Halloween

In 1963, a boy stabbed his sister to death on Halloween. Fifteen years later, he escapes from a psychiatric clinic and returns to the small town to kill teenagers on Halloween night. This modest subject matter was enough for John Carpenter to compose a perfect piece of suspense cinema: minimalist keyboard chords on the soundtrack, eerie Steadicam shots from the killer's perspective, dark spots where evil lurks and which constantly shift on the masterfully used wide screen – Hitchcockian suspense, staged with Hawksian laconicism. The low-budget film Halloween was one of the most successful productions of the 1970s – and probably the most influential, even if Carpenter's stylistic brilliance remained unmatched: the slasher scenario became as formulaic as the puritanical subtext of death as punishment for sexual activity, which struck a chord with teenagers worldwide. Who's afraid of the bogeyman? (C.H.)

Introduction by Christoph Huber on 5 September 2025