R, 91 min.
Director: John Carpenter
Writers: John Carpenter,
Debra Hill
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis,
Donald Pleasance, Nancy Loomis, P.J. Soles, Charles Cyphers, Kyle Richards,
Brian Andrews, Arthur Malet, Tony Moran, Nick Castle
I read an article last week
that questioned whether John Carpenter’s genre changing picture “Halloween” was
still scary after 35 years. They tested this question by showing the movie to
twenty-somethings who had never seen it before. The reactions were mixed. Some
thought it was silly, some thought it was good, but not that scary, while
others felt it was quite effective. In other words, they discovered nothing.
For my own part, I’m not so
sure I ever thought “Halloween” was one of the scariest movies out there, and
yet it has always been one of my favorite horror movies. It was one of the
first movies I ever owned in the VHS era. That was after watching it for years
on a VHS taped from television that had begun to warp and distort by the time I
broke down and paid for a copy. I bought the first version ever to appear on
DVD, one of the best DVD packages to be put together in the early days of the
format by Anchor Bay. Now, Anchor Bay has done it again with the release of the
35th Anniversary Edition of the movie on BluRay. I couldn’t help
myself. I bought it again.
This new digital transfer is
absolutely stunning in its picture quality. It was one of the better viewing
experiences I ever had with the movie, and that’s putting it up against a
phenomenal amount of viewings. The film’s original cinematographer, Dean
Cundey, personally supervised the transfer and the results are pristine. It was
worth the price of the disc even though I already own it.
But, I’ve veered away from
my original discourse. What makes “Halloween” such a classic isn’t the scares,
although Carpenter and Hill were pretty much inventing the modern version of
the slasher flick with its limited cast of characters that are picked off one
by one in oddly original ways. What makes it last is its style. No shot is
wasted, nothing within the frame of the picture is by accident, and Carpenter
places so many details in the backgrounds that reward multiple viewings.
I also read an article
recently that argued that John Carpenter was perhaps the most overlooked
director in Hollywood. I agree that his name can be placed next to Spielberg,
Coppola, Scorsese, and even Hitchcock to a good degree. His main problem with being
overlooked in Hollywood was that he didn’t really work in Hollywood. Even the
few movies he did within the studio system showed his mastery of the cinematic
medium, but he thrived outside of the system, and was able to make movies like
“Halloween” to prove it.
Notice the way Carpenter
will move his camera to reveal an important clue to the plot. He uses the
camera to place the audience in the heads of the characters. At one point
Laurie Strode is looking out the window, noticing a man staring at her from the
neighbor’s yard. The phone rings, causing Strode to jump. Carpenter’s camera
then pans just slightly to the phone that was just out of frame. Why wasn’t it
in frame the whole time? So we can experience the thought, “Oh, it’s just the
phone, Silly,” in unison with the character.
No comments:
Post a Comment