World Famous Comics: Halloween (Divimax 25th Anniversary Edition)
Halloween (Divimax 25th Anniversary Edition)
Starring: Brian Andrews, Jamie Lee Curtis, Charles Cyphers, John Michael Graham, Peter Griffith Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD Format: Anamorphic, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Starz / Anchor Bay Number of Items: 2 Region Code: 1 Release Date: August 05, 2003 Running Time: 91 minutes Theatrical Release Date: October 25, 1978
Amazon.com essential video: Halloween is as pure and undiluted as its title. In the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois, a teenage baby sitter tries to survive a Halloween night of relentless terror, during which a knife-wielding maniac goes after the town's hormonally charged youths. Director John Carpenter takes this simple situation and orchestrates a superbly mounted symphony of horrors. It's a movie much scarier for its dark spaces and ominous camera movements than for its explicit bloodletting (which is actually minimal). Composed by Carpenter himself, the movie's freaky music sets the tone; and his script (cowritten with Debra Hill) is laced with references to other horror pictures, especially Psycho. The baby sitter is played by Jamie Lee Curtis, the real-life daughter of Psycho victim Janet Leigh; and the obsessed policeman played by Donald Pleasence is named Sam Loomis, after John Gavin's character in Psycho. In the end, though, Halloween stands on its own as an uncannily frightening experience--it's one of those movies that had audiences literally jumping out of their seats and shouting at the screen. ("No! Don't drop that knife!") Produced on a low budget, the picture turned a monster profit, and spawned many sequels, none of which approached the 1978 original. Curtis returned for two more installments: 1981's dismal Halloween II, which picked up the story the day after the unfortunate events, and 1998's occasionally gripping Halloween H20, which proved the former baby sitter was still haunted after 20 years. --Robert Horton
Amazon.com: Halloween is as pure and undiluted as its title. In the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois, a teenage baby sitter tries to survive a Halloween night of relentless terror, during which a knife-wielding maniac goes after the town's hormonally charged youths. Director John Carpenter takes this simple situation and orchestrates a superbly mounted symphony of horrors. It's a movie much scarier for its dark spaces and ominous camera movements than for its explicit bloodletting (which is actually minimal). Composed by Carpenter himself, the movie's freaky music sets the tone; and his script (cowritten with Debra Hill) is laced with references to other horror pictures, especially Psycho. The baby sitter is played by Jamie Lee Curtis, the real-life daughter of Psycho victim Janet Leigh; and the obsessed policeman played by Donald Pleasence is named Sam Loomis, after John Gavin's character in Psycho. In the end, though, Halloween stands on its own as an uncannily frightening experience--it's one of those movies that had audiences literally jumping out of their seats and shouting at the screen. ("No! Don't drop that knife!") Produced on a low budget, the picture turned a monster profit, and spawned many sequels, none of which approached the 1978 original. Curtis returned for two more installments: 1981's dismal Halloween II, which picked up the story the day after the unfortunate events, and 1998's occasionally gripping Halloween H20, which proved the former baby sitter was still haunted after 20 years. --Robert Horton
Description: Divimax is a High Definition (HD) film transfer process that provides state-of-the-art picture quality--and can be viewed on any home entertainment system.
Blu-Ray transfer looks great to me. Just my opinion here, but the night scenes still have plenty of blue in them -- and I do not think that this edition warrants a 1 1/2 out of 5 stars for video quality as some sites would have you believe. I am familiar with the Criterion laserdisc of this film (one of the best sets in its day) and there are certainly some differences...but honestly, like a lot of other people I always kind of felt like the night scenes had a tendency to look too "gelled" and either Cundey overdid the atmospherics a bit back in 1978 or folks started to get a little too nostalgic over at the THX mastering suites. I have a feeling it was a bit of both as the original widescreen video release of this classic was heralded as a total revelation of it's inherent style and I can see them pulling out all the stops to emphasize the visuals.
These day scenes do look a tad more green, and I would have preferred them to have more of the original autumn tint. But, any gripe about this is almost totally nullified by the gorgeous resolution the Blu-ray offers that is the best gift Cundey's cinematography could ever hope for.
Purely based on picture quality Ya know, they splash across the screen right away about "Presenting them in 1080 high definition!!!". Well, not a few minutes into the film and i have to face what we once called in 3D gaming "THE JAGGIES".
Yeah, it is an "OK" transfer - BUT if you did not notice that ALL the cars in the drive ways had jagged edges running up and down them especially on the chrome, then you are totally blind.
