Line #78 Film/Halloween1978


1	[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/halloween_1978_movie_poster.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:310:The boogeyman is coming...]]
3
4	->''"I met him fifteen years ago. I was told there was nothing left; no reason, no conscience, no understanding -- in even the most rudimentary sense -- of life or death, of good or evil, of right or wrong. I met this six-year-old child, with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and the blackest eyes... the Devil's eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up, because I realized that what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply... evil."''
5	-->-- '''Dr. Sam Loomis'''
6
7	''Halloween'' is a 1978 American horror film directed by Creator/JohnCarpenter (who also co-wrote the screenplay with producer Debra Hill) that has gone on to become one of the most profitable independent films of all time as well as one of the most influential works of modern screen horror. It's credited with [[TropeCodifier codifying]] the SlasherMovie formula first [[TropeMaker conceived]] by such earlier films as ''Film/{{Psycho}}'', ''Film/{{Black Christmas\|1974}}'', and ''Film/{{The Texas Chain Saw Massacre\|1974}}'', and is generally regarded as the genre's first true entry.
8
9	Halloween night, 1963: In Haddonfield, Illinois, six-year-old Michael Myers picks up a kitchen knife and stabs his teenage sister Judith to death without any explanation. Michael is subsequently committed to Smith's Grove Sanitarium, where he is put under the watchful eye of Dr. Samuel Loomis (Creator/DonaldPleasence). Fifteen years later -- on the night before Halloween -- he escapes from the asylum and heads for home, with Loomis in pursuit. Back in Haddonfield, meanwhile, shy teenager Laurie Strode (Creator/JamieLeeCurtis) takes a job as a babysitter for Halloween. As the night of masks draws nearer, she keeps noticing an eerie masked figure stalking her. While Laurie suspects one of her schoolmates is playing a harmless Halloween prank on her, she and her friends have no idea of the danger awaiting them and Haddonfield...
10
11	Produced on a shoestring budget, ''Halloween'' became a massive success on its release and [[FollowTheLeader inspired]] countless other slasher films in its wake. It also spawned [[Franchise/{{Halloween}} an extensive movie franchise]] starting with ''Film/HalloweenII1981'', followed by [[Film/{{Halloween 2007}} a remake/franchise reboot]] in 2007. Then, in 2018, [[Film/{{Halloween 2018}} yet another film in the series]] was created [[AlternateContinuity as a direct sequel to this film]], [[CanonDiscontinuity ignoring all the others]].
12
13	----
14	!! It's Halloween. I guess everyone's entitled to one good trope:
15	* ActionSurvivor: Laurie becomes this. Despite being a shy high school student, she's able to fight off the killer three times and does her best to protect the children.
16	* AmbiguouslyHuman: For most of the film, Michael seems to just be an insane man who can't (or won't) speak, but Dr. Loomis insists that there's something not quite human about him. Towards the end, we see some compelling evidence to support this idea, as he displays [[ImplacableMan superhuman levels of endurance and pain tolerance]], even [[spoiler:quickly getting up after being shot six times in the chest and falling out a second-floor window]].
17	* AndStarring: A 19-year-old Jamie Lee Curtis gets an "And Introducing" credit in her star-making debut.
18	* AntiClimacticUnmasking: Michael is unmasked while struggling with Laurie, and he is revealed to be...a normal-looking young man (a 23-year-old Tony Moran). The eye injury he's just received in the previous scene does make him look creepy, however.
19	* ApatheticCitizens: Nobody responds to Annie desperately honking her car horn while being choked or Laurie’s screams for help as Michael chases her across the street.
20	* ArtisticLicensePhysics: There is no plausible way a grown person's body could be pinned up on a wall with nothing more than a carving knife through the abdomen.
21	* AxCrazy: Michael is somewhat of a subversion, in that he is more calm and quiet than crazy, but is still a cold-blooded homicidal maniac without conscience who is driven to kill.
22	* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: Michael kills a couple of dogs over the course of the movie, though not ForTheEvulz. The first is implied to be killed for food, and the second is killed to stop it from giving away his presence by barking and to ensure it doesn't attack him since it is being threatened. This doesn't really make its death any easier to watch, however.
23	* BarrierBustingBlow: At one point during the final chase, Laurie locks herself in a room and tries to escape through the back door. While she's fiddling with a barricade, Michael punches right through the door and unlocks it.
24	* BedsheetGhost: Michael kills Lynda while dressed as one.
25	* BigBrotherInstinct: Laurie to Tommy and Lindsey. After all, she is their babysitter.
26	* BigDamnHeroes: Loomis finally catches up with Michael at the very end, just in time to save Laurie.
27	* BigThinShortTrio: The three girls: Lynda (big, as the tallest and most statuesque), Laurie (thin, with a more slender build) and Annie (short, at 5’3”, noticeably shorter than the 5’7” Laurie and 5’8” Lynda).
