Jean-Luc Godard once said that all you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun. John Carpenter prefers a bunch of girls and a knife, the two elements brought together by a psycho in a butchered Captain Kirk mask. The result is a seminal slasher that gets better with age, Carpenter using subjective camerawork, ominous widescreen framing and that chilling synth score to build suspense. Terrifying.
DVD Extras:
Like its blade-wielding maniac Michael Myers, Halloween just won't die - - so say hello to its third DVD incarnation. Good job this 25th Anniversary Edition is pretty special then, sporting a stitch-job commentary (Carpenter, Jamie Lee Curtis and co-writer/producer Debra Hill) and two docs. Inevitable repetition aside, the bullshit-free audio track and 87-minute doc A Cut Above The Rest are first rate, covering Halloween's genesis, shoot and record-obliterating release. All the players have their say, even finding time to sift through the movie's influences, imitators and sequels (producer Moustapha Akkad says he'll stop at 22). The On Location featurette trawls around South Pasadena and West Hollywood, gleefully revisiting those houses where numerous babysitters met their demise. Top stuff.
