Halloween (1978)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:42
Fresh:39
Rotten:3
Average Rating:8.4/10
Consensus: Scary, suspenseful, and viscerally thrilling, Halloween set the standard for modern horror films.
Runtime: 1 hr 44 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
US Box Office: $0
Synopsis: Perhaps the most influential and successful independent film ever made, HALLOWEEN is the movie that put director John Carpenter on the map as a viable filmmaker. An exercise in simple, pure horror,... [More]
Starring: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, P.J. Soles, Nancy Loomis
Director: John Carpenter
Reviews for Halloween
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Click to read the article Full Review |
|||
 4/4 |
To call Halloween merely brilliant isn't giving it enough credit. As a horror film and as a historical milestone that single-handedly shaped and altered the future of an entire genre, it's downright transcendent. Full Review |
||
|
Click to read the article Full Review |
|||
|
Click to read the article Full Review |
|||
|
|
Who could have predicted that the low-budget pic Halloween would have a profound influence on an industry, not to mention on the concept of Halloween itself? Full Review |
||
|
10/10 |
Virtually perfect. It is the one horror film that I would beg each and every lover of movies to watch, if I could pick only one. Full Review |
||
|
5/5 |
John Carpenter and Debra Hill's film is a genuine landmark in the horror-thriller genre. Full Review |
||
|
5/5 |
The movie itself is repressed; Hitchcock would have admired the way Carpenter artfully avoids explicit bloodshed. Full Review |
||
|
|
The film hits us at a level deeper than most slasher films, and even as we are entertained by it, we are drawn in by its powerful suspense and implications. Full Review |
||
|
4/4 |
A modern horror classic. Full Review |
||
 |
After a promising opening, Halloween becomes just another maniac-on-the-loose suspenser. Full Review |
||
|
5/5 |
Regardless of how silly you think it all is, this will have you scared witless by the time the end credits roll; low budget horror hog heaven. Full Review |
||
|
|
John Carpenter's 1978 tour de force, perhaps the most widely imitated film of the 70s. Full Review |
||
|
2/4 |
...the kind of fright flick in which the plodding monster has his victim in his grasp and then inexplicably stabs the couch five feet to the right of her. Full Review |
||
|
|
Perhaps not quite so resonant as Psycho to which it pays due homage, but it breathes the same air. Full Review |
||
|
|
If Donald Pleasance tells you something is important, you should listen to him. Full Review |
||
|
|
One of the best horror films ever made. John Carpenter deserves a medal for his effective build-up of suspense, his knack for casting and his sensationally-scary Michael Myers!
|
||
|
4/4 |
Halloween brilliantly uses its widescreen frame, a lot of hand-held camerawork, and scary foreground and background action. Full Review |
||
|
10/10 |
One of the scariest movies ever made.
|
||
|
4/4 |
Halloween is an absolutely merciless thriller, a movie so violent and scary that, yes, I would compare it to Psycho. Full Review |
CommentLatest News for Halloween
October 24, 2008:
Get Spooked With RT's Best Horror Movies!
Well, would you look at that? It's almost Halloween again. But before you have to fill up the candy bowl and set the plastic cauldron of dry ice out on the porch, your good... More...
September 06, 2007:
Box Office Guru Preview: Crowe vs. Bale in Box Office Shootout
Batman takes on Cinderella Man at the box office as the Russell Crowe-Christian Bale Western remake 3:10 to Yuma heads into the multiplexes over what is traditionally a... More...
August 30, 2007:
Box Office Guru Preview: Halloween Strikes on the 31st
The four-billion-dollar-plus summer comes to a close over the long Labor Day holiday weekend with three new wide releases all targeting male moviegoers. Slasher fans get to... More...
August 29, 2007:
Total Recall: Halloween Director Rob Zombie's Favorites
Under the "Hellbilly Deluxe" trappings, Rob Zombie is a true cinephile at heart: he's as likely to find inspiration in the works of Martin Scorsese and Sam Peckinpah as he is in... More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Fresh Links
Featured
Tim Burton's costume designer talks to Movieline about her long collaboration with the filmmaker and Johnny Depp.
The director talks about puppetry perfection and his film, Fantastic Mr. Fox
We've got 20 copies of the hit TV series' Pilot Episode to giveaway.
Get all the latest movie updates, reviews, interviews and features here.
Competitions
Enough Prequel, Original Trilogy and Family Guy DVDs to fill a space cruiser
Everything from Dr. No to Quantum of Solace could be yours.
We're giving away the 10th Anniversary Blu-ray, plus Braveheart and the Rocky collection
IGN RSS Feeds