28	* BilledAboveTheTitle: "Donald Pleasence in [[InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt John Carpenter's]] ''Halloween''"
29	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Dr. Loomis manages to save Laurie from being strangled by Michael Myers at the last minute, shooting Myers six times and causing him to fall off a balcony. While the carnage is momentarily stopped, Laurie is horrifically traumatized by her friends’ deaths and her encounter with Michael, Loomis is horrified to realize he was right about Michael, and Michael vanishes despite being shot by Loomis and thrown off the balcony.]]
30	* BloodlessCarnage: There are only two shots in the whole film with actual blood, and neither is particularly explicit. [[spoiler:Laurie even walks (or rather limps) through the kitchen where Bob was ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice and finds no blood at all.]]
31	* BlueIsHeroic: Laurie is the FinalGirl and spends the second half of the film wearing a blue shirt and blue bell bottoms.
32	* BookEnds: We open with a POV of Michael approaching his house on Halloween night, 1963, and we close with a shot of the Myers house, broken down and abandoned on Halloween night, 1978.
33	* BrakeAngrily: Michael speeds past the girls while driving Loomis's car, prompting Annie to call out, "Hey, jerk! Speed kills!" He slams the brakes, then drives away after a suspenseful {{beat}}.
34	* TheBully: Three mean kids tease Tommy about the Boogeyman in the schoolyard, causing him to fall on his pumpkin and crush it.
35	* BystanderSyndrome: While being pursued by Michael during the climax, Laurie bangs on the door of a neighbor's house and screams for help. They turn their lights on, peer through a window and see her...and then shut the lights back off a few seconds later.
36	* CallBack: Three older boys tease Tommy about being scared of the Boogeyman. Later in the film, Dr. Loomis scares away the same three boys as they're about to enter the Myers house.
37	* CatScare:
38	** Early in the film, Laurie -- walking home from school and having already caught a brief glimpse of Michael standing behind a hedge--is startled by Sheriff Brackett bumping into her on the sidewalk.
39	--->'''Brackett:''' ''[grinning]'' You know, it's Halloween. I guess everyone's entitled to one good scare, huh?
40	** Later, there's a scene where Loomis and Brackett are exploring the abandoned Myers house and a broken gutter suddenly crashes through a window, causing a startled Loomis to whip out a handgun.
41	--->'''Loomis:''' ''[catching Brackett staring at the gun]'' You must think me a very sinister doctor. ''[chuckles nervously]'' Oh, I do have a permit. ''[fishes it out and shows it to Brackett]''
42	--->'''Brackett:''' Seems to me you're just plain scared.
43	--->'''Loomis:''' Yes. Yeah, I am. ''[goes into monologue quoted up top]''
44	** Still later, Loomis -- keeping watch outside of the Myers house -- scares off a group of boys from nosing around...and gets spooked himself when Brackett comes up behind him and puts a hand on his shoulder. Brackett really likes to sneak up on people, apparently.
45	* CerebusCallBack: Laurie gets scared early in the film by an ominous-sounding phone call...which turns out to be Annie. She later [[spoiler:overhears Lynda being strangled over the phone and assumes it's Annie playing another prank]].
46	* CharacterCatchphrase: Lynda drops "totally" into a lot of her sentences. Debra Hill claims it reached MemeticMutation levels with a few teens in one showing she went to.
47	* CharactersAsDevice: Michael does nothing but murder people, for which he has no motive and from which he gets no benefit. He's simply a monster to threaten our main heroine. It's intentional in this case, as Carpenter set out to make Michael impossible to sympathize with or even understand.
48	* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: Downplayed, but Annie is the sheriff's daughter. She smokes weed, plans to have underage sex, and abandons the girl she's babysitting.
49	* ColorWash: Cinematographer Dean Cundey used this to give the daytime scenes an autumnal brown tint and the night scenes an eerie blue one. (The 2003 DVD transfer of the film "[[DigitalDestruction fixed]]" this, much to the dismay of Cundey and the fans. Thankfully, the issue was largely rectified for the 35th Anniversary DVD/Blu-ray release in 2013.)
50	* ContrivedCoincidence: Loomis arrives at Smith's Grove to escort Michael to a mandatory court hearing on the very night (and at the very time) of his escape, thus allowing Michael to make off in his car.
51	** This may not be a contrived coincidence at all but could have actually been planned for by Michael, as he would've known Loomis would be coming to take him to the hearing that night. He waited 15 years to break out, which makes it seem like this was exactly the opportunity he was waiting for.
52	* CoolBigSis: While not biologically related to him, Laurie behaves like an older sister to Tommy Doyle, a neighborhood boy she often babysits. Tommy seems genuinely fond of her as well.
53	* CreatorCameo: John Carpenter provides TheVoice of Annie's boyfriend, Paul, over the phone.
