Halloween

"The Night He Came Home!"

Director: John Carpenter Year: 1978 Runtime: 91 min IMDb: ⭐ 7.6
Movie Poster

Synopsis

Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween Night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.

On Halloween night, 1963, in the suburban Illinois town of Haddonfield, six-year-old Michael Myers brutally stabs his teenage sister Judith to death with a chef's knife. On October 30, 1978, psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis and nurse Marion Chambers drive to the sanitarium where Michael is incarcerated to escort him to a court hearing. During a breakout, Michael jumps on the roof and attacks Marion. She runs from the vehicle, allowing Michael to steal the car and drive away. Michael returns to Haddonfield, killing a mechanic and taking his coveralls before stealing a white mask, a rope, and two kitchen knives from a hardware store. The next morning, Halloween, he begins stalking a teenage girl, Laurie Strode, when she drops off a key at his abandoned childhood home that her father is trying to sell. Laurie notices Michael throughout the day, but her friends Annie Brackett and Lynda Van Der Klok dismiss her concerns. Loomis arrives in Haddonfield and discovers that Michael has stolen Judith's tombstone from the local cemetery. He meets up with the town sheriff, Annie's father Leigh Brackett, and they visit Michael's home. That evening, Michael follows Annie and Laurie to their babysitting jobs. Laurie watches Tommy Doyle, while Annie stays with Lindsey Wallace across the street. Michael spies on Annie and kills Lester, the family's German Shepherd. Tommy spots Michael from the windows and thinks he is the boogeyman, but Laurie dismisses him. Annie takes Lindsey to the Doyle house so she can pick up her boyfriend while Laurie watches both of the kids. Michael hides in her car and strangles her before cutting her throat. Lynda and her boyfriend Bob arrive at the Wallace house and have sex. Bob then goes downstairs to get a beer from the kitchen, where Michael pins him to the wall with a chef's knife. Michael poses as Bob in a ghost costume to taunt Lynda, who teases him to no effect. Annoyed, she calls Laurie to find out what happened to Annie, but Michael strangles her with the phone cord while Laurie listens on the other end, not knowing what is happening. Meanwhile, Loomis discovers the stolen car and searches the streets. Worried by the phone call, Laurie goes to the Wallace house and finds her friends' bodies and Judith's tombstone in one of the upstairs bedrooms. She runs into the hallway cowering in horror where Michael slashes her arm, causing her to fall over the banister. Though injured, she escapes the house and flees back to the Doyle house with Michael in pursuit. Tommy lets her in, and she orders him and Lindsey to hide. Laurie tries to call for help, only to find the phone dead. Michael sneaks in through the window and attempts to attack Laurie again, but Laurie defends herself by stabbing him in the neck with a knitting needle, causing him to collapse to the floor. Thinking Michael is dead, Laurie staggers upstairs to check on the children, where she tells them that she killed the "boogeyman", but right as she says this, Michael reappears and follows her upstairs, knife in hand. While Tommy and Lindsey hide in the bathroom, Laurie lures Michael to the bedroom closet, and while Michael is barging his way in, Laurie stabs him in the eye with a piece of wire hanger and in the chest with his own knife. After Laurie sends Tommy and Lindsey to a nearby neighbor's house to call the police, Michael rises again and attacks her once more, this time trying to strangle her. Seeing the kids running and screaming from the house, Loomis investigates and walks in on Laurie desperately fighting Michael off by dislodging his mask, revealing his face as he grabs the mask away. As Michael puts his mask back on, Loomis draws a revolver and shoots him repeatedly, causing him to stagger backward and fall off the balcony. A traumatized Laurie tells Loomis that Michael was, indeed, the boogeyman, to which Loomis calmly attests to her statement. When Loomis goes to check on the body, he is unsurprised to see that Michael has vanished. He stares into the night as Laurie sobs in terror.

Summary adapted from TMDb and Wikipedia sources.

