Leeder - Halloween

DEVILs ADVOCATES

DEVILS ADVOCATES is a series of books devoted to exploring the classics of horror cinema. Contributors to the series come from the fields of teaching, academia, journalism and fiction, but all have one thing in common: a passion for the horror film and a desire to share it with the widest possible audience.

ALSO AVAILABLE IN THIS SERIES

Carrie Neil Mitchell

The Descent James Marriot

Let the Right One In Anne Billson

Saw Benjamin Poole

The Silence of the Lambs Barry Forshaw

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre James Rose

The Thing Jez Conolly

Witchfinder General Ian Cooper

FORTHCOMING

Antichrist Amy Simmonds

Black Sunday Martyn Conterio

The Blair Witch Project Peter Turner

The Curse of Frankenstein Marcus Harmes

Near Dark John Berra

Nosferatu Cristina Massaccesi

Psychomania I.Q. Hunter & Jamie Sherry

DEVILS ADVOCATES

HALLOWEEN

MURRAY LEEDER

Acknowledgments

There are many people to thank. First and foremost among them is John Atkinson for giving me the vote of confidence to take on the project of writing about one of my favourite horror films, and providing a firm editorial hand. I need also need to thank Rhett Miller, Ben Wright, Dan Sheridan and Drew Beard for their varied contributions, as well as my loving wife Alana Conway. Finally, infinite thanks to John Carpenter for consenting to several stimulating conversations; they say you shouldnt meet your idols, but its nice to see it works out some of the time.

First published in 2014 by

Auteur, 24 Hartwell Crescent, Leighton Buzzard LU7 1NP

www.auteur.co.uk

Copyright Auteur 2014

Series design: Nikki Hamlett at Cassels Design

Set by Cassels Design www.casselsdesign.co.uk

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the permission of the copyright owner.

E-ISBN 978-1-906733-86-5

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-906733-79-7 (paper)

ISBN: 978-1-906733-86-5 (e-book)

CONTENTS

SYNOPSIS

Into a pumpkins eye.

Halloweens title sequence features a glowing jack o lantern framed by blackness, starting in the left of the screen but getting closer and closer until its left eye fills the frame. Following this, Halloweens action starts on October 31, 1963 in Haddonfield, Illinois, in a long, unbroken subjective camera shot. From the perspective of an unknown character, we watch unseen as a teenage girl makes out with her boyfriend on the family couch. As they withdraw to an upstairs bedroom, the figure enters the house, withdraws a butcher knife, dons a mask lying on the floor (a masking effect over the camera) and then stabs the girl to death. Leaving the house, the figure is unmasked and we get the first reverse shot in the film to see a six-year-old boy dressed a clown, silent and holding a bloody knife before his bewildered parents. The child murderer is Michael Myers (Will Sandin as child, Tony Moran as adult, Nick Castle as The Shape), and the victim was his 15-year-old sister Judith (Sandy Johnson).

On October 30, 1978, Michaels psychiatrist, Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence), arrives to collect him from an asylum at Smiths Grove, Illinois, for a court appearance. Michael has spent the last fifteen years catatonic, silent and unresponsive. When Loomis and Nurse Chambers (Nancy Stephens) arrive, there has been a prisoner escape. While Loomis is investigating, Michael attacks Chambers, steals the car and drives away.

Our first look at Michael Myers, unmasked as a six-year-old murderer.

The morning after, in Michaels hometown of Haddonfield, we meet Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), a bookish teenager. On behalf of her realtor father, she delivers keys to the Myers house where the murder of Judith took place; Michael observes from the inside, and follows her outside to watch her walk away, breathing heavily. Laurie and her more outgoing and sexually-experienced friends Annie Brackett (Nancy Loomis) and Lynda Van Der Klok (P.J. Soles) go about their day unaware of the fact that Michael is stalking them. Laurie catches glimpses of Michael, now wearing a mysterious white mask and a work uniform stolen from a murdered tow-truck driver, but dismisses them as delusions.

An over-the-shoulder shot of Michael watching Laurie.

Meanwhile, Dr. Loomis arrives in Haddonfield. Though the local police, including Annies father, Sheriff Brackett (Charles Cyphers), are sceptical, Loomis is convinced that Michael will return home and relive the crime he committed as a child. He believes that Michael is pure evil, lacks any human emotions, and will certainly kill again. Loomis also discovers that Judith Myers headstone has been stolen from the cemetery.

Laurie is spending the evening babysitting for young Tommy Doyle (Brian Andrews), as well as Lindsey Wallace (Kyle Richards), whom Annie is meant to be babysitting but whom Annie dumps on Laurie in order to meet her boyfriend. Tommy sees Michael and is convinced he is the boogeyman, but Laurie dismisses his concerns. But Michael kills Annie, strangling her in her car, and then Lynda and her boyfriend Bob (John Michael Graham), murdering them after furtive sex.

Unable to contact her friends, Laurie leaves the children and goes to investigate. She finds Annies body lying on a bed with the tombstone of Judith Myers sitting above her, and also Bob and Lyndas bodies displayed ritualistically around the room. Michael attacks her with a butcher knife but she escapes, returning to the Doyle house and stabbing Michael in the neck with the knitting needle. Finding the children in the upper room, she tells them that shes killed him, but Tommy replies, You cant kill the boogeyman. Indeed, Michael reappears, and Laurie lets the children run from the house before taking refuge in an upstairs closet.