54	* CreditsGag: The score is credited as being performed by "The Bowling Green Symphony Orchestra," a fictional name. John Carpenter (who attended college in Bowling Green, Kentucky) did it all himself.
55	* CreepyChild: Michael is first visible as a blank-faced child in a clown costume holding a bloody knife.
56	* CurseCutShort: Subverted, after Annie complains that Paul is grounded and "can't come over tonight".
57	-->'''Laurie:''' ''[to Annie]'' I thought you were babysitting tonight?
58	-->'''Lynda:''' The only reason she babysits is to have a place to--
59	-->'''Laurie:''' ''[realizing she's forgotten something]'' Shit!
60	-->'''Annie:''' I ''have'' a place for ''that''.
61	* CutPhoneLines: Laurie finds them at the Doyle house she's chased into towards the end after being chased there by Michael when he slashes her.
62	* CuteBookworm: Laurie is bookish and an excellent student as well as desirable, albeit with a rather Plain Jane fashion sense.
63	* DamselOutOfDistress: Laurie's the first person in the film to escape from and injure Michael.
64	* DangerTakesABackseat: When Annie gets in the car, Michael is behind her. He strangles her, then slashes her throat.
65	* DeadGuyOnDisplay: Annie's corpse is left posed on the bed with Judith's gravestone above her head.
66	* DeadManHonking: [[spoiler:Annie Brackett]] falls dead on her car horn after Michael Myers cuts her throat.
67	* DeadpanSnarker: Annie, and to a lesser extent, Laurie.
68	* DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler:Annie, Bob, and Lynda all end up this way]].
69	* DisconnectedByDeath: [[spoiler:Lynda gets strangled to death by a phone cord mid-conversation]].
70	* DramaticThunder: Michael's escape from Smith's Grove takes place during a thunderstorm.
71	* DramaticUnmask:
72	** In the intro, when the slasher-killer is unmasked to reveal...a six-year-old boy.
73	** Again at the end, when the adult Michael is briefly unmasked to reveal...[[AntiClimacticUnmasking a normal-looking, and surprisingly beautiful, man]] (aside from the eye injury).
74	* DroneOfDread: Most of the murders in the film are accompanied by one of these in the score.
75	* DropDeadGorgeous: All three female victims are killed in a state of undress. Judith is wearing only panties, Annie has pulled a SexyShirtSwitch, and Lynda is presumably nude although we only see her top half.
76	* DualWielding: Michael stole two knives from the hardware store. However he doesn't use both at once, as he discards the first knife he's using after Laurie stabs him in the neck (it's shown on the floor in the closing montage) and then brings out the second, which Laurie uses to stab him again when he attacks her in the closet.
77	* DullSurprise:
78	** Young Michael's parents' reaction to discovering him in front of the house dazedly clutching a bloodied carving knife. His mom even casually places her hands in her pockets.
79	** Loomis, after seeing [[spoiler:Michael's body missing]] at the end. The idea behind this is presumably that Loomis, believing Michael to be pure evil, is unsurprised at his quarry's escape.
80	* DumbBlonde: Lynda, the blond cheerleader, rattles off all of the school books she regularly "forgets" to take home from school, which amounts to all of them.
81	* TheEndOrIsIt: Michael Myers is shot repeatedly at point-blank range and then falls from a second-story balcony. When Loomis goes to look, however, [[NeverFoundTheBody the body is gone]]. Turns out he really ''was'' the Boogeyman. Thus, the parade of sequels begins...
82	* EnemyRisingBehind: One of the movie's most famous scares has a NotQuiteDead Michael Myers slowly rising up behind an exhausted Laurie after she (and we) think she killed him.
83	* EnfantTerrible: Michael commits seemingly motiveless murder at the age of six.
84	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Myers kills his sister at the age of six, establishing that he is the villain of the story.
85	* EverytownAmerica: Haddonfield, Illinois, the fictional town where the majority of the story takes place, is your typical "all-American" town with idyllic suburban streets, friendly townsfolk, and the local high school girls babysitting the little ones.
86	* EvilDetectingDog: Lester, the Wallaces' German shepherd, barks at Michael hiding behind the bushes...until [[spoiler:Michael strangles him]].
87	* EvilPhone:
88	** Subverted when Laurie -- already starting to freak out after having seen Michael watching her in several places, including her nextdoor neighbor's backyard -- answers a ringing phone but gets no response from the other end save for gross munching noises. She hangs up, the phone rings again, she warily answers...and it's Annie, who wants to know why she hung up before (and explains that she couldn't talk with a mouthful of food...although [[MoonLogic why you would call someone to talk when you have a mouthful of food and ''can't'' talk is anyone's guess]]).
89	** Played straight later on, when Michael strangles Lynda with the phone cord just as she calls Laurie. Michael then picks up the phone to listen to Laurie's frantic cries, before calmly hanging up.
