DUDE. Some friends came over the other day, and one of them is a guy who's totally into older horror movies (you know the guy, we all have a friend like him.)  He's all getting up in my face and telling me I HAD to watch the original Halloween movie. I guess because I liked some of those other newer scary movies. I thought you meant the one from the 80s, but then I looked it up and—get this—the original is from 1978! That’s INSANE! That’s like, older than the first Star Wars movie I saw! So I was like, “Alright, this is gonna be some ancient history,” but WHOA. You guys were not wrong. This movie is legitimately terrifying, even now!

So, What’s the Story? The Gory (Not Really!) Details

Alright, so the plot is actually super simple, which is maybe why it’s so good? It all starts in this small town called Haddonfield, Illinois, on Halloween night in 1963. This little six-year-old kid named Michael Myers, dressed in a clown costume, just… snaps, and kills his older sister. Freaky, right?

So they lock him up in a sanitarium for 15 years. But then, on the night before Halloween in 1978, he escapes! He steals a car, puts on this creepy white mask, and just heads straight back to his hometown. He doesn’t talk, he doesn’t run, he just… walks. And stalks. His main target seems to be this high school girl, Laurie Strode, and her friends, who are all babysitting on Halloween night. The whole movie is just this slow, tense build-up of him watching them, and then, well, you know… it’s a horror movie! It’s all about surviving the night against this dude who seems like he can’t be stopped.

The Cast of Characters (Who Mostly Try to Survive!)

The cast is pretty small, which makes it feel more intense.

• You’ve got Laurie Strode, played by Jamie Lee Curtis. Okay, so she is awesome. She’s not like some action hero; she’s just a normal, smart high school kid who is trying to have a normal Halloween, but she’s resourceful and fights back. Total legend.

• Then there’s Dr. Sam Loomis, played by this intense British actor, Donald Pleasence. He was Michael’s psychiatrist for all 15 years and he’s the only one who knows how truly evil Michael is. He spends the whole movie trying to hunt him down, basically yelling at everyone that the boogeyman is real.

• Of course, there’s Michael Myers, who they call “The Shape” in the credits. He’s played by a guy named Nick Castle for most of the movie. He never says a word, and that blank mask is just… pure nightmare fuel.

• And you have Laurie’s friends, Annie (Nancy Kyes) and Lynda (P.J. Soles), who are like your classic 70s high schoolers, just trying to hang out with their boyfriends and have a good time before Michael shows up.

Behind the Scenes! How Did They Make Something This Scary?!

This is the craziest part! I looked up how they made it, and it was basically a super low-budget indie film!

• It was directed by this guy John Carpenter, who is apparently a huge deal. He not only directed and co-wrote it, but he also composed the MUSIC! That iconic, creepy piano theme? Duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh… yeah, that was him! He made it in like three days!

• The Mask! This is the best fun fact EVER. Michael Myers’ terrifying mask? It’s a Captain Kirk mask from Star Trek! For real! They bought it for like, two bucks, spray-painted it white, and messed up the hair. They almost went with a clown mask, but realized the blank, emotionless face of Captain Kirk was way, way creepier.

• Because the budget was so low (like $300,000, which is nothing for a movie), all the actors wore their own clothes! Jamie Lee Curtis apparently went to JCPenney and bought Laurie’s whole wardrobe for less than $100.

• They filmed it in the spring in California, not the fall in Illinois. So they had to paint a bunch of fake leaves and scatter them around to make it look like autumn. If you look closely, you can see green trees and even palm trees in the background of some shots!

Why Halloween is Still a Total Masterpiece

Okay, so why is this movie from the 70s still so effective?

• It’s All About Suspense, Not Gore. This blew my mind. For a movie about a guy with a giant knife, you barely see any blood! It’s not about grossing you out. It’s all about the tension of him being there, hiding in the background, just out of focus. You’re constantly scanning the screen looking for him. It’s pure psychological fear.

• The Music is EVERYTHING. Seriously, turn off the sound and the movie is only half as scary. That simple piano score is what makes your heart pound. It tells you when to be scared before you even see anything.

• Michael Myers is Terrifying. He’s not some complicated villain with a sad backstory (at least not in this movie). He’s just… evil. The Shape. He doesn’t have a reason, and that makes him so much scarier than monsters that do.

• Laurie Strode is the OG "Final Girl." She’s smart and she fights for her life. A lot of horror movies I’ve seen have characters that just scream and fall down, but Laurie uses her brain. She uses a knitting needle, a coat hanger… whatever she can find! You’re rooting for her the whole time.

So yeah, shout out to everyone who recommended this. You were totally right. Halloween is a legit masterpiece. It’s slow, it’s tense, and it proves you don’t need a bunch of special effects and jump scares to be terrifying. It just gets in your head. So awesome!