Halloween: how a slasher movie has become one of the most important movies

Exactly 40 years after John Carpenter's "Halloween" release in 1978, David Gordon Green released his modern suite for an estimated $ 75 million opening weekend. It has rave reviews, from the return of original star Jamie Lee Curtis to the lead role and its positioning as the release of this year's holiday horror film – but it was never a horror movie. This slasher film with a very small budget is one of the most important films released in the 1970s.

Of the most profitable films released in 1978, "Halloween" was no. 10. However, those who did better – "Grease", "Superman", "Animal House", "All Possible Means", "Heaven Can Wait", "Hooper", "Jaws 2", "The Revenge of Pink "Panther" and "The Deer Hunter" – may not be familiar to people 40 years of age or younger. Even last week-end, which corresponds to week 2036 of the publication, "Halloween" remains essential in public opinion: it brought in $ 9,553 last weekend.

Adjusted to 2018 prices, the 1978 independent film grossed $ 184 million on a budget of about $ 1.3 million. Among the horror films rated R (excluding the science-fiction series "Alien"), he is still in 7th place. He is ahead of any movie in the iconic horror franchises "Nightmare on Elm Street," "Saw," "Friday the 13th," and "Paranormal Activity," which only follow the first two "Scream" entries.

However, "Halloween" did more than make a lot of money.

The horror films date back to the time of 'Nosferatu' in 1922, then grew to become the 1930s monster titles at Universal, studio studios' B 'as' Cat People' and ' I was walking with a zombie. "Psycho", "Rosemary's Baby", Brian De Palma's debut films and "The Exorcist" – a film that, in current dollars, has grossed more than a billion US dollars since its release in 1973.

The movies at the wheel were another source of scary movies with independent hits like "Night of the Living Dead", "The Last House on the Left" and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre". These movies have brought back money, but they have been. also a reliable source of negative press attacking his ultra-violence and his social irresponsibility. The studios considered these films too taboo to touch.

Thus, the studios have for the most part "safe" projects like the very successful "Carrie" in 1976. This leaves a void on the market: how could the Hollywood studios exploit the demand for horror films that are inexpensive and disturbing? came with them?

Enter "Halloween". Moustapha Akkad, whose previous experience in the film industry was limited to the production of the 1976 religious biographical film, "The Message", presented a budget of $ 300,000. Executive Producer Irwin Yablans asked Carpenter to write a film about a murderer-tracker babysitter. He then suggested changing the title of "The Babysitter Murders" and defining the film on Halloween night. The film was the first release of Compass International Pictures for Yablans and Joseph Wolf, but could not coordinate a national rollout; instead, he had to push "Halloween" across the country in fits and starts through a motley system of local sub-distributors, mainly after October 31st. (The world premiere took place on October 25, 1978 in Kansas City, Missouri.) A tube.

And this time, the studios have noticed. The film was no different from a regular studio release, which distinguished it from earlier, more scathing efforts that sometimes seemed out of tune and cheaply produced. It was shot in widescreen, had a distinctive score (written by Carpenter) and its conception of production gave it the classic appearance while maintaining a nervousness that is lacking in more conventional genre films.

In 1979, "Halloween" triggered a frenzy of slasher movies. American International Pictures, which flourished on B-movies in the 1960s, released its greatest film of all time with "The Amityville Horror" in July 1979 and became the second-largest film of the year. The same year, Columbia launches Greenlit "When a Stranger Call" and the fate in theaters in October.

Then comes "Friday the 13th," which inspired a bidding war between Paramount Pictures and United Artists, which Paramount won for $ 1.5 million. The first film was released in May 1980 and has generated 10 sequels since. Unlike "Halloween", it was a pure concept, title and marketing, with few people having it then or later considered a classic. But it worked and spawned its own franchise and led other studios to lobby for the same thing.

While "Halloween" has integrated the low-budget violent film, he has also provided studio inputs to filmmakers such as Wes Craven ("Nightmare On Elm Street"), Tobe Hooper ("Texas Chainsaw Massacre"). ) David Cronenberg ("Videodrome"), and Joe Dante ("The Howling"). All were filmmakers who had made their weapons in independent horror films – but it took 'Halloween' to make it an asset.

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