🎄 Holiday Cheer Breakdown

Holiday Cheer Level: 5

Content Warnings

⭐ IMDb Parents Guide 🛡️ Common Sense Media

a dog dies
spoiler There are 2..roughly towards the middle of the movie 1 is when Dr Loomis and the sheriff go to Michael s abandoned house. You dont see it you just hear them say its a dog and talk about the details so cover your ears if you dont want to hear... The other is right after Annie get undressed in the kitchen the dog goes outside barking at Michael. He kills the dog then. You only see the lower limbs go limp.
someone is sexually assaulted
spoiler A teenage male character makes a joke about “ripping the clothes off” a young unsuspecting girl, the other teenage laughs and agrees, but it does not happen.
animals are abused
Yes
a cat dies
spoiler No cats die in the movie. There is only a dog that is killed by Myers
a pet dies
Yes
animals were harmed in the making
Yes
there's dog fighting
spoiler There is no dog fighting. The only dog seen belongs to the family Annie is babysitting for, which ends up being killed by Myers.
there's a dead animal
spoiler There is a dead dog, that is killed by Michael
an animal is sad
spoiler A dog is visibly distressed during a kitchen scene.
a dragon dies
spoiler There are no dragons in the Movie.
there are bugs
spoiler There are no bugs seen during the movie.
there's an alligator/crocodile
spoiler I haven't seen this movie in a while, but I'm pretty sure there aren't, since it takes place in a small rural town the middle of the US.
a horse dies
spoiler There are no Horses in the Movie.
an animal dies
spoiler A pet dog is strangled by Myers while barking at him, since the dog would likely draw attention to him if he continued. Only a little bit of the dog's body is seen, and Myers sets him down immediately after. No graphic noises, the dog's barking just abruptly stops.
someone leaves without saying goodbye
Yes
there's child abuse
spoiler No children are abused, but Myers is referred to as an It and called cold and evil as a child.
a woman is brutalized for spectacle
Yes
there's domestic violence
spoiler A young child attacks their older sister.
the abused forgives their abuser
spoiler Bro, how could you ever forget MICHAEL of all people, really though.
someone is abused with a belt
spoiler Nobody is abused with a belt nor murdered.
the abused becomes the abuser
spoiler Michael S. dies in the last movie, so its a yes while its also kind of a no, sense it took the entire town to take him down. So i'd say no.
someone is stalked
spoiler The whole movie is about someone who is Stalkers.
someone gets gaslighted
spoiler Tommy keeps talking Laurie about spotting Myers but she kept brushing him of, believing he was just trying to scare people.
there's addiction
Yes
alcohol abuse
spoiler There is underage drinking, if that is a thing that bothers you.
someone uses drugs
spoiler Annie and Laurie smoke pot in the car (while listening to Blue Oyster Cult!)
there's pedophilia
spoiler One of the teenage boys does make a weird off-color joke about removing a 10-year-old girl’s clothes. The girl isn’t present and doesn’t hear the joke and it’s obviously not in earnest. But still.
rape is mentioned
spoiler A character describes tearing off another character’s clothes (who is a young child). This is likely a script error rather than an actual paedophilic threat.
someone is drugged
spoiler Doctors discuss giving a patient a sedative but it's not shown or brought up more than once
someone is restrained
spoiler By manhandling (chokehold)
someone is beaten up by a bully
spoiler A child is pushed over by a group of older boys.
someone's mouth is covered
Yes
there's eye mutilation
spoiler The main villain get 'stabbed' in the eye with a wire coat hanger.
there's excessive gore
spoiler Rarely any blood and no insides shown so no
there's torture
spoiler The killer toys with their victims by stalking them slowly — it could be argued they psychologically torture them.
there's body horror
Yes
someone is burned alive
spoiler Not in this one.
there are hangings
spoiler The person is hung by their knees, not their neck, y'all. Goddang.
someone's throat is mutilated
spoiler If strangling counts, then yes.
there's shaving/cutting
spoiler Myers uses a knife to kill his victims.
someone is crushed to death
Yes
someone is buried alive
spoiler No one gets buried alive or dead.
someone struggles to breathe
spoiler Several people are strangled.
someone asphyxiates
Yes
someone breaks a bone
spoiler Laurie falls over the balcony onto the ground floor. She is shown walking with a limp and clutching her leg but it is not known if her leg was broken or just sprained.
hands are damaged
spoiler While I imagine Michael's hands might hurt after all the stabbage, I don't believe there is any direct hand injuries.
somebody is choked
Yes
someone is stabbed
spoiler Michael uses a knife to stab his victims. Michael is stabbed with I knitting needle at one point.
someone falls down stairs
spoiler Kinda? Near the ending of the film, Laurie Strode gets slashed on her arm and out of shock as she didn’t know Michael Myers was behind her, she screams and jumps back over a ralling on the top of the stairs and falls down basically to the bottom of the stairs and walks with a injured leg and arm for the rest of the film. Though she doesn’t go down them like a tumble roll down or something, she still goes down.
someone falls to their death
spoiler Someone falls to what appears to be their death, but when it cuts to the ground again there is no body.
