Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to his small hometown to kill again. Director John Carpenter’s fright fest launched Jamie Lee Curtis’ career and set the tone for legions of horror films to come. A “scream queen” for a new generation, Curtis’ performance echoed her mother Janet Leigh’s Oscar-nominated role in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. This cult classic slasher still terrifies while it entertains, with a 97% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
“In horror, the jack-in-the-box scare (think of the head floating out of the boat in Jaws) is the quickest way to get a scream, but the still shocks (the twin girls in The Shining) are the ones that linger with you. Halloween has them both, but it specializes in the second.” — Jason Zinoman, The New York Times
“Still creepy as hell.” — Aja Romano, Vox
directed by
John Carpenter
John Carpenter
written by
John Carpenter, Debra Hill
John Carpenter, Debra Hill
with
Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Moran
Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Moran
country
United States
United States