Halloween

Released in 1978, Halloween is one of the most profitable films ever made.  On a budget of only $320,000, as of 2010, the film has grossed over $203 million and it launched the successful career of Jamie Lee Curtis.  Halloween has had a ton of bad publicity and many critics suggest that the movie encourages misogyny and sadism, others say that it has played a role in diminishing the immorality of teenagers and even young adolescents.  Despite the low budget, disputes over its graphic violence and the complaints of references to substance abuse, the entire Halloween series has been an unparalleled success.

Plot

Halloween opens in 1963 on October 31st with Michael Myers stabbing Judith, his 15-year old sister to death using a kitchen knife.  Michael is only six years old at the time.  When his parents arrive home, they find him in a trance and he is committed to Smith’s Grove Warren County Sanitarium.  For eight years, Dr. Sam Loomis treats Michael and comes to the conclusion that he is evil, plain and simple.  Michael is turning 21 on October 30, 1978 and he will soon find if he is competent enough to stand trial or not for his previous actions.

When Loomis and Marion (his assistant) show up at the sanitarium in Halloween to take Myers to court, he attacks them and steals their car to escape.  Loomis goes to find Myers and soon learns that Judith’s tombstone is missing so he believes he will eventually return to his home.

Myers returns to his home in Haddonfield wearing coveralls and a mask.  He stalks Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis), Annie and Lynda as they’re walking together after school.  Laurie spots Myers a few times during the day and becomes unnerved but her friend’s completely dismiss her concern.  Later that evening in Halloween, Laurie is babysitting Tommy while her friend Annie is watching a young girl named Lindsey who lives directly across the street.  Michael is watching Annie through the windows but she doesn’t know.  She decides to go pick up her boyfriend so she leaves Lindsey with Laurie until she gets back.  When she gets in her car, Myers strangles her and then slashes her throat after he emerges from the back seat. 

Tommy tells Laurie he saw the Boogeyman but she dismisses it and sends both the kids to bed.  Meanwhile, Lynda arrives home across the street with her boyfriend Bob where they discover that Annie has taken Lindsey out for awhile so they have sex while no one is home.  After, Bob goes to the kitchen and is killed, Myers takes his bed sheet and glasses and heads to the bedroom.  Lynda thinks Bob is playing around but Myers strangles her to death while she is calling Laurie.

A few minutes pass in Halloween and Laurie is incredibly worried about the telephone call since all she heard was some muffled gasps so she walks across the street to investigate.  Upon her arrival she finds Judith’s tombstone and the three bodies upstairs.  Michael attacks her but she falls down the stairs which actually gives her the chance to escape and head back across the street.  Michael follows her but she stabs him in the neck with a knitting needle. 

Laurie runs upstairs to check on the kids but Michael is still alive and is right behind her.  She tells Lindsey and Tommy to escape and call the police and then locks herself in a closet.  When Michael breaks the closet door in, Laurie uses a wire hanger to stab him in the eye. The pain causes him to drop his knife which she picks up and stabs in the stomach with.  Loomis happens to see the children running out of the house and enters to find Michael strangling Laurie.  He shoots him six times in the chest which sends Myers through a widow and then off the balcony, falling to the ground below.  Halloween ends with Loomis and Laurie assuming everything will be alright now but when they go out to look at Micheal’s body, it’s nowhere to be found.