PopHorror Let's Get Scared
October 31st, 1994 was the day my Mom dangled John Carpenter’s Halloween just out of my reach. “Do you think he’s too young to watch it?” she asked her husband. I was four and I didn’t even know what a horror movie was. What I did know was that it was forbidden and I wanted to watch it. Unfortunately, my mom brushed me off and told me, “Next year you can watch it.” She probably thought that I would forget this promise, but this was like telling me that I could have the cake after dinner. Even though I didn’t know what the cake actually was, I was not going to forget.
So a year goes by and, like a good little boy who won Memory every time he played, I didn’t forget. I was supposed to spend the holiday with my Grandmother. Before I left I made sure to hold my Mom to her promise. “Mom! What about that movie? You said I could watch it this year.” My mom looked confused. “Remember the movie you said I was too little to watch last year? Halloween? You promised!” I watched my Mom as the gears clicked in her head. “You have to go over to Gramma’s tonight. You can bring it with you but it will be up to her if she lets you watch it.”
Looking back, I can see how she thought she was getting out of her promise. However, my Grandma rarely told me no and this was a green light in my head. After verifying with my Grandma in front of my Mom that she understood what Mom had promised me (I was a crafty little 5-year-old and knew how these things worked), I was able to watch Halloween that year. It started a love affair with horror that has never ended.
Released on October 25, 1978, John Carpenter’s Halloween was not an immediate success. But word of mouth gave it the success it eventually attained, making it a sleeper hit. It’s wonderful for many reasons but four of its major highlights are: the opening scene, the fact that it set the standard for slasher films, it brought intensely terrifying moments to the screen without a lot of blood and gore, and it spawned my love for franchises.
The opening scene is crazy and leaves you speechless. As the film begins, we realize that we have taken the point of view of one of the characters, Michael Myers. We are stalking a young girl and her boyfriend from outside the house. We begin to realize that we aren’t just stalking the girl. We plan to kill her. Grabbing a knife from the drawer and putting on a mask, we watch helplessly and are unable to look away as Michael stabs the young girl to death. Soon after, we find out not only is the murderer her brother, but it is her very young brother. A small child just brutally killed his sister and the rollercoaster is already in motion. You aren’t allowed to get off the ride yet.
Although John Carpenter’s Halloween is not the first slasher film, it is the one that commercialized the genre. It’s also one of the most popular. It also spawned one of the greatest horror icons, Michael Myers (aka The Shape). He has such a mysterious demeanor and I love the fact that the only time he kills people with his shiny knife is on Halloween. He doesn’t mess around. He stalks, he kills, and doesn’t have time for any funny business. His role has paved the way for many other slasher icons.
John Carpenter’s Halloween doesn’t gross you out with blood and gore; it frightens you with jump-scares and the unknown. It taught me what it meant to be on the edge of my seat, full of fear and adrenaline, screaming, “Tommy hurry up! He is gonna get her!” It put a face on what the boogeyman actually looked like, haunted our dreams and made us second guess bout going trick-or-treating on Halloween night. It showed that simple can be scary.
It is also responsible for my love of sequels. Yes, I’m a sequel junky and this is the franchise that started it all for me. My mom told me there was a Halloween 2. This left me confused. I looked at her as if she was speaking a foreign language. She instantly regretted it and said, “You can watch it next Halloween.” No more one day of horror a year for me!
John Carpenter’s Halloween took my horror virginity and, like all first times, it was special. Anytime someone else watches it, I’ve asked it things like, “What do you mean you let someone else watch you? You were my first. I thought you said you loved me?” Haha, not really, I’m not that crazy. But it does hold a special place in my heart. As terrifying as it is simplistic, Halloween has captured the hearts of horror lovers since it first debuted. I’m happy to be one of them.
