Halloween is a 1978 horror film classic.
10 out of 10 stars. Even after all these years, it’s still scary.
October 31, 1963 Haddenfield, Illinois.
Judith Myers is babysitting her six year old brother Michael while her parents are out. It’s Halloween night and he’d rather be out trick-or-treating, but she’s having sex with her boyfriend. After the boyfriend leaves, as Judith sits naked at her vanity brushing her hair, Michael stabs her to death.
October 30, 1978 Smith’s Grove, Illinois.
Michael Myers is in a mental hospital for the criminally insane. He is up for reevaluation so his shrink, Dr. Loomis, and a state nurse drive to the hospital to give testimony to keep him there. There’s a thunderstorm and it’s very dark. When they reach the hospital the gates are open and all the patients are loose. Dr. Loomis gets out to close the gate and a patient drags the nurse from the car and drives away. That patient is Michael Myers.
October 31, 1978 Haddenfield, Illinois.
Laurie Strode is walking to school. Tommy Doyle, the boy she babysits for, joins her and they stop for her to drop off a realtor key at the Myers house. Neither of them know that Michael is inside. Laurie’s dad is the realtor for the place. Michael begins following her and Tommy.
Meanwhile, Dr. Loomis finds the abandoned car next to a dead man in the bushes. So Michael has changed vehicles.
After school, Laurie walks home with her friends Annie and Linda. Annie is going to be babysitting Lindsay Wallace at the same time Laurie is going to be babysitting Tommy Doyle and the Wallace’s live across the street from the Doyle’s. So at 6 pm, Annie picks up Laurie to go babysit.
Meanwhile, Dr. Loomis goes to Judith Myers’ grave. Her gravestone is missing and a dead dog is near her grave. He gets the police chief (Annie’s dad) to let him into the Myers’ house where they find another dead dog. The chief puts out an APB on Michael Myers.
Michael is watching the Doyle house (with Laurie inside) and the Wallace house (with Annie inside). He kills the Wallace’s dog Lester while Annie is on the phone with Laurie. Annie talks Laurie into watching Lindsay so she can have sex with her boyfriend Paul at the Wallace house. After she takes Lindsay over to the Doyle’s house, she goes to the Wallace’s garage and gets in her car to pick up Paul. Michael kills her in the car.
Across the street, Tommy is hiding behind the curtains to scare Lindsay. He sees Michael carry Annie’s body to the Wallace house, but when Laurie looks, he’s gone.
A drunk Linda and her boyfriend Bob arrive at the Wallace’s house to have sex (part of Annie’s plan). Afterward, Bob goes to the kitchen for a drink and is killed by Michael. Michael goes upstairs wearing a sheet and Bob’s glasses and kills Linda.
Laurie gets worried that she hasn’t heard from Annie who was supposed to call and tell her Lindsay’s bedtime. So she puts Tommy and Lindsay to bed and walks across the street to the Wallace’s house. The back door is wide open so she goes inside and upstairs to the only room with a light on. Annie’s dead body is on the bed with Judith Myers’ gravestone above her head. Laurie backs into the cupboard where Bob’s body pops out then into the closet where Linda’s body pops out. She turns and backs into Michael who stabs her in the shoulder. She falls down the stairs hurting her leg and limps across the street screaming. Tommy opens the door just in time.
Meanwhile, Dr. Loomis hears screaming and walks down the street to the Doyle’s house as Tommy and Lindsay come running out. He shoots Michael repeatedly but when he looks for the body, it’s gone.
Halloween 2 picks up where this one leaves off and reveals that Laurie is actually Michael’s baby sister, adopted by the Strodes after the Myers left town.
10 out of 10 stars. Still scary after all these years.
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