This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Fright Night
Plot Overview
“Halloween”
seductively mimics a meme in a Howard Owen novel in which:
One of the few pleasant things I could imagine about a return to East Geddie was the fantasy of getting back together with my oldest friends, after we'd raised our families and had our careers—sort of like one of those sitcom reprises where all the characters from a '50s or '60s show come back as adults under some trumped-up premise and pick up where they left off. But I don't believe it happens that way in real life. Not in East Geddie anyhow. (112)
Our movie is set on Halloween, 1978, in Haddonfield,
Illinois. School bullies are taunting 8-year-old Tommy Doyle (Brian
Andrews) about a boogeyman out to get him. Now he sees a
monster under every stone. Nobody believes him. The audience
catches glimpses of something sinister—complete with
eerie accompanying music—but we may shout warnings all
we want to no avail. Coincidentally, a patient Michael Myers
(Nick Castle) from a sanitorium for the criminally insane up in
Smith Grove, Illinois had escaped the day before, and his
psychiatrist Dr. Samuel
Loomis (Donald Pleasence) believes he is heading to his
hometown of Haddonfield where his original murder took
place some fifteen years prior. The doctor's colleague Terence Wynn
(Robert Phalen) doesn't concur. The local sheriff Mr. Brackett
(Charles Cyphers) would have been around then in 1963, but he can't
spare the manpower for added patrol except for his tired old self.
He's the father of pretty Annie Brackett (Nancy Loomis) who goes
about her girly business on Halloween oblivious.
This new
generation is a product of the earlier one being indulged to the
nth degree: “I am a child of my times. We're the ones who
paved the way for the Me Generation” (ibid.) We have the
young-uns in costume trick-or-treating to their hearts' desire.
Mixed in is a former denizen of the neighborhood now properly
masked. Various houses are peopled by baby sitters coordinating by
phone with each other & their boyfriends. While an earlier
generation partook of forbidden comic books, then sex,
beer & smokes, now add pot to the mix. And there's a piper
demanding to be paid.
Ideology
(Prov.
30:17) “The eye that mocketh at his father, and
despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick
it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.” Laurie Strode
(Jamie Lee Curtis) while baby sitting Tommy is shown his trove of
comic books he's hidden under the sofa from his disapproving
parents. Underage Annie and her underage friend Lynda van
der Klok (P.J. Soles) share a cigarette out of sight from their
folks. Likewise, 17-year-old Judith Margaret Myers (Sandy
Johnson) and Laurie smoke a joint and disperse the smoke when
Annie's sheriff/dad shows up. Annie and Bob Simms (John Michael
Graham) alone in the house engage in sex, light up a fag, and raid
the beer laden fridge. While the cat's away the mice will play, eh.
Tommy
running away from his tormenters tripped and fell
crushing his jack-o'-lantern. It's marred face is by and by
juxtaposed with a body in a field, equating facial and bodily
mutilation. The glowing, carved-out eyes of a jack-o'-lantern
in the bedroom is followed by Laurie defensively
poking Michael in the eye with a straightened coat hanger. The
proverbial fowls pecking eyes out in the proverb is thus a metaphor
for mutilation in general with the meaning of an impersonal
destructive force. The doctor calls Michael “inhumanly
patient,” and of course he can't be killed.
Production Values
“” (1978) was written and directed by John Carpenter. Its worthy cast included Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nancy Kyes/Loomis, P.J. Soles, Charles Cyphers, and Kyle Richards. They stayed easily in character.
MPAA rated it R. This one is classic horror, the storyline smoothly discharged and the soundtrack magnifico. The sound effects & background music are the stuff of legend. Runtime is 1½ hours.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
This original Halloween is hard to beat, but I imagine a lot of sequels will try; it's set up for them. Not for the faint of heart.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Edge of your seat action-packed. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Well done special effects. Video Occasion: Good for Groups. Suspense: Don't watch this movie alone. Overall movie rating: Five stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Owen, Howard. Littlejohn. Copyright © 1992 by Howard Owen. Sag Harbor, New York: The Permanent Press, 1992. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org