I do not know much about older movies with their ability to transfer well to high def, nor do i own any previous Halloween DVD's to compare quality. I do know that this is the first Blu-ray i have had this terrible problem with and i can say that a DIVIMAX version may not actually be any worse.
My judgement may be harsh, but i went Blu-ray to escape those jagged edges; so to see them pop-up so early in the film just makes me glad it was only $12 when i bought it.
You will never forget it.... I have yet to find a movie that instilled as much fear in me as the orginal story of Michael Myers. This movie is not about the gore snf blood we so often see in movies these days, yet, it scares you to the core. Michael Myers is more than just a killer, he is a fear that stays inside you. Run all you want, he will walk and he will find you. You can't overcome his strength. This movie will make you look behind you to make sure nobody is following you, and trust me, you will not want to be in your home alone after watching this. This is a classic and will always be. By Far the best horror movie ever
THE NIGHT HE CAME HOME!! Being a 10 yr old kid in 1978 and to see the HALLOWEEN title on the sign at the local movie theater sent shivers through my spine. And to finally see it was just scary!! This movie gets better with time, the scares never end. Directed by John Carpenter, this is a scarefest for anyone who believes in the boogeyman!!
Buy this today, you will not be dissapointed!!
HALLOWEEN is one scary movie!!
One of the all time greats This is my 100th review and what better than Halloween? This review is dedicated to all my Amazon friends!
When it comes to Halloween the reason this is one of the all time greats is because of it's simplicity of the movie. The plot is straight forward and quite simple. Movies don't need a deeper meaning or complex plot to be great. Halloween is a simple concept set in an ordinary world. Unlike some genre movies the power of Halloween comes from the suspense and not constant violence.
If you wanna be a filmmaker there are certain movies of that genre in which you wanna work in that you have to see. If you wanna work in horror, Halloween is one of those movies you have to see. I've seen Halloween so many times and broken down every aspect of the movie. The only problem with that is I notice some of the flaws. But Halloween is one of the films every single horror filmmaker must see. The reason this movie works so well is that Carpenter doesn't try and scare you every single moment. There are only so many scary scenes a movie can do before they fall flat. What Carpenter does with Halloween is makes one of the most tension filled horror movie of all time and that is why Halloween is so scary.
He scares us because he keeps us in suspense; Halloween is so creepy due to Michael just watching. He's not attacking he just stands there and watches. We don't know when he will strike. That raises the tension and again the fact he is just watching is what makes it so scary because it's so damn creepy. I don't care what kind of horror movie you wanna make. Halloween is text book horror filmmaking. Any filmmaker with even just a little bit of talent can create a jump scare. Most of the time we jump out of a reaction not because we are scared; something pops out at you it's a reaction. John Carpenter has some jump scenes, but they are scary because of the suspense he already built unlike other filmmakers that just throw them out there Carpenter has already built the suspense so the jump scare isn't just a cheap tactic.
The screenplay by John Carpenter & Debra Hill is fairly good the idea is simple and that's why it works. Despite the reputation the screenplay has it really isn't anything special. There are some weak moments and quite honestly with a lesser filmmaker, Halloween could have made for a rather boring movie. Its John Carpenter's brilliant directing is why Halloween was so scary. That's not to say the script for Halloween was bad. Most people say the strongest part of the screenplay is the girl talk and the pure evil sections are the weaker ones. I actually have to disagree with that.
Debra Hill was more of the brains behind the girl talk and that was the weaker part in my opinion. Debra Hill was a fantastic writer and producer. She made some great movies with Carpenter, but she also did a lot of solid work without him. The scenes with the 3 girls aren't bad, but its Carpenter's eerie feel is why it works. Some of the dialogue is actually a little weak at times. When Laurie mentions forgetting her books, Lynda than goes on and on about always forgetting her books is almost cringe worthy. Carpenter's eerie feel again is what makes this such a brilliant horror movie and therefore it's easy to over-look any possible flaws in the script.
The scene though with Annie and Laurie driving to go baby-sit is a very well written scene the dialogue feels natural and real. It's just at times some of the dialogue doesn't quite work. And again I'm not saying it's bad, because it isn't. I just feel some of the dialogue lacks at times. The scenes with Loomis and Sheriff Brackett for me are the strongest sections of the script, but also it could actually play out a little boring, but the actors, Pleasence is particular is really able to sell the scenes big time. Overall the screenplay is good, but not great again it really comes to John Carpenter as a director on why this is such an amazing horror flick.
