this movie is amazing, the storyline is amazing, the actors are good, and the whole creation of micheal myers is awesome, John Carpenter is a genuis!!!

Greatest horror film that has ever been made. This movie is amazing and will always be my favorite. It is so creepy and scary without even showing blood and gore. I can't imagine not loving this movie. This movie is horror! You can't top Michael Myers. John Carpenter is amazing!!

One of my favorites! This film scared the crap outta me first time I saw it, I was probably 10 or 11 at the time. These days I still appreciate it for what it was. A cult classic, first of it's kind, genuine terror and tension filled fun. This movie was atmospheric and errie. The score is really what gets to you, making the hair stand up on the back of your neck. I cannont think of a better tense moment in any horror film than the scene from Halloween when Laurie is struggling to open the front door, calling for help, while Michael walks closer and closer, almost reaching her. If that didn't make you hang on to the edge of your seat the first time you watched it, then nothing will. A definite 10 in my book..always was, always will be!… Expand

The best horror film ever, a masterpiece.

What more can I say - One of the greatest horror movies of all time and a true example of how to build suspense and terror without lots of gore. A true masterpiece. I only wish I could wipe my memory and go back and watch it again for the first time.

(6.5) In this movie I found something redeemable in the slasher genre. Turned off by Scream (twice-over) and Scream look-alikes, I hate slashers even more than I hate Jamie Lee Curtis movies. And still, SOMEHOW, this movie worked for me. Maybe it's because 1978 pre-dates the Hollywood fake blood quota. The scariest scene for me involves no knife: just a faceless figure carring a limp body around a house and in the front door, with a little kid watching from across the street. The just-across-the-street scheme employed here is great. Far enough away that you can't make out the details, but close enough that you might be next....… Expand

Scared the living hell out of me when I was 7, and I'm seeing it again tonight and expect to be crapping again. Not much blood, but a lot of that "did I see something behind that bush??? did I??" Yeahhhh.

It's supposed to be a horror classic. Go ahead and watch it. I did. Get it over with. I have neighbors with thousand-yard stares, so no fright there. I suppose one could consider this film a damning indictment of our mental health system. But what's really scary is to think that Jamie Lee Curtis could have gotten trapped doing these roles and never moved on to Trading Places, Fish Called Wanda & True Lies. You go, girl. … Expand

This movie is fantastic and scary. Its been voted the best horror ever and why wouldn't it be!? Its fantastic! Fantastic performance by Jamie Lee Curtis, and dont forget this was the movie that started off her fantastic movie career!!

It may not be as gory as Friday the 13th or Nightmare On Elm Street but in my opinion, I think Halloween is more suspenseful and tells a better story.

Nothing special about this movie, very dull - all the action is packed into a 20 minute block. The worst thing is it wasn't even scary - very disappointed.

An Amazing film, Halloween is one of the best horror movies i have ever seen. Classic story, great performances, top notch scares, if you haven't seen it, you are missing out big time. the best in the series.

If I could I'd rate it 10 1/2 but I cant so... Anyways Halloween is the best horror movie ever. Almost everyone of its sequels is good and it started the 80's slasher genre. It is something you have to see if you havent already seen it.

GREAT!! the best movie ever made. John Carpenter is a GOD. Honestly there are a bunch of cheesy horror movies out there. Halloween is in its own genre. Nothing will ever compare to it!!!

Cliched, dull and far from exciting.

One of the best horror movies ever, I noticed someone called it cliche... how? It's a man with a disturbed past, enough so that hate overpowers deaths itself. It's an original movie with good movies and a close-to-home feel. May not keep you up at night, but still it makes it scary to walk around a dark house.

Whoever calls it cliched obviously doesn't have a clue about this Classic. In 1978 it was the first of it's kind. Let me put it this way, if it wasn't for Halloween, there would never be a Jason, Freddy, Chucky.. etc. Do your homework before you write a review.

Funnily enough, the fact that it wasn't very action-packed seems to be its strength.

THIS is what they want! Genuinely frightening proto-slasher, without so much of the actual graphic slashing as future films in the genre (or indeed its sequels). Carpenter cranks up the suspense like a mad scientist with the world's biggest and most inviting lever, JLC screams very well - rather too well for her subsequent career - and of course there's lots of venerable old baldie Donald Pleasance. Let joy be unconfined. On second thoughts, make that "fear".… Expand

Possibly the scariest movie ever made. Different from The Exorcist in that this film is scary because of what you don't see, rather than what you do. It contains very little blood for a "slasher" film, but it doesn't need it. This film is so successful for three main reasons: the direction, the cinematography, the music. Carpenter borrows generously from Hitchcock in this film, but he does so to perfection. His camera placements and tracking shots were masterley thought-out and added layers of tension and suspense to the feel of the film. Watch Halloween again and pay particular attention to the how this film is shot, and the methods used. They only had a small budget to work with but showed that money isn't everything. The lighting too was very effective, cleverly alternating between light and dark, though most of the second half of the film keeps you in the latter. Finally the music. Carpenter also had a hand in this and it is one of the best examples of its kind. Creepy, foreboding, agonizing music. The only weak point about the film is the acting - it is only average. And that's the only reason I didn't give it full marks. Really, it deserves it. Watch this movie, if you dare. Watch it without expectations of blood and gore ('cause you don't get much). Watch it, by yourself, on a dark winter night, with no lights on. If you're not scared, check your pulse!… Expand

One of the absolute materpieces of horror, one of the most scaring film ever made, a night of fear and suspance, a night of evil, the night he came home!

