|
By
NICK ZEGARAC
Since 1978, John Carpenter's
"Halloween" has become the most successful
independent low-budget horror film ever made. To
be sure, it set the trend for the schlock-shock,
slice-n'-dice, blood fests that followed during
the 1980s and beyond. The film begins with the now
classic unsettling prologue in which a pre-teen
Michael Myers (Will Sands), enflamed by a
voyeuristic sexual desire, brutally slaughters his
sister with a Ginsu in the upstairs bedroom of the
family home. Fast-forward twenty years. The town
of Haddenfield is rife with rumors of the old
"haunted" house and its evil past. Jamie Lee
Curtis stars as Laurie Strode, a teen wallflower
who becomes the target of Michael's brutal
passions.
Carpenter's direction is excruciatingly methodical
as we follow Michael's (now dubbed The Shape and
played by Nick Castle) reign of terror. Michael
stalks Laurie and her two friends Annie (Nancy
Kyes) and Lynda (P.J. Soles) on Halloween. There
is something wickedly perverse in Castle's mute
performance. Without uttering a single syllable or
moving any faster than a slow walk he is able to
conjure up the essence of undying evil. Donald
Pleasance costars as Dr. Sam Loomis -- the
psychiatrist whose warnings about Michael have
gone unheeded and who is now on a personal quest
to recapture or destroy Haddenfield's most wanted
serial killer.
By his own admission, Carpenter never thought much
about his "little" slasher film until box office
receipts and word of mouth began to herald
"Halloween" as the definitive post Hitchcock
horror classic. Ultimately, one visit to the well
was not enough for the producers: the net result
was a string of sequels, each less viscerally or
cinematically potent than its predecessor. Of all
the sequels, only "Halloween II" warrants polite
mention in that it at least attempted to draw
closure from the open-ended plot of the original
film.
"Halloween" has been made available numerous times
on DVD. The original transfer was a quickie
film-only non-anamorphic release that, I am happy
to say, is no longer available. Anchor Bay
ultimately went back to the drawing board for a
2-disc special edition that included both the
theatrical cut and the television version in
anamorphic widescreen with remastered 5.1
surround. However, this special edition is growing
harder to find. Recently "Halloween" has
resurfaced as a Divimax DVD. This edition does not
contain the television version of the film but it
does retain the "H2O" documentary previously
available on the making of the film and its cult
phenomenon status.
All these subsequent versions of "Halloween"
exhibit a rich, solid and finely detailed picture.
Though most of the film takes place in the
darkened recesses of night, the amount of fine
details and lack of film grain create an
incredibly life-like picture with vibrant colors,
deep rich blacks and stunningly sharp contrast
levels. There is a complete absence of edge
enhancement, pixelization and shimmering of fine
details. The audio too is a revelation. Remixed to
5.1 stereo, it really delivers a wallop in its
bass and music tracks. The thunderstorm that opens
the film delivers a deeply sonic characteristic
that is very dimensional in its spread. Truly, for
fans of this perennial scare fest, this is the way
to experience "Halloween" in all of its terrifying
glory. |
