Tracing The Shape
Halloween is 92 minutes long. The opening and closing credits shave roughly five minutes off that, so we're talking about 87 minutes of story, more-or-less. Less than an hour and a half to lay out the complex backstory of a killer, put all the pieces in place for
Tracing The Shape
It's time for everything to come together. We know where all the pieces are on the board, and the endgame is afoot, but Sam Loomis is still standing in the bushes by the Myers House, frozen half in jittery determination and half in fear that the unthinkable has
Tracing The Shape
Halloween was initially pitched as The Babysitter Murders. Its title was changed, in part, because in the days of drive-ins and rep screenings having a title like Halloween meant you could count on a fresh round of income every October, but it's still The Babysitter Murders. It always
Tracing The Shape
We've already talked about my favorite shot in Halloween, and how much I love it as an evocative piece of horror and a simply gorgeous piece of filmmaking. It'll probably be my favorite shot from any horror movie until the day I die, but despite my
Tracing The Shape
Something is happening to Michael Myers. Ever since he found a new mask, and a new way to carry himself around Haddonfield, The Shape has taken on new power, but it's more than an external effect on the town around him. Something internal is happening as well, and
Tracing The Shape
"Everybody's having a good time tonight," Laurie Strode says, peering through the blinds out at the Wallace house across the street. This is a very small moment, Laurie looking out at the lives of her friends with longing and a bit of sadness in her eyes,
Tracing The Shape
The Boogeyman is officially inside the house. This is the part in the slasher movie where people who tend to talk at the screen really start chirping, because of course they know what Lynda and her boyfriend Bob (John Michael Graham) don't: That Michael Myers is there with
Tracing The Shape
So much has happened since the last time we saw Sam Loomis, and through it all he's been hiding in the bushes. I love these small moments, when Loomis is just hanging out at the Myers House because he's not sure what else to do, hoping
Tracing The Shape
There's a moment just before Annie Brackett is murdered inside her car at the Wallace house that speaks to a certain thematic undercurrent running throughout Halloween. Annie, clad only in a men's dress shirt, socks, shoes, and underwear, blanket wrapped around her shoulders, takes Lindsey Wallace
Tracing The Shape
What does Michael Myers want? I told you it was a question we'd ask again and again, because I remain deeply fascinated by the choices this man makes. To call him a killing machine stripped of all of his humanity is to rob him of the mind that
Tracing The Shape
The incorporation of children in the Halloween narrative, not just as props but as characters with their own fears and joys, is a crucial element of the movie's success. The film's original title was, famously, The Babysitter Murders, but it was never just about the babysitters.
Tracing The Shape
Our babysitters are in place. The children are in for the night. The TV is on, the phone is ringing, there is candy and popcorn and pumpkins. Outside, a Shape waits. There are many details worth unpacking in the sequence marrying Laurie's babysitting gig in one house with