By Stephen Pytak 

     The first time I saw it I had to sleep with the lights
on.
     The spectral "Michael Myers" had a special 
something that gave you nightmares. 
     The look had a lot to do with it, the white Shatner mask 
in particular. But the actor in the suit, Nick Castle, gave
the character a lot of subtle movements. As a result, you 
can kind of describe "The Shape" in this film with a range 
of adjectives.
     Stealthy. Curious. Mental. Twisted. Determined. 
Homicidal. Unstoppable...
     The performance alone makes this the best of the
"Halloween" films to date.
     The film's story is kind of simple. A 6-year-old boy
murders his 17-year-old sister with a butcher knife on the Eve 
of All Saints. He's committed. Fifteen years later, on a 
rainy Mischief Night, he escapes, steals a car and tears
back to his hometown to relive the butchery again and
again and again.
     While cruising around town, the maniac spots potential
victims, a trio of high-school seniors, one being Laurie
Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis).
     Meanwhile hot on his heels is his psychiatrist, Dr. Sam
Loomis (Donald Pleasance), who's packing heat.
     Director John Carpenter and Producer Debra Hill wind
up all of these characters and have a lot of fun letting them
loose to create havoc in the fictionous town of Haddonfield,
Ill.
     The dialog, pacing and plot twists are impressive, as is
the atmosphere, like the jack-o'-lantern which illuminates
the bedroom in the Wallace home. 
     The creative ways the antagonist stalks his prey, and
the thing with the bed sheet and the guy's glasses, are genius.
This really establishes Michael Myers and someone who 
enjoyed playing games with people. That was part of the 
magic of the character which really wasn't elaborated upon
in future sequels either.
     When I watch this movie I really don't think about the
follow ups. I like a lot of those, by the way, but for different
reasons. Sometimes an actor brought some new dimension
to Michael Myers, for instance. Or sometimes there were 
some scenes that were downright impressive. The gas station
in "Halloween IV" comes to mind. 
     But nothing has ever come close to Carpenter's original,
one of my favorite films of all time.