90	* EyeScream: It's not particularly detailed or gory, but Laurie stabs Michael in the eye with a hanger at the end of movie. Michael being Michael, he just walks it off.
91	* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: Once Michael Myers appears on screen as a child. It may be hard to believe that a child with a harmless and innocent appearance is the psychopathic AxCrazy SerialKiller of the whole movie. Even after being unmasked towards the end of the movie, he resembles nothing so much as a normal, even handsome, young man.[[note]]Carpenter specifically wanted Michael to have an "angelic" face, to juxtapose with his horrible deeds.[[/note]]
92	* FailedASpotCheck:
93	** Loomis hangs around the Myers house for ''hours'' before noticing that the car Michael stole from the asylum is parked a little way down the street in plain sight.
94	** Earlier, when he finds Michael's discarded hospital clothes, he leaves just before he would've found the body of the guy Michael killed for his coveralls.
95	** When going to meet Paul, Annie finds her car door locked and promptly goes to retrieve them. Upon returning, the same door is ''open'' and she obliviously gets in, only noticing something is off after noting the amount of condensation on the glass. Michael then promptly attacks from the back seat.
96	* FanService:
97	** In the opening scene, we get a glimpse of Judith topless and in panties through Michael's mask before he stabs her.
98	** Later we see Annie topless and in panties (albeit from the back) after she gets hot butter on her clothes and removes them before changing into a [[SexyShirtSwitch man's dress shirt]] as Michael watches from outside.
99	** Lynda also gets a scene topless...though it quickly turns into FanDisservice when Michael starts strangling her and later when her corpse is put in a closet.
100	* FanDisservice: Judith, Annie, and Lynda are all in various states of undress during their very unnerving death scenes with Laurie finding the corpses of the latter two.
101	* FinalGirl: Laurie Strode is the TropeCodifier for a shy, virginal, and more morally upright girl surviving - while her outgoing, sexually active, troublemaking friends die.
102	* TheForeignSubtitle: ''The Night of Masks'' (Finland), ''The Night of the Witches'' (Italy), ''The Night of Horror'' (Germany).
103	* GenreSavvy: Sheriff Brackett wants to alert the public that Michael is at large in Haddonfield, but Loomis dissuades him.
104	-->'''Loomis:''' No. If you do that, they'll see him on every street corner. They'll look for him in every house. Just tell your men to keep their mouths shut and their eyes open.
105	* TheGhost: Ben Tramer, Laurie's crush.
106	* GirlishPigtails: Little Lindsey Wallace wears her hair like this.
107	* GoingByTheMatchbook: Dr. Loomis finds a garage mechanic's abandoned pickup truck, and on the ground next to it is the same matchbook carried by the nurse who was with him when Michael Myers escaped the previous night. She leaves her matches in the car Michael stole, and they wind up on the ground next to the truck belonging to the guy he stole his jumpsuit from.
108	* GoryDiscretionShot:
109	** While killing Judith, Michael turns his head away after the first few stabs so we can't see anything other than the blade rising and falling (though we do see her as she falls over dead).
110	** Lynda falls out of frame as she's being strangled so that she's not visible in her final moments.
111	* GraveRobbing: An unorthodox example; Michael steals his sister's gravestone and later deposits it on the Wallaces' bed behind Annie's corpse.
112	* HalfEmptyTwoShot: Throughout the first half of the movie, [[Creator/JamieLeeCurtis Laurie]] is repeatedly framed in this fashion, to suggest to the viewer that someone is about to fill the empty space. Towards the end, the setup is finally paid off when Michael Myers emerges from the closet to attack her. The film popularized this concept when it comes to horror.
113	* HalloweenEpisode: The film takes place almost entirely on two Halloween nights, 15 years apart. This was the idea of the film's financier, Moustapha Akkad.
114	* HandOrObjectUnderwear: Judith reflexively covers her breasts when she spots little Michael in her bedroom, then keeps them there in a vain effort to defend herself from his attack.
115	* HiddenDepths: Laurie Strode -- sweet, nerdy, pure, virginal NaiveEverygirl -- can hold her own against a psychotic killer.
116	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Michael gets stabbed with his own knife by Laurie. This temporarily puts him down.
117	* HollywoodDarkness: ''Halloween'' was one of the first horror movies to use the blue filter for night scenes.
118	* {{Homage}}:
119	** Several shots are inspired by ''Film/{{Psycho}}'', including Judith's murder by kitchen knife while naked.
120	** The opening scene is inspired by the similar [[TheOner single-take opening]] from ''Film/TouchOfEvil''.
121	* HopeSpot: [[spoiler: Annie is saved from being trapped in the window and looks like she'll be safe as she prepares to meet up with her boyfriend Paul. Michael then kills her]].
122	* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: As the title suggests, the movie takes place on Halloween, with only a single scene (Michael's escape from Smith's Grove) not definitely happening on October 31st.
