Halloween (1978 film)

John Carpenter's 1978 original, the film that started the franchise.

Halloween (1978 film) is the American independent slasher film directed and scored by John Carpenter, who co-wrote it with producer Debra Hill, and the first film in the Halloween franchise.

Quick Facts

Director

John Carpenter

Screenplay

John Carpenter; Debra Hill

Producer

Debra Hill; John Carpenter

Starring

Donald Pleasence
Jamie Lee Curtis
P. J. Soles
Nancy Loomis
Nick Castle

Cinematography

Dean Cundey

Editing

Tommy Lee Wallace; Charles Bornstein

Studio

Compass International Pictures; Falcon International Productions

Distributor

Compass International Pictures; Aquarius Releasing

Facts from the source article.

Background

Donald Pleasence stars as the psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis, with Jamie Lee Curtis, in her film debut, as the babysitter Laurie Strode. On Halloween 1963 in the Illinois town of Haddonfield, six-year-old Michael Myers stabs his teenage sister Judith to death. Fifteen years later he escapes from the sanitarium, returns to Haddonfield and stalks Laurie and her friends while Loomis hunts him.

Michael kills a mechanic for his coveralls and steals a white mask, a rope and kitchen knives from a hardware store. The film was shot in Southern California and grossed $70 million, making it one of the most profitable independent films of all time.

Critics praised Carpenter's direction and score, and many credit the film with pioneering the slasher genre alongside Psycho, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Black Christmas. The Library of Congress chose it for the National Film Registry in 2006, and it spawned a franchise of thirteen films.