Compass International Pictures released Halloween on 25 October 1978. Shortly after, Aquarius Releasing distributed the film in the northeast. And eventually, Astral Films released it across the US. It was something of a sleeper. Although it went on to make a lot of money, it didn’t come out of the gate that strong.

Halloween is the film that made John Carpenter a star. He also started working with Debra Hill at this time — an important and underappreciated collaboration. I’m fond of Dark Star and Assault on Precinct 13. But it was very clear that Halloween is on a different level, even though it didn’t have that big a budget.

But the film raises an important question. Why don’t I enjoy it more? Why don’t I still watch it? The film works really well. The story is compelling. The acting is great. And it looks good — both the lighting and camera work are wonderful.

Others have copied Halloween so much over the years. But I don’t think that’s the problem. The film is still far better than pretty much everything that came later.

But was Halloween a big break from the past? The truth is that everything is does well was also done well in Black Christmas. And if I’m going to watch one of them, it will always be Black Christmas.

I think it is simple. Carpenter and Hill basically remade Black Christmas. But they did it in a much more accessible way. It presents a perfect heroine with thigh-high socks. Yes, she does smoke a bit of the demon weed, but she coughs a lot, so you know she doesn’t do it a lot.

The film also provides a happy ending. Black Christmas presents evil injected into a fallen world. Halloween presents evil injected into an idyllic, vaguely 1950s suburban world. And I think that explains why Black Christmas was only modestly successful at the box office and Halloween was a huge hit. And also, why I haven’t watched Halloween in decades (until today).

Or maybe it’s just the Captain Kirk mask…

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Halloween (1978) poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.