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 Halloween
DVD Review by Paul Trombley, M.D |
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Halloween night. A small town in Illinois. A young boy with "the black
eyes....the devil's eyes" methodically stalks his own sister, finding her in her
bedroom, in the afterglow of sex while their parents were out. A glimmering carving knife
falls. A sickening, slurping sound of flesh being cleft as the knife comes down. Over and
over again. And we watch through his eyes; through the eyes of his mask. An innocent clown
mask which belies the evil beneath. And thus is born the myth of Michael Myers, ostensibly
one of the most famous of all movie maniacs. A demon who would come back, years later, to
his home town after escaping institutionalization. Halloween night.
Director John Carpenter co-wrote and directed this seminal horror movie; a genuine suspenseful horror movie which is mostly devoid of the blood and gore that are so replete in the modern "horror" flick. A fairly simple but very effective tale, which was especially novel at the time the movie was made and released: a group of high school youths, including the prudish babysitter heroine (played magnificently by the then-unknown Jamie Lee Curtis), who become unwitting prey for the older and even more dangerous and somewhat supernatural psychopath Michael Myers. This low budget movie does seem a bit out of its idiom now, and has been mildly tainted by the slew of "babysitter (or teenaged) victim scream flicks" to follow. But, this film still stands heads above the rest. To Carpenter's credit, perhaps credit better afforded to co-writer and producer Debra Hill, this film features an uncommon feature even in today's market: a strong female character who must fight to survive, and who actually betters the antagonist on many occasions, using wits to stay one step ahead. Better still, the Curtis character is allowed not only to use her head, but she does not play the helpless screaming victim. The other big plus to this movie is in its use of suspense, rather than brutal murder and gore to affect and unsettle the viewer. A classic movie that comes, quite affordably, to DVD; likely the best format to add this movie to almost anyone's movie library. Anchor Bay follows their release of "Dawn of the Dead" with the release of "Halloween" to the DVD format. In that regard, it makes it probably the best way to get this movie, as for around $17 retail, one gets the WS version of the movie (P & S on side 2) in full digital transfer. This price blows away the LD versions from Criterion, which list at $100 (CAV with many extras including deleted, filmed for NBC TV, scenes) and $40 for the slimmed down CLV versions. The transfer comes directly from the CLV version of the LD from Criterion, and the video looks great. It is as sharp as the original film stock allows, though that does mean the occasional film bleb and scratch. The colors do tend to look a bit faded, but (as I have seen the CAV LD version) they are every bit as good on DVD as the highest grade of LD transfer, which indicates that it is the fault of the film stock itself. Audio is Dolby mono only. The majority of sounds come as dialogue through the center channel, and this is clearly a limitation. The soundtrack clearly pales by comparison to a majority of the current titles available, but I suspect it is as good as this film can get, given its dating and its smaller original budgetary constraints. Additionally, this being the type of movie it is, as opposed to a space opera, there was little need for reliance on a plethora of sound effects and Dolby wizardry. Suffice it to say that it is adequate at best. The only extra the DVD features is a theatrical trailer, which is included on both sides. As with "Dawn of the Dead", I am left to wonder why Anchor Bay did not or could not add to the title the extras that DO exist for this film. There are many scenes which Carpenter filmed expressly for the TV showing of this movie on NBC, as the censors were going to cut certain things, and the film had to be padded out to take a 2 hr slot. Granted, these scenes are mostly dialogue and they do tend to simplify the plot by over explanation, but they might still have been included for the sake of archives and completeness. Possibly the DVD distributor, Anchor Bay, could not get the rights to this footage or something. The bottom line is that this is still the best format to add this film to one's library, solely for the fact that you get a digital WS transfer, to the best that the original stock can be put into, at a VERY affordable price. For those with the means and the desire, the best way to acquire this flick would still be the CAV Criterion Collection LD; but for the rest of us, go with the DVD, limitations withstanding.
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Halloween A classic movie that comes, quite affordably, to DVD; likely the best format to add this movie to almost anyone's movie library. Staring: Donald Pleasence Directed By: John Carpenter Release Information:Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment Theatrical Release Date: 1978 DVD Release Date: 10/28/97 Run Time: 93min Production Company: Anchor Bay Entertainment Aspect Ratio(s):
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