• Halloween (1978) -- Terrifying thrills, with simplistic delivery, 8/10. TWEET a review with the #JPMN hashtag, and have it featured! VISIT: http://bit.ly/JPMNYT for quick reviews & trailer commentaries ~~ Movie Night Reviews ~~ Incorporating viewer comments and tweets, your host and film critic Jonathan Paula reviews everything from opening day releases, recent DVDs, upcoming trailers, and classics from years past. Along with your votes, each film is scored on the "Rate-O-Matic" for a 1-10 ranking. A "Five Word Summary" quickly encapsulates each review while "Factor Facts" highlight a film's best and worst features in ten key categories. Each "Quick Review" is an excerpt from a full episode, which airs on the Jogwheel channel every Friday, November through May. Born in February 1986, Jonathan Paula is a professional YouTuber and creator of the hit web series, "Is It A Good Idea To Microwave This?". In April 2006 he founded Jogwheel Productions, a new media production company that specializes in web video. He has been reviewing films since 2003, and professionally since 2009. Jon graduated from Emerson College in 2008 with a degree in Television Production / Radio Broadcasting. He currently lives in Rockingham, NH with his wife Rebecca. ~~ Links ~~ Twitter --------------------- http://bit.ly/JonTW Facebook ---------------- http://bit.ly/JonFBFan Main Channel ----------- http://bit.ly/Jogwheel 2nd Channel ------------ http://bit.ly/JonWorld Movie Night Show ----- http://bit.ly/JogJPMN FAQ Video --------------- http://bit.ly/JogFAQv T-Shirts ------------------- http://bit.ly/JogStore ~~ Technical ~~ Created by ------ Jonathan Paula Camera ---------- Panasonic HMC-150 Microphone ----- Sennheiser ME 66 Software --------- Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 Computer ------- http://bit.ly/JAV010 • Jogwheel Productions © 2013 • ~~ Review Script ~~ This John Carpenter classic was released in late October of 1978... grossing seventy million at the box-office, over two hundred times its meager budget of $325,000. The eerie and iconic theme music sets the mood for the quick 91-minute horror film, which opens with a horrifying flashback scene of a small six-year-old Michael Myers murdering his sister in cold blood with a large kitchen knife. No motivation or explanation is ever provided for the reasons behind Myers' gruesome slayings: and that is undeniably the charm of this - at times - almost quaint teenage story. The masked, mysterious killer doesn't have any reasoning... he just wants to kill, and move on: and the fact that he does so on a chilling Halloween evening in a typical suburban neighborhood make the events all the more terrifying. The quintessential slasher film, and arguably the grandfather to the entire subgenre of widely successful horror films, "Halloween" is at worst slow-paced, and at best, incredibly unsettling to watch. In her first ever role, Jamie Lee Curtis is magnificent as the teenage babysitter who slowly realizes her friends down the street are being murdered one at a time by the masked murderer: the angst, worry, and fear is expertly conveyed through her emotions. Donald Pleasence is the steady voice of reason, Myers' former doctor before the deranged killer escaped from a nearby mental hospital, who warns the townsfolk, "You must be ready for him... If you don't, it's your funeral." All of the gory violence takes place off camera, with Carpenter implementing the immensely effective technique of letting the audience imagine the deadly sights for themselves. The claustrophobic filming style, often switching to Myers' first-person perspective as he stalks his prey makes for some tense moments in the dark homes and streets of this sleepy Illinois town. With the scariest moments not appearing until late, the first hour of this picture almost feels like a fun coming-of-age teenage drama, with Curtis lamenting over her babysitting duties, and her friends attempting to hook her up with a boy from their school. These scenes work well to develop the characters, and the writing is strong... but honestly, you want to see blood and death, not high school gossip. The first movie in an incredibly successful franchise, that would spawn seven sequels and two remakes: this is a low-budget, slow-moving horror film that still sends chills up your spine, even 35 years after release. The equally enjoyable1981 sequel picks up immediately where this picture leaves off, making for a great three-hour experience next time you watch them alone with the lights off. Required viewing for all slasher-fans, "Halloween", has "Terrifying thrills, with simplistic delivery". ~

• published: 27 Oct 2013
• views: 456