123	* HorrorHost: A TV station in Haddonfield (or some nearby city) has one of these, as referenced by Annie in dialogue.
124	-->'''Annie:''' I plan on making popcorn and watching Dr. Dementia. Six straight hours of horror movies. Little Lindsey Wallace won't know what hit her.
125	* HypocriticalHumor: Loomis spooks a few neighborhood kids and smirks to himself as he watches them flee, then gets startled himself when Sheriff Brackett puts a hand on his shoulder.
126	* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Bob is (somehow) pinned to a wall with a knife.
127	* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Michael picks off the other victims easily, but he fails to stab Laurie in the first encounter when she was defenseless and caught off-guard. His swing only tears one of her sleeves and draws her blood a bit. She gets more injured from the subsequent fall to downstairs, however.
128	* ImplacableMan: Michael cannot be reasoned with and keeps on trucking through multiple stabbings, gunshots, and a multistory fall.
129	* ImprovisedWeapon: Laurie uses a knitting needle and a coat hanger to fight off Michael in the Doyles' house.
130	* InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt: The title is rendered onscreen as "John Carpenter's ''Halloween''". This was the first of many Carpenter films to be billed in this manner.
131	* InstrumentalThemeTune: Composed by [[DoItYourselfThemeTune John Carpenter himself]].
132	* IntroOnlyPointOfView: The first several minutes of the film are shown from Michael's perspective as he walks around his house, fetches a kitchen knife, and murders his sister. This style made TheReveal that [[EnfanteTerrible he's only six years old]] all the more shocking (at the time, anyway).
133	* InvisibleParents: The only characters' parents shown are Michael's, as well as Laurie's and Annie's fathers, and only the latter -- Sheriff Brackett -- gets any significant screentime or involvement in the plot. Michael's parents are only shown for a moment and we hardly even see their faces, while Laurie's dad is only seen for a few seconds.
134	* IronicNurseryTune: Chanted by a bunch of unseen kids after the opening credits.
135	-->"Black cats and goblins and broomsticks and ghosts\
136	Covens of witches with all of their hosts\
137	You may think they scare me; You're probably right\
138	Black cats and goblins on Halloween night\
139	Trick or treat!"
140	* {{Irony}}: Immediately after taunting Tommy about the boogeyman, a bully runs directly into the boogeyman himself.
141	* ItIsDehumanizing: Dr. Loomis's treatment of Michael as a barely human "it" is established with this exchange with the nurse driving him to the asylum.
142	-->'''Loomis:''' Just try to understand what we're dealing with here. Don't underestimate it.\
143	'''Nurse:''' Don't you think we should refer to "it" as "him?"\
144	''<{{beat}}>''\
145	'''Loomis:''' If you say so.\
146	'''Nurse:''' Your compassion's overwhelming, Doctor.
147	* ItWasADarkAndStormyNight: Following the prologue, the film begins on a rainy Halloween Eve.
148	* KickTheDog: Michael kills two of them, and it's implied that the first one was [[EatTheDog for food]].
149	* LaserGuidedKarma: Myers gives one of Tommy Doyle's bullies a good scare after said bully taunts Tommy about the boogeyman.
150	* MadeOfIron: Michael. [[spoiler:He takes a knitting needle in the neck, a clothes hanger through the eye, his own knife in his gut, six bullets in the abdomen, and a fall onto his back from a second-story balcony, ''and that doesn't kill him.'']]
151	* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Michael's either a) a literal supernatural boogeyman who can't be destroyed, or b) just an extremely tough and resilient psychopath. The film's ambiguous enough to allow either interpretation, although [[spoiler:the ending strongly suggests the former]].
152	* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: Michael's modus operandi. He spends far more time stalking and watching his victims than actually attacking them.
153	** Throughout the film, Michael can be spotted lurking in the background, particularly in the scene set in the aftermath of Michael breaking into the hardware store. In that scene, Dr. Loomis is in the foreground [[MissedHimByThatMuch and Michael is driving the stolen car in the background right behind him]].
154	** During Annie's attempt at washing her soiled blouse, Michael can be seen watching her through the windows.
155	** He also lurks in a similar way while she chats on the phone with her boyfriend Paul.
156	** While Laurie is [[TemptingFate telling Tommy and Lindsey that she killed Michael]], Michael's shadow can be seen behind her as he comes upstairs to attack her again.
157	* MonsterClown: Michael's childhood Halloween costume. Was considered for the adult Michael as well, but the filmmakers wound up going with the soon-to-become iconic blank, white mask instead of a clown mask.
158	* MonsterMisogyny: While Michael does kill two men in the movie, they're mostly for practical purposes (killing the trucker for his clothes and killing Bob simply because he surprised him) but he appears to be primarily fixated on teenage girls, even from childhood. He also stalks and voyeuristically watches only his female victims and appears to enjoy their terror and suffering.
