CAST: Donald Pleasence (Dr. Sam Loomis), Jamie Lee Curtis (Laurie Strode), Nancy Kyes (Annie Brackett), P.J. Soles (Lynda van der Klok), Charles Cyphers (Sheriff Leigh Brackett), Kyle Richards (Lindsey Wallace), Brian Andrews (Tommy Doyle), John Michael Graham (Bob Simms), Nancy Stephens (Marion Chambers), Mickey Yablans (Richie), Brent Le Page (Lonnie Elamb), Adam Hollander (Keith), Robert Phalen (Dr. Terence Wynn), Sandy Johnson (Judith Margaret Myers), Peter Griffith (Morgan Strode), Nick Castle (The Shape). Directed by John Carpenter.
SYNOPSIS: In 1963, on Halloween night in Haddonfield, Illinois, six year-old Michael Myers finds his sister making out with her boyfriend. For reasons that are unclear, Michael retrieves a butcher knife from the kitchen and stabs his sister to death. Fifteen years later, we find Michael’s psychiatrist Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) driving with a nurse to take Michael before the state board for a hearing. As they approach the Illinois State Hospital, they see that the power has gone out and the patients are running loose on the lawn. Dr. Loomis goes to call for help but Michael steals his car and escapes into the night. Back in Haddonfield, high school student Laurie Strode places the key to the old and dilapidated Myers home under the front mat, as her father will be showing the house to prospective buyers. Unlike her friends Annie and Lynda, Laurie does not have a boyfriend and will be busy babysitting little Tommy Doyle on Halloween night. Unbeknownst to Laurie, Michael Myers has returned to his home and has taken a murderous interest in Laurie and her friends. One day, while Laurie is walking to school, she notices a slow moving car with a masked man behind the wheel who watches her intently and then disappears. On the trail of Michael is Dr. Loomis, intent on putting him back in isolation and keeping him away from society. He teams up with Brackett, the local sheriff, to scour the neighborhood for signs of Michael. As Annie and Lynda make plans for a romantic Halloween night with their boyfriends, Michael stalks and kills them one by one. Laurie, who is babysitting a few houses away from Annie, goes to see why no one is answering the phone and runs into Michael who proceeds to try and stab her with a knife. She runs back to the Doyle house with Michael in pursuit. He manages to get into the house and chases Laurie into a closet where she gets the upper hand by sticking a wire coat hanger in his face. When Michael drops his knife, Laurie picks it up and stabs him with it. However, Michael will not die and continues to try and kill Laurie. As Tommy and Lindsey run out of the house screaming, Dr. Loomis spots them and runs into the house, sees Michael attacking, and empties his pistol into him forcing him through the second floor window. When Dr. Loomis walks to the shattered window and looks down outside, he sees that Michael Myers has mysteriously vanished.
COMMENTARY: Made on a small budget of $300,000, Halloween would go on to make more than $60 million and shock Hollywood to become one of the most successful independent films of all time. It also proved that filmmakers did not need to sink millions into a film to deliver a hit, and its success bred a whole new genre — the slasher film. Director John Carpenter was a horror film fan himself and understood what audiences wanted to see — “The reason these films have been popular is that audiences want to see something that’s forbidden. They do touch some sort of awful nerve. And the more forbidden, the more alluring.” [111]
Even before the opening credits, Carpenter pulls the audience in by placing them in the eyes of the killer as he stalks his prey and murders them. The Carpenter film score, now a classic horror riff, provides a chilling accent to Michael Myers and was reused in many of the sequels. The unnerving killer, a.k.a. “the Shape,” never utters a single word, but his horrendous actions related to stalking and murdering innocent young girls speaks volumes. During the killing of Lynda’s boyfriend, Michael actually pivots his head back and forth like a curious dog, truly a separation from humanity. Indeed, Carpenter created a new type of monster and draws a parallel in Halloween as Tommy watches a TV airing of the sci-fi classic The Thing (1951) which Carpenter would later remake according to his own vision in 1982. It should be mentioned that “the Shape” or the mask that Michael Myers wears throughout Halloween was actually a life mask of actor William Shatner as Captain Kirk from the sci-fi TV classic Star Trek.
For Donald Pleasence, lightning struck twice in his career, for as in the James Bond vehicle You Only Live Twice, Pleasence was not the first choice to play Dr. Loomis in Halloween; in fact, he was not even the second choice this time around. Director John Carpenter had originally in-visioned horror star Peter Cushing in the role of Dr. Loomis, but Cushing’s agent turned him down. Carpenter’s second choice for Dr. Loomis was another horror star, Christopher Lee, who also turned him down. It was producer Irwin Yablan who suggested trying to get Pleasence for the role, but Pleasence was not sure of taking the role. But one of Carpenter’s daughters was a fan of Pleasence’s work, so he agreed to star in the film. So Pleasence could thank Carpenter’s daughter for bringing him into the spotlight as never before, and although Pleasence had certainly done his share of horror films prior to 1978, Halloween made him a horror icon for a new and young audience, much like Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. In effect, Carpenter’s Halloween made Donald Pleasence a household name for a new American generation.
As the veteran actor in a film with many fresh faces like Jamie Lee Curtis, Pleasence as Dr. Loomis provides an air of respectability that helps highlight the bloodcurdling terror of the antagonist Michael Myers. Dr. Loomis is indeed a heroic figure who realizes the danger that awaits him but is willing to risk his life to stop Michael Myers from his reign of terror in Haddonfield. Pleasence has some great scenes in this film, such as when he discusses how Michael is the personification of evil in an attempt to convince the sheriff to heed his warnings. Just as Michael Myers is on a mission to kill, Dr. Loomis is on a mission to stop him. Loomis never seems to stop and relax except in one scene when he pulls a Halloween prank to scare some curious boys away from the old Myers house; only then does he crack a smile. In the final scene, Pleasence demonstrates his skill at acting only with his eyes, for they convey his disbelief and then wonderment as to where Michael Myers might show up next.