This is the greatest movie thats all there is 2 say.

Creepy, but not scary enough to not make you sleep at night. Maybe it is because of the lack of violence which is the complete contrast of what we see today. Yet the way Michael pursues his victims and the chilling background score make the movie creepy and entertaining.

As good as it gets in the horror genre. "Halloween" is the perfect horror movie: atmospheric, well acted, masterfully directed by John Carpenter, and scary as hell. It is, essentially, a bloodless film, yet it is remembered as a brutal, gory slasher movie. Watch it on a late October night with all the lights out and the sound way up, and you'll see why it's the best/scariest horror movie ever.… Expand

The most frightening of its kind. The tension in this film is so real, so unsurpassed by any of the sequels that to simply call Halloween a masterpiece of suspense is an understatement. The acting is not great, but that does not matter. The only acting needed here is by the villain, who is incredibly horrifying.

Boy kills his sister, goes to asylum, escapes 15 years later, goes back to hometown to terrorise teenagers. John Carpenter's benchmark slasher film which served as a template for many others to follow & created the horror that is Michael Myers. Most of it still stands up quite well using Myers sparingly, sometimes only seeing Myers' mask standing out in the darkness in the corner of your eye. It does get a bit silly in the last ten minutes but overall a solid horror film.… Expand

an excellent horror movie

Halloween was not the best in the series, because first of all, there was no blood. Which made the movie really suck, A horror slasher film needs to have blood.

Brilliant film. Great suspenseful movie, John Carpenter is a genius. Not much gore but certainly one of the best horror movies ever. The music is well-written and makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. Michael Myers is the ultimate horror movie character, well thought-out, a simple character yet creates an atmosphere which is incredibly scary. First saw this film when I was 10 and scared the life out of me, overall, a great film and possibly the best horror movie ever.… Expand

Yeah, it's a Good Horror Movie but it pales in comparison with The Exorcist, Psycho or even Alien. Michael Myers spawned a lot of copy-cats like Jason Voorhees, Freedy Krueger, Pinhead, The Guy from Scream etc. The Best atmosphere combined with the music is the best thing that Halloween creates.It somewhat becomes boring in the 2ns half, anyway it's in top Horror Movie of all Time.Now leave me alone!… Expand

Even though this movie is technically a slasher flick the action doesn't come un till much later into the movie so if your looking for a plain blood bath this is probably not your type of thing however the story line is well developed and the suspense does build, as we know that at the end the killer (Michael Myers) will inevitably attack the main character (Laurie Strode) . The basis of the plot is that Michael Myers escapes from a mental institute and goes back to his home town where he starts Stalking a girl, After finding out about the escape his physiologist realises where he is heading and goes to the home town to find, and i will leave the rest of this brilliant movie for you to watch, since if you are a horror fan this is defiantly a must watch.… Expand

This is a great movie that has dated a bit, but the premise and atmosphere is creepier than Hell. No guts, no glory doesn't apply here, there is little or no blood and still manages to scare. The thought of being watched has always made the hair on the back of my neck stand.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Bottom Line: Why appreciate Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street when you can appreciate this? Halloween started it ALL. The thing that truly makes this one a classic is that it is certainly a slasher, but it also manages to maintain the actual “horrorâ€� part. HALLOWEEN is scary in a way that nearly every bit of violence and gore is left to the viewer’s imagination, but the terror is still there, if not enhanced because of that aspect. Right after it was released, every filmmaker (including people as brilliant as Wes Craven) was raving, “I want to produce/direct something like that!â€� And they did, with films like FRIDAY THE 13TH, THE AMITYVILLE HORROR, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, and (to name a ridiculous “cult classicâ€�) CHILD’S PLAY. Except they all forgot one part: to imply the graphicness of the murder. If not forgotten, then flipped around: these rip-offs were, unlike HALLOWEEN, gushing organs. The concept, apparently not continued in any of the sequels or remakes, that HALLOWEEN brought up was resurrected in the late ’90s with THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, which spawned an entire horror sub-genre that has been used for implication with PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, THE LAST EXORCISM, and (within the last month or so) APOLLO 18; allowing the implying to be filmed using amateur methods for footage capturing. So before I continue with this review, I’d like to add to my first statement by saying that another thing that truly makes HALLOWEEN a classic is that it spawned one of very largest legacies in all of horror movie history. Probably not as much as the original PSYCHO; a little more than NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Even with a budget lower than $1,000,000 and a barely-known company producing it, this has a very eerie mood. John Carpenter serves as director, producer, and composer, and he does a fantastic job with all three–cueing cutaways and blurs to leave all stranglings, slicings and dicings to our endless imaginations; whilst also accompanying the horror with two or three main themes that makes simply walking down a staircase seem like seeing dead people (that came 21 years later, though–thank you, Haley Joel Osment). Not sure why you must watch HALLOWEEN every time the final day of October comes around, starting now? Go back and read my review again until you get what I’m trying to say. This is a must-see–an over-and-over must-see that tells of the night HE came home!… Expand