• Wednesday, October 25, 1978

• Country:

  USA

• Language:

  English

• Runtime:

  101 min

1978

On Halloween 1963, the small town of Haddonfield is shocked when six-year-old Michael Myers returns from trick-or-treating and for some unknown reason stabs his older sister to death with a big kitchen knife and is found by his parents staring into space with the bloody knife in his hand.

Sent to a mental institution, Michael spends the next 15 years just sitting, still staring into space despite the best efforts of his Doctor, Dr. Samuel Loomis. Now, on October 30th 1978, something triggers Michael off and during a storm manages to steal a car from Dr. Loomis and Nurse Marion (who was coming to take Michael to a court to keep him locked up) and goes back to Haddonfield where he steals a white mask.

There, Laurie Stode, Micheal's younger sister, finds that Michael is stalking her during the day (at school, at her home etc - but she doesn't know who he is.) As Dr. Loomis arrives and with the Sheriff frantically looks for Michael he doesn't know that Laurie is baby-sitting Lindsey and Tommy and that Laurie's friends Annie, Lynda and Bob are disappearing one by one.

Goofs

• Continuity: The Wallace house has its living room on the left side of the house and yet when anybody enters the house, they go to the right of the door to enter the living room.
• Factual errors: Annie tells Laurie that she will pick her up at 6:30. When she does, it is full daylight, which is not the case anywhere in Illinois on October 31. And even though it is a small town, it's full dark when the girls arrive at their destination.
• Errors in geography: The movie is set in Illinois, but when Tommy and Laurie are going to school, the trees in the background are palm trees.
• Continuity: When Michael is stalking Tommy at the school there are a few cars parked across the street from where he's headed. Once Michael gets into his car, all of those cars are gone.
• Continuity: The front door knob of the house where Laurie is babysitting is on the right when seen from both sides of the door.
• Errors in geography: Although the story takes place in Illinois, all the cars have California license plates.
• Crew or equipment visible: When Laurie sees the shape near the bush, cigarette smoke from director John Carpenter's cigarette can be seen floating into view.
• Crew or equipment visible: While Bob and Lynda are heading up to the bedroom from the living room, Lynda trips on a dolly track and tries to ignore it. [widescreen only]
• Continuity: When Michael Myers, as a child, walks through the living room with the knife, the clock above the stove shows 9:25 and the clock on the wall reads 9:40, but just 5-7 seconds later, the clock chimes 10 times.
• Crew or equipment visible: In a close up on the phone before Lindsay answers it, someone's shadow moves into the light.

Taglines

• The trick was to stay alive.
• The Night HE Came Home!
• HE came home for HALLOWEEN.
• Everyone is entitled to one good scare.
• Trick or treat... or die
• Let's celebrate the horror
• Happy Halloween!
• The Trick Is To Stay Alive!

Trivias

• There are numerous references in John Carpenter's movies, particularly in this film, that are taken from the area surrounding the town he grew up in - Bowling Green, KY. The performance of the film's musical score is credited to "The Bowling Green Philharmonic." There is no Philharmonic in Bowling Green. The "orchestra" is actually Carpenter and assorted musical friends. In one scene the subtitle depicts the location as "Smiths Grove, IL." Smiths Grove is actually a small town of about 600 people located 15 miles north of Bowling Green on I-65. There are also numerous references in Halloween to street names that are major roads in the greater Bowling Green area.
• As the movie was actually shot in early spring in southern California (as opposed to Illinois in late October), the crew had to buy paper leaves from a decorator and paint them in the desired autumn colors, then scatter them in the filming locations. To save money, after a scene was filmed, the leaves were collected and reused. However, as Jamie Lee Curtis and John Carpenter note on the DVD audio commentary, the trees are quite full and green and even some palm trees can be seen, despite that in Illinois in October, the leaves would probably be mostly gone and there would be no palm trees.
• Jamie Lee Curtis' first feature film.
• Due to its shoestring budget, the prop department had to use the cheapest mask that they could find in the costume store: a Captain Kirk (William Shatner) mask. They later spray-painted the face white, teased out the hair, and reshaped the eye holes.
• The kids watch the opening of The Thing from Another World (1951) on TV. Carpenter would later re-make this film himself in 1982 as The Thing (1982).
• Halloween was shot in 21 days in April of 1978. Made on a budget of $320,000, it became the highest-grossing independent movie ever made at that time.
• According to screenwriter/producer Debra Hill, the character of Laurie Strode was named after John Carpenter's first girlfriend.
• Tommy Doyle's name was from Rear Window (1954) and Sam Loomis' name is from Psycho (1960).
• Inside Laurie's bedroom there is a poster of a painting by James Ensor (1860-1949). Ensor was a Belgian expressionist painter who used to portray human figures wearing grotesque masks.
• The film takes place primarily in Haddonfield, Illinois. Haddonfield, NJ is the home town of screenwriter Debra Hill.

Awards

1. Saturn Award
   Event: Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
   Result: Nominated
   Category: Best Horror Film
   Recipient(s):
2. Critics Award
   Event: Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival
   Result: Won
   Category:
   Recipient(s): John Carpenter