159	* TheMountainsOfIllinois: The movie was filmed in California in the spring, but set in Illinois during the fall. You can see mountains in the background as Loomis is talking in a phone booth and [[MisplacedVegetation palm trees]] as Laurie and Tommy are walking to school. The trees are also rather suspiciously verdant for all of the dead leaves scattered on the ground.
160	* MsFanservice: All three female victims spend a good portion of their screentime in some state of undress. Annie's wardrobe is particularly gratuitous, as she finds a way to need a SexyShirtSwitch while in the middle of babysitting and then manages to trap herself in a window so her [[PantyShot panty-clad rump]] is sticking up in the air.
161	* MuggedForDisguise: Or in this case ''murdered'' for disguise, as Michael evidently acquired his blue coveralls in this manner. Loomis happens upon the scene of the murder but misses the tow-truck driver's body.
162	* MurdererPOV: Sometimes accompanied by VaderBreath.
163	* NeckLift: Michael does this to Bob before killing him.
164	* NiceMeanAndInBetween: The three girls again: Laurie is the Nice, responsible bookworm, Annie has a Mean, sharp tongue and Lynda is the In-Between — still rebellious but more vapid.
165	* NoEnding: [[spoiler:Michael is shot several times and presumed dead, but vanishes without a trace moments later. Laurie screams in horror as Loomis gazes out into the darkness. End of movie.]]
166	* NotSoAboveItAll: Laurie gets in a couple of digs at Annie, notably teasing her for "exploring uncharted territory" when Paul drags her into the boys' locker room and quips "oh, fancy" when she sees Annie's SexyShirtSwitch.
167	* NothingIsScarier: Used throughout the film, most effectively in the final scene. Michael's [[VaderBreath ominous breathing]] grows louder and louder as we see shots of some of the places he's been during the final act, until...the credits roll.
168	* {{Novelization}}: Long out of print and tough to find now, it offers up a few additional plot points about Michael. For instance, it answers the PlotHole about how Myers knows how to drive: by carefully watching Loomis operate the car, during their many sessions apparently. It also heavily suggests that Michael is possessed by the ghost of an ancient Celtic boy who murdered a girl he was in love with and was subsequently cursed, making Michael an innocent victim. It also explains the wrench that can be seen in his hand when he smashes the car window to scare Nurse Marion (he'd used it to smash the locks in the other patients' rooms, allowing them to wander outside).
169	* ObviousStuntDouble: In an unusual inversion, Nick Castle, a stunt actor, plays Michael throughout the film, including when Michael jumps up onto the car roof in the beginning, and his face is briefly visible, clearly not played by the same actor who appears for one scene where Michael is unmasked by Laurie. Instead of an obvious stunt double, we have ourselves an obvious face double.
170	* OffscreenTeleportation: Michael is very effective at sneaking around, oftentimes impossibly so (his disappearing act behind the sidewalk shrub in broad daylight, then when he appears in Laurie's neighbor's backyard and disappears when the camera cuts away from him ''even though Laurie hasn't taken her eyes off him'' being particularly shining examples), which only adds to just how chilling and otherworldly he is.
171	* TheOner: The opening scene is one continuous shot until the DramaticUnmask.
172	* OrphanedSetup: A non-joke variant comes when the cemetery keeper begins to tell Loomis about another grisly past incident from the next town over, but gets cut off before he can finish.
173	* PeekABooCorpse: Laurie finds all three of her murdered friends in a 15-second span near the end of the film, the last two via this trope. This setup was mercilessly poached by future [[DuelingMovies franchise nemesis]] ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' movies for most of their climaxes.
174	* PoliceAreUseless: Downplayed compared with other slasher movies. Sheriff Brackett does take Loomis's warnings seriously and joins him on an all-night stakeout of Michael's childhood house. Unfortunately, Michael's actions don't meet Loomis's expectations, and he and Brackett only belatedly realize what's happening. On the other hand, Michael burgles a hardware store early in the day and the police don't find out until hours later. It’s also possible that this wasn’t Michael, considering the thief stole multiple knives (Michael only uses one) and rope (we never see Michael with any).
175	* PomPomGirl: Lynda's EstablishingCharacterMoment is talking about all the new cheers she has to learn.
176	* QuizzicalTilt: Michael does one after killing [[spoiler:Bob]]. The actor was told to regard him like he would a butterfly collection.
177	* RealLifeWritesThePlot: The original script had the murders take place over several days. Due to the low budget, the film's financier suggested setting the bulk of the film's action during one night: Halloween. This would minimize the sets and costume changes as well as provide a strong theme (and a title) to the film.
