Carpenter's Halloween is my favorite movie of all time.
It’s funny you posted this today. My local Cinemark is doing their annual October screening of Halloween today and I’m about to go watch it! I’m 31 years old and it’s my all time favorite horror movie. I watch it every year and I never miss the chance to see it on the big screen!
THANK YOU for bringing back this series!! Would love more “why I love ___” videos from you! Halloween is one of my favorite movies and I can’t wait to watch it Tuesday!
I was in high school when the movie was released and saw it a few times with a large audience. Good times! Thank you for your well done video.
Halloween scarred me for life; I saw it when I was too young and have had Michael Meyers nightmares ever since, even as an adult. But it is my favorite horror movie of all time, followed closely by Halloween 2018.
Just watched this with my two oldest (15 and 12 year old).
My 15 year old is an aspiring screen writer and animator. He loved it. My daughter is getting into the horror genre and she wants to watch all of them now.
David Gordon Green's 2018 Halloween is the only sequel worthy of attention. Everything else (including Halloween Ends) retroactively damages the original.
I never thought Loomis was being a dick to the kids. I just thought he was trying to get them away from the house in the quietest way possible because he knew Michael was around
I think that too. He was just being mischievous. Where I'm from you prank with kids like that. No malice in it.
Great video Dan! Watched this last night at my local Alamo Drafthouse. This film holds up so well. It was a sell out crowd. A testament to the legacy of this classic.
Always love these kinds of videos 🎃
Ive been trying to watch it every Halloween the last few years, it makes the holiday feel complete. Just watched it tonight
14:07 How can you not burst out laughing seeing Annie's crossed-eyed death followed by resting her head on a loud steering wheel horn?
one of the all time greats! i love these types of videos! i hope it performs well!
Yay - Why I Love is some of my favourite Dan material 😁
Dan thank you so much for being the only Movie UA-camer that is still objective and really analize movies. I love you man, gracias so much. You give me hope.
One of my favorite videos you've done yet. 🙂
“Post Coital beer” Dan? LoL
Fun fact: The main reason Michael's arm is "distorted" in the beginning of the movie is because thats Debra Hills arm reaching for the mask.
But im so glad to see other people who feel the EXACT same way I do about this masterpiece.
Halloween is the Greatest horror movie in history. It is MY personal all time favorite work of fiction ever. Which beats out a plethora of epic pieces of storytelling:
Jaws, The Sopranos, Shawshank Redemption, Star Wars, Game Of Thrones, Matrix series, LOTR, Stranger Things, Goodfellas, Scarface, Terminator, Predator, Full Metal Jacket, Breaking Bad, Silence of the Lambs, Anime like; Attack on Titan, Death Note, Demon Slayer, HxH and more.
You get the point, i cant name the THOUSANDS of movies, books, and TV shows.
And I LOVE you explained why younger generations don't appreciate Halloween as they should. It's because they've seen every movie that COPIED Halloween before actually SEEING the catalyst of what those tropes came from. Basically desensitized to what started it all. Also the fact that every generation that's newer think that everything ever was invented during their gen.🙄
Oh, and I wouldn't call Dr. Loomis a dick because he scared off Lonnie and those P0S kids. Remember even though Loomis didn't know this, but those were the same kids who bullied Tommy Doyal at school earlier that day. So that was just karma, they deserved the shit scared out of them. 🤣
Btw, nice touch with putting the crowd reaction in the vid to show how different it was to see a fresh innovation displayed to a brand new audience.
100% John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) is one of the greatest movies ever made.
In the same breath, DGG and Danny F'CKIN McBride's Halloween Ends is one of the WORST movies and reimaginings ever conjured up by a human being.
Quite possibly the best film score ever. A film that founded and defined a genre as well as launched Jamie Lee Curtis career. Doesn't get much better than this.