Director John Carpenter really does knock it out of the ballpark here; Halloween is a masterpiece of filmmaking. Like I said the script was alright. There were strong moments and some weak moments, but John Carpenter creates one of the creepiest movies I have ever seen. I love the wide shots he really makes the best of it and we soak in this atmosphere and in the more tension filled scenes he moves the camera in for closer shots and we feel that isolation and feel cut off and stuck. These are simple horror filmmaking techniques, and they work so well and make this one really scary.
Halloween would probably rate as my all time favorite horror movie, but it's not a perfect movie. But the thing is the sense of dread, doom and isolation are so perfect that any possible flaw is wiped out due to that. In many ways, Halloween is the perfectly made horror movie. I truly believe with a lesser filmmaker Halloween could have made for a boring film. Despite what I said about the screenplay, there are those types of films that can be very well written, but with the wrong director the movie could fail. Halloween is one of those movies; with a lesser director, Halloween could have been a slow paced and some what boring movie.
But Carpenter creates such a chilling feel and due to that the movie runs at this brilliant pace. There really isn't a slow moment due to how creepy and suspenseful the movie is. After the first kill scene the next on camera kill scene takes about 45 or so minutes, but due to Carpenter constantly building the tension in every single shot it gets creepier and creepier. I've heard some people say they like Halloween, but it's too slow. I have to disagree. There aren't any slow moments due to the fact each scene some how moves the movie forward; either the character development or the story. Each scene also has a creepy feel due to Michael always lurking around. For me a slow paced movie is one where the plot or characters aren't advanced. Each scene in Halloween does one of those two things or it creeps you out. This is one of the rare horror movies where the viewer is held in suspense from beginning, middle to end. Even the most normal of scenes of just random talk have this overall creepiness to them, which isn't as easy task.
Halloween proves you don't need constant violence to make a really scary movie. Michael Myers simply waiting and watching makes the movie so scary that it makes up for the lack of action. And when the action finally does come about we are already on the edge of our seats and are held in such suspense that now when Michael does attack it makes it even scarier. And due to so much time being spent with Laurie Strode when Michael attacks her since we got to know the character and care for her it makes the scenes so much scarier. I always say the scariest horror films are the ones when we like the characters. If we don't care about them at all most of the suspense will be lost due to that.
And of course the music, which was composed by John Carpenter, is just chilling. I've seen a lot of horror movies and Halloween just might have the best score of any horror flick and I believe can rival any movie for that matter. When the opening credits begin and the Halloween Theme is playing already right there Carpenter manages to suck you into the movie. The music does play a big part in why this movie is so scary. The way Carpenter directs the movie is so chilling and than we add the music and that elevates the movie even more.
Like I said for me the scariest scenes in Halloween are the ones where Michael is just watching. I love the scene when Laurie is in school and Michael is outside watching. But my very favorite scene is when she's home and he's standing right outside her window looking up. No matter how many times I see the movie that scene always really freaks me out.
The acting is a little mixed, while none of the actors are bad some though are stronger than others. Donald Pleasence really was so amazing. He was such an amazing and a much underrated actor. He could play a role straight, but also knew when to lighten up and play it over the top when it's called for. It's sad that most people seem to remember Pleasence for the Halloween series. He really was so much better than that. And when I mean the Halloween series I mean the sequels. There's no shame being remembered for the original Halloween. Any scene involving Donald Pleasence is just great. He really sells every line he says.
Jamie Lee Curtis also gives a solid performance in her feature film debut. It may not be her best, but it's very good. She plays the role as the heroine very well and she's believable and sympathetic and very likeable. Charles Cyphers is also excellent, he's not given a whole lot to do, but he makes the very best of it. Nancy Loomis is pretty good if not a little uneven and P.J. Soles does ok. I'm actually a very big fan of P.J. Soles, she is one of my favorite actresses, but her performance is mixed, but in fairness even though her role is small she has the weakest dialogue in the film. I liked the character, but she really did have the weakest lines.
Nick Castle who played Michael Myers was the best actor to play him in the whole series. He was just downright creepy. Michael is just pure evil; there is nothing left inside of him. He's evil in the shape of a man. It's like he isn't even human anymore. There is nothing left inside of him, but evil. No remorse and no feelings. To this day Michael Myers in the original scares me.
Halloween really is one of the all time greats and I would rate this as possibly my very favorite horror movie. Like I said the script was a little weak in some areas, but the direction and music by Carpenter make up for that. Halloween is a simple movie set in an ordinary world and that is what makes this movie so scary. Halloween has gone down in history as one of the all time greats of the genre and it's very well deserving of that. Halloween deserves all the credit it gets. It's a simple movie that aims to scare and very few horror movies deliver the type of chills Halloween does.
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