178	* ReCut: The 1981 Creator/{{NBC}} broadcast featured a new cut of the movie with less violence and 12 minutes of additional scenes shot during the production of [[Film/HalloweenII1981 first sequel]] with mostly the same crew, and Pleasence, Curtis, Soles, and Kyes reprising their roles. They were all toward the beginning of the film, and mostly just exist to pad out the runtime and tie the story more directly into the sequel. This cut was used for almost all TV broadcasts until the late '90s when the film was first remastered. Around that time, an "extended cut" was also released on VHS and DVD that was the original theatrical cut with the additional scenes included. These scenes were also included as a separate bonus feature on the 2013 Blu-ray, but, due to fan demand, the full "extended cut" was included in the deluxe box set in HD as a bonus feature (with the added scenes in SD). New scenes include:
179	** Dr. Loomis talking to other doctors at the hospital about Michael Myers' case and then later observing Michael himself.
180	** Dr. Loomis talking to two nurses, who explain how Michael managed to escape from Smith's Grove. They also show him that Michael wrote the word "sister" on a door, making Loomis assume that Michael has returned to Haddonfield.
181	** Lynda talking to Laurie, who later talks to Annie over the phone.
182	* RedHerring: Loomis stakes out the old Myers home, thinking that Michael will return there out of instinct. He's right, but Michael had already been there earlier in the day and seemed to have no plans to return the same evening.
183	* RiddleForTheAges: We never find out how Michael escaped from the asylum. Loomis and a nurse arrive and find that the patients are all milling around the grounds, with Michael lying in wait. The only hint is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it flash of a wrench Michael is carrying.
184	** We also never find out what the man from the cemetery keeper's anecdote did with the hacksaw...
185	* SceneryDissonance: Michael Myers stalks Laurie Strode and her friends through the sunny, idyllic streets of Haddonfield in the middle of the day.
186	* SceneryPorn: This film features some of the best cinematography in Carpenter's career, such as leaves blowing around on a sidewalk.
187	* SexyDiscretionShot: Judith and her boyfriend make out on the couch, then head upstairs. From Michael's POV outside, we see the lights in her room go out, telling us that they're having sex.
188	* SexyShirtSwitch: Annie soils her clothes while cooking, so she spends the rest of her time in the film walking around in panties and a man's Oxford shirt.
189	* SexSignalsDeath: [[spoiler:Judith Myers, later Lynda and Bob. Annie is also killed on her way to have sex.]]
190	* ShapedLikeItself:
191	-->'''Tommy:''' But I saw the boogeyman! I saw him!\
192	'''Laurie:''' Okay, what did he look like?\
193	'''Tommy:''' Umm...the boogeyman!
194	* ShoutOut:
195	** Haddonfield is named after producer and co-writer Debra Hill's hometown of Haddonfield, New Jersey.
196	** Laurie and the kids watch ''Film/TheThingFromAnotherWorld'' and ''Film/ForbiddenPlanet'' on television.
197	** Annie's father, [[TheSheriff Sheriff]] Leigh Brackett, is named for [[Creator/LeighBrackett the female screenwriter]] of ''Film/RioBravo'' (one of John Carpenter's favorite films, and a big plot influence on his [[Film/AssaultOnPrecinct131976 previous effort]]).
198	** Laurie reads a book on Myth/KingArthur to Tommy, who decides that he likes his comic books better.
199	** Dr. Sam Loomis's name is a reference to Sam Loomis from ''Film/{{Psycho}}''.
200	* SlashersPreferBlondes: Lynda, although it's semi-averted by having brunette Annie get bumped off first. Michael's sister Judith is another aversion.
201	* SmokingHotSex: Lynda and Bob light up in bed after their sex scene is done. Useful for TV edits of the film where the toplessness can be cut without losing the context of the scene.
202	* SpeedSex:
203	** Only a couple of minutes pass between when Judith and her boyfriend head upstairs to when we see him leaving.[[note]]It's one minute and seven seconds from the moment Judith's bedroom light turns off to the moment her boyfriend is heard telling her it's getting late and he's got to go.[[/note]]
204	** Although we don't know how long they'd been going at it before we see them, Lynda and Bob have to stop their fun because a ringing phone keeps distracting Bob and causing him to lose his arousal. When they start up again, somehow only a few seconds pass before he manages to finish.
205	* StealthHiBye: Pulled off repeatedly by the Shape, most notably [[spoiler:in the ending]]. It is especially egregious at an earlier point of the film; Laurie sees Michael staring at her from a neighbor's yard, but after a close-up on Laurie that lasts all of a couple of seconds, he's gone without a trace, with no sign that Laurie had even taken her eyes off of him.
206	* StockSlasher: Together with ''Film/FridayThe13thPart2'', ''Halloween'' serves as the TropeCodifier: Michael Myers sports a twisted Captain Kirk mask, never speaks, has superhuman endurance and resistance to pain, and wields a carving knife as a weapon.
207	* StonersAreFunny: Annie has a few amusing moments while high on marijuana. Laurie's pained hacking after trying to take a hit is also pretty funny.