You nailed it! These is all the reasons why I love Halloween as well! I was an 8 year old kid in a movie theater with my dad and this movie scared the living daylights out of me and traumatized me for years to come! I am now 52 and I still absolutely love this movie! it is one of the greatest movies of all time!🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃
It’s My favorite Horror movie of All Time! They used Micheal just enough to keep you wondering when he’d show up next. The suspense was on point, and the finale was perfect!!!
love this show Dan!
I came here to try to get convinced this is a great movie. To me it’s just fine. I prefer Black Christmas. However, I do agree that the main theme is AMAZING!
I'm subscribing just because I feel the same way about this movie! It's my favorite scary movie and my favorite movie period.
Great job, Dan! This is one of your best reviews ever
Halloween is the best
I love this film. Had a huge impact on me when it first came out.
I really appreciate these expanded reviews of your favorite films. This and Jaws point out things that just make me appreciate it even more. Would love to see more videos down the line of other classic movies!
STOP DROPPING THE KNIFE LAURIE!!!!
Wonderful video, Dan. Couldn’t agree with you more on all of your great talking points. Happy Halloween!
The most primal of fears is looking out from your tribe's campfire and seeing a face. That's what "The Shot" is all about to me.
The best retrospective video on your channel. ❤
I adore Halloween and loved dressing up as Michael for Halloween and seeing so many young kids so truly happy seeing and high fiving Michael. I used to do it every year with my step kids too before their mom and I broke up.
Which is why what happened the other night genuinely hurt my feelings. I uploaded some vids of what happened and never in a million years would have expected karens and cops would, or could, ever hurt me for being a fan of Halloween (both the film and the holiday).
Great video, Dan!!!!!! Love your love for this.
I totally agree…
Please bring this series back as a regular thing. There's so much negativity on this platform about film, more positivity is desperately needed.
Great video. I adore Halloween. Best horror. It took me years to get through it as it was so scary I kept switching it off. 😂
Tx Dan…that was Totallly awesome 😉👍🎃
Great video Dan! I could not agree more. The 78' Halloween is immortalized as an all time great for the Horror genre and the Halloween season together. The various sequels have their ups and downs, but none are as perfect as the original.
My favorite too.
I’ll add that I grew up with this movie. First on VHS and then on dvd/streaming. Trust me when I say it wasn’t very popular in the 80’s because the sequels were mostly meh. Everything was about NOES and Friday the 13th then. Halloween had a brief resurgence with H20 and then again with the 2018 version.
Although I'm not young, I think I was conditioned to think where's the horror when I saw this for the first time 2 years ago. I was watching it with a friend who grew up with it, and I asked him if this American Pie movie was going to get scary at any point. Maybe us modern horror fans have become a little jaded.
Halloween is my favorite film of all time; it was my first horror movie, it was the film that made me love the filmmaking process, and it's the only full movie score i can play on piano. This film is one of the most important things in my life and i owe so much to John Carpenter, Deborah Hill, and everyone involved in the creation of Halloween. This movie is THE slasher!
its like owning a 70 chevelle ss big block 4speed in 1971 you didnt know what it would become 40 years later this movie just got better with age ! all time fav !
I watched on Halloween night. One of my all time favorites
This movie really had to grow on me since I was so used to modern day horror being so much more heightened.
Saw in theaters last night with a great audience such a good time
Uh oh Dan you mentioned Jaws, that one person who fears sharks is now shook with fear! I bet they had a bad time when the Meg 2 trailer played in front of them
This is great, Dan, thank you! I own the original as well as H20 on dvd & watch every year but I didn't know about the newest restored version. Yesssss! Love this movie & will be watching Halloween night at the theatre in my Michael Meyers tee. 🔪 🎃
Happy Halloween 🎃
Sitting here enjoying this video, video wraps up, end stinger makes me choke on my beverage laughing. Nicely done.
John Carpenter is one of my favorite directors for multiple reasons. He provides atmosphere and mood like no other directors. His scores are so memorable and really a character in the films. I can speak volumes of him as a director. Halloween is not his best film but he is the main reason this character became a franchise. Also, I used to love Halloween 2 but have come around to liking it less year after year because the tension, suspense and genuine scares are lacking. Thanks for the review!