Happy Slasher Week! To kick off the week, I watched possibly my favorite slasher movie, one that has stayed in cultural relevance more than any other horror franchise: Halloween.
Halloween just does everything you want from a horror movie, and it does it extremely well. Brutal kills, tense chase scenes, atmospheric suspense, and just a little air of the supernatural are all present in this slasher classic. Add in a performance from national treasure Jamie Lee Curtis, and you have a horror film that transcends time and earns every one of its sequels regardless of the quality variance they offer. Perhaps the most iconic portion of the movie is the music: the Halloween theme is a classic tune that quickly inspires retroactive fear and tension as soon as it is played, and it remains the most well-known theme music from any slasher movie. While the body count is relatively low, especially compared to modern slasher flicks, there is still something terrifying that remains with the original Halloween after all these years. Perhaps it’s the slow, slightly un-human walk that Michael Myers uses to stalk his prey. Or maybe it’s the setting, a sleepy little town that feels a bit too close-to-home for many of us. But I have my own personal theory about what makes Halloween so good for so long, and that, my friends, is one of the core components of good horror: fear of the unknown.
One thing I absolutely hate about the Rob Zombie remakes of Halloween is their attempt to humanize Michael Myers and present his younger years as something to study and relate to. I am here to tell you that this completely misses the point of Halloween’s legacy. When we see little 6-year-old Michael brutally murder his sister, it shakes us because it asks us a difficult question: what makes someone so young and innocent do something so horrendous? Halloween gives us something that was at the time rather unique: a brief look at the evil before the story really begins. But what it does not give us is any resolution to that original question. And these difficult questions continue as the movie goes on: what is motivating this man to hunt and kill? What elements, supernatural or otherwise, give him incredible endurance and willpower to destroy something so peaceful. I believe that the most important character in the Halloween series is Dr. Loomis because he witnesses Michael’s development from childhood to adulthood and comes away with a simple, terrifying truth: there’s nothing to be understood or learned from him. He’s evil, and that is that. While not the most academically stimulating synopsis of a killer, there are other movies that handle that approach, and they’re good in their own rights. However, Halloween is good because it is scary, and it is scary because it denies us the security of having answers. We’re left in the dark, and that is the scariest thing of all.
In true Halloween fan fashion, tonight I’ll be watching Halloween 2018! Join me!
