What is the Best Halloween Movie?

It’s officially the spooky season, and with Halloween just around the corner, it is time to talk about which Halloween movie is the best.
There are decades worth of fantastic Halloween movies: comedies such as The Addams Family and Shaun of the Dead, slashers such as Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street, and almost all of Tim Burton’s films. All these movies are fantastic, but the one that trumps them all has to be John Carpenter’s 1978 Halloween.

Having the plot focus on Halloween and having it be the title of the film automatically makes it rank higher than other Halloween movies. How could a movie with a plot focused on Halloween and named after it not rank number one for best Halloween movies? With that said, I did briefly think about the countless sequels and remakes that follow this same formula, but none of them can compare to the original film.

Halloween is full of suspense, from the music to the terrifying appearance of Michael Myers, clad in dark clothing and a creepy mask. I love how the movie is more suspenseful rather than being filled with gore. I also love the simplicity of the movie. Having a smaller budget definitely worked for the film, allowing for the music and acting to become more in focus.

Halloween is a classic Halloween must watch, as it is said that it has set the standard for what slasher films are now. In the final act of Scream,

Halloween is played in the background as one of the characters discusses the tropes of slasher films: “Sex equals death, okay? Number two: you can never drink or do drugs… And number three: never, ever, ever under any circumstances say, “I’ll be right back”, ’cause you won’t be back.’

Having Scream, one of my favorite horror movies, referencing and mocking my all-time favorite Halloween movie, makes me enjoy Halloween even more. It gives Halloween a slight comedic flair that it didn’t have before.