Someone becomes unconscious
Yes
a minor is sexualized
spoiler two teenagers discuss being about to have sex, and joke about making a 10 year old girl join them
a kid dies
spoiler the only deaths are teenagers, no children younger than high school
a major character dies
Yes
someone dies
Yes
a non-human character dies
spoiler 2 dogs
A child's dear toy is destroyed
spoiler Not a toy, but a boy is bullied until they make him fall and smash his Halloween pumpkin.
a parent dies
spoiler Myers only kills Lauries friends and his Sister, none of Which were parents.
a family member dies
spoiler Movie opens with a child killing his own sister
there are razors
Yes
there are clowns
spoiler Michael wears a clown halloween costume at the beginning
there are shower scenes
spoiler @FandomLover stop spamming. There is no need to put “there is no x” for the entries. Just vote “no” and leave it at that.
there's ghosts
Yes
there are jump scares
spoiler Myers appears out of nowhere which can cause jumpscares.
There's audio gore
spoiler I mean there’s death sounds like stabbing, slitting, and being strangled with a phone cord but minus that, not like saw levels or something.
there are 9/11 depictions
spoiler The Movie was made in 1978, Wayyy before 9/11
there is copaganda
Yes
there's incarceration
Yes
there's live gunfire
Yes
there's smoke or haze
Yes
needles/syringes are used
spoiler Knitting needle to the head
there's a mental institution scene
spoiler You see patients walking around the grounds at night, but you don't see the inside of the facility
electro-therapy is used
Yes
there's a hospital scene
spoiler Laurie is sent to the hospital following the movie, but no hospitals are shown on screen.
someone has an eating disorder
Yes
a mentally ill person is violent
spoiler Michael Myers is mentally ill and attacks and kills multiple people in the movie, starting of with his sister when he was around 6.
there's misophonia
spoiler One scene where Lynda is filing her nails and the noise is VERY loud and obnoxious, could be overwhelming
someone says "I'll kill myself"
Yes
there's body dysmorphia
spoiler No. There is no body dysmorphia
there's a claustrophobic scene
spoiler A character is trapped in a closet during a very tense scene.
there's dissociation, depersonalization, or derealization
spoiler A character appears to stare into space at the end of the film, which may trigger someone who experiences dissociation.
someone has an anxiety attack
spoiler Laurie freaks out and panics when she enters the house across from where she was babysitting and find the corpses of her friends.
someone has a mental illness
Yes
Autism specific abuse
spoiler Michael never has shown anything indicitve of autism in any of the movies especially this one. He was written to be a "Pure Evil" character not an Autistic-Coded one. the other comment in this section that says Michael is autistic is wrong and baseless
shaky cam is used
spoiler there is a first person point of view so its kind of shakey
there's flashing lights or images
spoiler full screen lightning
there's screaming
Yes
there is obscene language/gestures
Yes
there are sudden loud noises
Yes
someone is watched without knowing
Yes
there is a baby or unborn child
spoiler This movie is completely safe for my fellow tokophobes. :)
someone is misgendered
spoiler In one scene, Loomis refers to Michael as "it," and the nurse remarks that he should use "him." In another scene, Loomis says Michael isn't a man. These are meant to be more dehumanizing than misgendering, but could still make someone uncomfortable.
there's ableist language or behavior
spoiler The psychiatrist Loomis' behaviour towards Michael Myers could be considered ableist. He calls Michael "it", and tells someone that he had cold, "evil" eyes as a child. Both are dehumanizing and uncomfortable for a professional (who had been treating Michael since he was a six year old boy) to say about a patient.
a minority is misrepresented
spoiler Micheal is supposed to be mentally ill and the description of him as being a creature of pure evil since age 6 is a little suspicious
religion is discussed
Yes
there's demons or Hell
spoiler No, but it is worth noting that Michael is portrayed as being almost supernatural--seemingly teleporting at times, and surving wounds that should kill him.
there's bestiality
Yes
there are incestuous relationships
spoiler I definitely wouldn't call this incest but still might be triggering for some. SPOILER: Michael spies on his sister (non sexually) and then walks into her room and kills her. She's topless because she just had sex with her boyfriend and we see her breasts.
there is sexual content
spoiler you can see bare breasts in a scene
there are nude scenes
spoiler There is nudity in the opening scene of the film. Michael walks into his sister's room, where she is sitting naked at her dresser. Later in the film, Laurie's bottom half is shown with only underwear on.
someone is sexually objectified
Yes
the ending is sad
spoiler Laurie is left undoubtedly traumatized and Micheal is still on the loose.
Santa (et al) is spoiled
Yes
a person is hit by a car
spoiler No one is hit by a car, but Myers attacks Loomis and a woman as they sit in their car by the asylum Myers is in.
a car crashes
spoiler The car Dr Loomis and a nurse is driving is attacked by Myers and crashed.
a car honks or tires screech
Yes
there's blood/gore
spoiler Blood but in small amounts.
there's gun violence
spoiler A man is shot repeatedly, but survives.

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