Let’s be honest, what really is there left to say about John Carpenter’s 1978 Halloween? That picture is viewed by many to be one of the greatest horror movies of all-time, often cited as kickstarting the slasher subgenre, and launching the very best franchise in the history of horror. But chances are, you’re already well, well aware of that. So, with Carpenter’s original celebrating its 40th year, let’s take a look at this new release of a truly iconic movie.
To summarise the plot of Halloween in its simplest form – for those of you who have somehow been living under a rock for the past forty years – the film opens with a young Michael Myers killing his sister on Halloween night. Locked up for over a decade, Michael eventually breaks out and returns to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois to stalk and slash his way through the neighbourhood’s teen population. In amongst the action, we have a breakthrough role for Jamie Lee Curtis as “final girl” Laurie Strode and a tour de force performance from Donald Pleasance as Sam Loomis, the longtime doctor of the murderous Myers.
Again, this is no new information, and you’ll likely be full appreciative of just how stunning a movie Halloween is. Hot on the heels of Assault on Precinct 13, John Carpenter began to earn his Master of Horror stripes with Halloween, as he provided a mesmerising example of tension, pacing, masterful musical beats, and less-is-more scares. That means that you’re probably reading this review to see what else this new anniversary release has to offer.
In terms of the bonus material included on this release, if we’re being honest, it’s nothing new. The special features are all pulled from previous Halloween releases, but that’s not to say that they aren’t a whole lot of fun. For starters, the chat track with John Carpenter and Jamie Lee Curtis is utterly engaging, with these two genre icons looking back at the film that took both of their respective stocks to the next level. Again, The Night She Came Home is another fascinating addition, with this hour-long featurette seeing Curtis make a one-off horror convention appearance.
While these extras and the rest of the additional content are all great for what they are – even if, bar the impressive artcards, they’re nothing original – what’s likely brought you to the dance here is the new 4K Ultra HD transfer of the movie. Longtime Carpenter collaborator Dean Cundey has overseen this transfer of the picture, much like he did with the crisp-as-an-autumnal-leaf transfer for the 35th anniversary edition (which is included here as the standard Blu-ray portion of the release), and again Halloween is taken to a whole other level in 4K Ultra HD. Some classics of yesteryear don’t necessarily benefit from being cleaned up and brought to HD and to 4K, but Halloween certainly doesn’t fall into that class. Instead, this iconic feature is given a new lease of life, with the Ultra HD transfer giving even further appreciation to the simple yet stunningly effective story and camera work put in place by John Carpenter and his team. Carpenter has always been at his best when making less seem like more, and the 4K Ultra HD transfer hammers home this point.
Halloween is and always will be a masterpiece, and now the antics of The Shape on that fateful night have never looked so good. For the purists, the lack of new special features may be a turn off here, but the 4K Ultra HD version of the movie is a total must-see. And for those of you out there who don’t own Halloween, this is a release that totally and utterly deserves a place in your collection.
Special Features: Audio commentary with John Carpenter and Jamie Lee Curtis / The Night She Came Home featurette / On Location: 25 Years Later featurette / TV version footage / Trailer / TV spots / Radio spots / Five artcards
HALLOWEEN 4K ULTRA HD / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: JOHN CARPENTER / SCREENPLAY: JOHN CARPENTER, DEBRA HILL / STARRING: JAMIE LEE CURTIS, DONALD PLEASANCE, P.J. SOLES, NANCY LOOMIS, NICK CASTLE / RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 1ST
