Underplayed Gems

Halloween (1978)

Halloween poster
Directed by
John Carpenter
Genre
drama film, horror film, independent film, slasher film, thriller film, crime film
Country
United States
Runtime
1h 32m
Rated
R
Rating
7.6 of 10 from 6,238 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A escaped mental patient returns to his hometown on Halloween night. He stalks a teenage babysitter and her friends while his psychiatrist tries to stop him.

creepytenseslow-burnsuspensefulominousunsettlingcoldgritty

What happens

Halloween is a 1978 American independent slasher film directed and scored by John Carpenter, who co-wrote it with producer Debra Hill. It stars Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis (in her film debut), P. J. Soles, and Nancy Loomis. The film follows escaped mental patient Michael Myers, who was committed to a mental institution for murdering his teenage sister on Halloween in the fictional Illinois town of Haddonfield; 15 years later, he returns to Haddonfield, where he stalks teenage babysitter Laurie Strode and her friends while his psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis pursues him. The film was shot in Southern California, produced by Compass International Pictures, and Falcon International Productions. The film was released by Compass International and Aquarius Releasing in October and grossed $70 million (equivalent to $346 million in 2025) on a budget of $300,000 (equivalent to $1,480,900 in 2025), becoming one of the most profitable independent films of all time. Primarily praised for Carpenter's direction and score, many critics credit the film as pioneering the slasher genre, alongside other films such as Psycho (1960), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Black Christmas (both 1974). Halloween is considered one of the greatest horror films ever made and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2006 as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It spawned a film franchise comprising thirteen films, with some sequels narratively diverging entirely from previous installments, as well as a novelization, video game, board game, and comic book series have also been based on the film. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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