To celebrate the Halloween season, The Auburn Plainsman Lifestyle Section is reviewing and recommending related movies for people to watch. Ranging from frightening, nightmare-inducing thrillers to wholesome, family-friendly flicks, reviews will cover a variety of genres. Read a synopsis and our thoughts, and then take a look at the “spooky” meter, a rating out of five that details whether we think this movie is worth watching during Halloween time. If you would like to write a Halloween-related film review and see it published, email srb0106@auburn.edu.
On Oct. 25, 1978, director John Carpenter’s breakthrough film, “Halloween," was released. This movie follows the iconic, masked figure, Michael Myers (Nick Castle), who had been admitted to a mental institution for murdering his teenage sister when he was just six years old. After 15 years, Myers managed to escape this institution and return to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, to begin his prowl for new victims. “Halloween” became a staple for slasher films as we know them and paved the way for the “Final Girl” trope, in which a female character outlives everyone and defeats the killer in a horror film, with its main character Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis).
Despite only having a budget of $325,000, “Halloween” grossed about $70 million worldwide, making it one of the most successful independent films of all time. This cultural phenomenon of a film remains one of the most popular of its slasher genre to this day and has 11 sequels spanning nearly five decades.
In my opinion, the strongest aspect of this movie is Michael Myers himself. Between the uncanny valley look of his mask and his complete silence throughout the film, Myers has an inhumane presence that makes him genuinely terrifying. It’s only when he’s attempting to murder Laurie during the final ten minutes of the movie that this is portrayed any differently. Myers grunts as he struggles to fight the girl and she even manages to pull off his mask — showing that Michael Myers is, in fact, just a man. I find these decisions by Carpenter brilliant, and it upsets me that the sequels decide to overrule this scene by making Myers some immortal being.
I also think the special effects of the movie still hold up to our modern-day standards. The blood and gore look real, which only adds to the impact of Myers’ violent acts. I’ve seen other recently released films and TV shows where the effects are so poor that it takes you out of the story, so I find it satisfying that "Halloween" was able to make the murders look real, even with the small budget.
I’m a big fan of the music in this movie as well. Carpenter also composed the score, which he wrote in just three days. The piano theme is unique and extremely recognizable, and I think the anxious feeling of this song fits the overall vibes of the film.
Unfortunately, I think the weakest part of this movie has to be the acting. I find that some dialogue in this movie is delivered oddly, especially by the actors who play Laurie’s friends. I found many of the reactions given by actors, mainly facial expressions or screaming when being attacked by Myers, to be laughably unrealistic. Even within the first few minutes, it felt like Michael Myers’ sister wasn’t even being attacked, because her acting did not portray the character's supposed fear well.
However, I did find some performances to be quite great. "Halloween" was the debut film of the renowned Jamie Lee Curtis, and I find her deliveries and expressions to be realistic for how a teenage girl would act in this scenario and she was dramatic, but not too overdramatic, with her performance. Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance), a worker at a mental institution who searches for Myers after the escape, is an amazing character as well. I find his retelling of his interactions with Myers quite compelling. The other actors, however, were not great.
Some of the characterization was poor too. In my opinion, Laurie’s friends, especially Annie Brackett (Nancy Kyes), were all horrible and obnoxious people. The audience is meant to be saddened by the murders of Annie, Lynda (P.J. Soles) and Bob (John Michael Graham), but how are we meant to feel bad for them when we spent the film watching these people treat Laurie so horribly? Annie treats Laurie like a nuisance and completely disregards her feelings, and then Lynda and Bob are just weird the whole time, with Bob making an absurd joke about the child Annie babysits and Lynda just laughing along being the incident most prevalent in my mind. I don’t think they were supposed to be good characters, but the murders would’ve made me feel more upset if Myers was killing decent humans.
SPOOKY RECOMMENDATION METER: 3/5
I think "Halloween" is a product of its time, and the impact it had on American culture as a whole cannot be denied. For one of the first ever slasher films, it’s quite good, which makes the popularity understandable. But through a modern lens, there are just so many fantastic movies nowadays that, if released in 2025, "Halloween" would not have the same appeal nor impact that it once did.
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Amelia Gatzke, freshman majoring in psychology, is from Huntsville, Alabama. She has been with The Auburn Plainsman since the fall of 2025.
