I watched the original "Halloween" on DVD tonight

[Bigdaddydvo]

And was reminded why it remains an enduring classic today. The film was replete with horror genre firsts (notably the effective use of "point of view" shots done from The Shape's line of sight, and the ultraeffective use of music to mold the tone of a scene)

The sense of Michael Myers "stalking" his victims is awesome. In sequals and other slasher ripoffs, the body count is always much higher, but with little benefit to the overall film. In Halloween there is an appreciably better build up to each killing.

The ending has an under-rated but in my mind a wonderful series of shots. After Loomis shoots Michael Myers and he falls off the balcony, Loomis looks away for a second only to see that Myers is gone. Carpenter then shows still shots in sequence of different rooms in the house, followed by other houses on the street to masterfully demonstrate that no one knows exactly where the Shape vanished to, and that the night is far from over.

"Halloween" might seem boring, cliched, or tame by today's standards, but it truly was a trail-blazing film that many modern horror movies continue to liberally borrow from.