208	* {{Suburbia}}: Of the Midwestern variety (although it was actually filmed in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena). Also one of the first horror films to utilize the familiar suburban environment and a key contributor to the "suburban Gothic" sub-genre.
209	* TakeThat: Laurie has a dim view of Tommy's comic books.
210	* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: When Laurie briefly [[AntiClimacticUnmasking unmasks him]], Michael looks like a normal young man, albeit with a freshly [[EyeScream injured eye]].
211	* ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight: The Shape (aka Michael Myers) is repeatedly compared to the boogeyman, apparently unkillable, and deeply enigmatic. He also seems to particularly target teenagers. In a subversion of this particular trope, he doesn't show much interest in actual children beyond stalking Tommy as he walks home from school.
212	* TimeSkip: After the opening, the film skips from 1963 to 1978.
213	* TouchOfTheMonster: Evoked when Tommy peers out the window and sees Michael carrying Annie's lifeless body in this fashion into the Wallace house across the street.
214	* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The original theatrical trailer gives away the first scene's twist: that the killer is the victim's six-year-old brother.
215	* TropeCodifier: Along with ''Film/FridayThe13th1980'', this film serves as one for the slasher film genre.
216	* {{Tuckerization}}:
217	** Dr. Loomis is named after Sam Loomis from ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' (and one of the hospital employees can be heard calling him Sam).
218	** Tommy Doyle is named after Wendell Corey's policeman character from ''Film/RearWindow''.
219	** Other characters are named after people Carpenter knew; Creator/LeighBrackett was a screenwriter who often worked with Creator/HowardHawks, Michael Myers was a producer who'd entered ''Film/{{Assault on Precinct 13\|1976}}'' into European film festivals, and Laurie Strode was supposedly an old girlfriend.
220	* UnbuiltTrope: One of the films that [[TropeCodifier defined]] the SlasherMovie craze...only the killer's not all that invincible, the main adult character is actively hunting the killer down rather than being [[AdultsAreUseless useless]], the violence is [[BloodlessCarnage shockingly bloodless]] by modern standards, there are only four onscreen deaths, the killer is deliberately given ''no'' FreudianExcuse,and under his mask, he's just [[AntiClimacticUnmasking a guy.]]
221	* UncannyValley: The original Michael Myers ''Halloween'' mask was a [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Captain Kirk]] mask, spray-painted white and with the hair frizzed out and eyeholes altered. The effect is downright creepy.
222	* UncommonTime: The score uses deliberate repetition of 5/4 to unsettle the audience.
223	* VaderBreath: Michael is constantly heard breathing heavily beneath his mask, [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness a trait that was sadly phased out in later films]].
224	* ValleyGirl: Lynda is "Totally!" a proto version of this. Amusingly enough, the movie ''was'' filmed in Southern California.
225	* WhamShot:
226	** After The Shape has been defenestrated and is sprawled dead on the lawn, Loomis comforts Laurie. When he goes to look out the window, and the body is gone. The real horror is on Loomis's InUniverse DullSurprise: he's resigned himself to the fact The Shape ''really is'' the Boogeyman.
227	** When Laurie [[spoiler: rips off Michael's mask, you'd expect to see a deformed monster like Freddy or even Jason...except it isn't the case. When Laurie removes his mask, Michael is ''[[TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse seen as a normal looking twenty-three-year-old man]]'', a complete aversion that he is a ''normal human being'' who's truly empty and soulless inside]].
228	** The ColdOpen, where we are shown a FirstPersonPerspective of Michael's first-ever murder. He goes into a house, steals a knife, takes a mask, and stabs a girl to death. He then runs outside, where the girl's parents come home and take his mask off. [[spoiler:We see that Michael is a six year old boy, and the girl he killed was his older sister.]]
229	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: After the opening prologue, we never see Michael's parents again or learn what happened to them.
230	* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: In the 1979 novelization based on the film, Michael Myers is portrayed as this. In the original film, however, this is absolutely avoided.
231	* WouldntHurtAChild: Ambiguous with Michael Myers. All of his victims are teenagers or adults, and he's never shown to be actively targeting pre-teen children except for when he stalks Tommy as he walks home from school. Whether this is due to happenstance or the fact that young kids just aren't on Michael's "to kill" radar screen is unclear. Either way, it isn't due to morality or conscience, as Michael has none; perhaps children just aren't as much of a thrill to go after as teens due to their helplessness.
232	* YouCantFightFate: Lampshaded by Laurie's English teacher during a class lecture... right after Laurie, gazing idly out the window, has caught a glimpse of Michael watching her from across the street.
233
234	----
235	-> '''Laurie Strode''': It ''was'' the Boogeyman.
236	-> '''Dr. Loomis''': As a matter of fact...it was.

Context Film / Halloween1978