Halloween (1978) *****

When you get down to it the premise of Halloween is very simple. An over the edge killer, locked away for 15 years, escapes from a mental hospital to return home and kill again. It's the way it's presented that makes Halloween the great film that it is. John Carpenter has given us what amounts to one night following the bogeyman around. The bogeyman has no motivation. He just stalks and kills. That's what Michael Myers does.

A small, independent production with fresh of the farm Jamie Lee Curtis Halloween is a suburban gothic nightmare. Old legends, haunted houses, and the bogeyman haunt every little town and what Halloween does is give it to us turned up full blast. You're introduced to the legend first, then you meet the characters and their small town, nothing will ever happen ways. And then you shatter that Mayberry image with Michael Myers, the legend come home. The villain is totally emotionless, right down to that plain white mask he dons to hide his face.

Halloween is the film to watch while carving pumpkins or scaring the kids on a Saturday night because it harkens to the bogeyman mentality that there is something under the bed or in the corner of the basement. And in the end you know he's still out there.