Hey Everyone! Welcome to October Horror Fest! October and the fall season is one of my favorite times of the year, and I love celebrating the vibes. Last year, I created a self-imposed challenge called October Horror Fest. The challenge was to watch a horror movie, or a Halloween-related piece of media, every single day for the month of October. Unfortunately, last year, I failed the challenge. However, this year, October Horror Fest is back, and I am as well with a reinvigorated fire to complete the challenge!
Just so everyone can be clear, here are a few of the ground rules of October Horror Fest. First off, 12:00 A.M. starts the beginning of a new day. If I’m finishing a film at 11:00, and it doesn’t finish till 12:30, that still counts as a movie for the main day, but I’ll include a “45 minutes of” or “a half hour of” the given movie for the next day. For example, If I’m watching Nightmare on Elm Street on October 16th, and it doesn’t finish till 12:37 on October 17th, Nightmare on Elm Street would still be the movie I watched on October 16th, but x minutes of it were also watched on October 17th. When this happens, I always watch another movie on the second day to make sure all my bases are covered. Secondly, although the name of my challenge is “October HORROR Fest”, the piece of media I watch doesn’t always have to be horror. It could be “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!” or a Huluween short film, as long as it is related back to Halloween. Last but not least, If I don’t at least watch some sort of media centered around Halloween on a given day, I fail the challenge.
I’m writing this every single day to hopefully help myself complete this challenge, and for you all, to share the fear and the spooks of Halloween, and why it’s one of my favorite holidays. A few of these articles, like todays, will include spoilers. I will, of course, add a spoiler warning for articles that do include them. For more recent movies, like Five Nights at Freddy’s releasing later this month, I won’t include any spoilers, and will save that for an in depth review on the Entertainment section. During these articles for the next 30 days, I’ll be writing short reviews on the media I watch for the given day. They won’t be as long winded as most of my other reviews on the Entertainment section, as there are 31 of these throughout this month for you all to enjoy! Without further ado, sit back, relax, turn off the lights, grab some Candy and Popcorn, and let’s review…
Halloween (1978)
To start off October Horror Fest, I thought I would begin with one of my favorite Horror Movies of all time, Halloween. Halloween is the story of Micheal Myers, a man with a lust for blood that cannot be quenched, and having the means to kill anyone who gets in his way. Micheal Myers is a character you all know, and is actually my favorite Horror Movie character ever. In the 1978 Classic, John Carpenter crafts the film to be horrific. The shots presented, and the incredible, iconic and timeless Halloween Theme create dread and anxiety in the audience, and create an amazing, immersive experience.
The film follows Laurie Strode, a young girl living in the town of Haddonfield, Illinois in 1978. Laurie is played by Horror Legend and incredible actress Jamie Lee Curtis, in her first role.
Back in 1963, it’s said that Micheal Myers murdered his sister with a knife, at only 6 years old. This event is actually shown to us in the first scene of the film, with us watching through Micheal’s eyes. This was groundbreaking, and created the camera angle of the “POV” shot, which is still extremely widespread and in use to this day. This scene was also revolutionary for another reason, the Longtake. The Longtake is when a camera is continuously filming a scene without cutting. Halloween was one of, if not the first movie to use the Longtake, in the same scene as the POV shot. All of this combined made Halloween’s opening shot one of the most famous in Cinema and Horror history, and the film itself a technical marvel.
Micheal, after ‘63, was taken in by Dr. Sam Loomis, played by the Late Great Donald Pleasence, to Smith Grove Sanitarium, just a few towns away from Haddonfield. Loomis attempted to get a read on Micheal for 15 years, and all of his attempts were unsuccessful. The Doctor eventually realized that Micheal, “it” to him, was pure evil. Micheal escapes, and begins his trek to Haddonfield. Once there, Micheal, “The Shape”, stalks Laurie and her friends. This continues for most of the movie, until Laurie is babysitting little Tommy Doyle. Slowly but surely, Micheal kills off Laurie’s friends in gruesome kills, even spawning the iconic “head tilt” as Micheal admires his work. Tommy eventually spots Micheal outside in multiple scenes, believing him to be “The Boogeyman”. Laurie dismisses Tommy’s worry, and sends him and Lindsey Wallance, a girl one of Laurie’s friends was babysitting, to bed.
Laurie eventually stumbles upon the dead bodies of all her friends, placed there to scare her by Micheal. Laurie is one of the first examples of the “Final Girl” trope in Horror Films. Micheal eventually encounters Laurie in the house, and the two fall into one of the most iconic tropes of Horror, and Cinema as a whole, the chase scene. Halloween was one of the first movies to have a chase scene, and it doesn’t disappoint. Micheal chases Laurie back to Tommy’s house, injuring her and not stopping his hunt. Laurie seemingly “kills” Micheal twice, but he always gets back up. Laurie, at the end of the film, stumbles upon Loomis, who shoots Micheal six times.
At the end of it all, Laurie is left shaken and in tears, as Loomis is hopeful that the evil he once took care of is dead. We see Micheal, bullet ridden, lying down on the grass after falling from Laurie’s balcony. After a few scenes of Laurie and Loomis talking, Loomis eventually stumbles over to the balcony, and to one of the most iconic and legendary horror movie endings. Micheal is gone. Loomis is petrified, and stumbles back into the house. We end on shots of all the places Micheal has terrorized on his rampage, while we hear the sound of The Shape’s breathing in the background.
Halloween is one of the most legendary and terrifying horror movies ever made. It created Micheal Myers, a monster known by billions of people around the world. His presence alone was terrifying. Halloween revived the slasher subgenre of horror, and cemented its place as one of the kings of the genre. Its score alone is haunting and iconic. The film itself was a technological marvel. Halloween’s legacy cannot be put into words, and will be continued to be watched by millions of people. Halloween is one of the greatest horror films of all time, and will always be my favorite.
I hope you all enjoyed the beginning of October Horror Fest! I am so, so excited to continue writing and sharing my love of these movies to you all, and I am feeling confident that I will be able to complete this challenge! Be on the lookout for these 31 articles, and remember to have fun! Thank you all so much for reading, and I’ll see you next time! And always remember, “It’s Halloween. I guess everyone’s entitled to one good scare.” – Sheriff Brackett, Halloween (1978)