Release year: 1978

The players: Director: John Carpenter, Writers: John Carpenter, Debra Hill, Cast: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nancy Loomis, P.J. Soles, Charles Cyphers

The plot: After spending 15 years in an asylum for stabbing his sister to death, Michael Myers escapes and returns to his hometown to stalk innocent babysitter Laurie Strode on Halloween night.

Modern thoughts on a classic movie: It’s been 30 years since John Carpenter unleashed this now iconic slasher flick on an unsuspecting world, and the horror still resonates today. Michael Myers, in his original form, is still one of the scariest movie killers in the history of film.

The most panic-inducing element to “Halloween” is Carpenter’s lack of explanation for Myers’ murderous acts. The opening of the film has its audience seeing everything through the eyes of a six-year-old Michael, who inexplicably strikes down his older sister with a large kitchen knife. Then after 15 long years, Myers, without warning, escapes from the asylum and returns home to stalk a group of three friends he seems to have no ties with. In this film, Carpenter gives not even the slightest hint as to why Myers is determined to take out Laurie Strode. Laurie, unlike her friends and Michael’s older sister, is a good girl who doesn’t see babysitting as an opportunity to invite a boy over for adult fun, only to ignore the children in her care. There seems to be no logical reason why Michael would want to harm someone like Laurie, and when all logic fails, terror sets in.

Michael’s other horrific quality is his ability to be anywhere and everywhere without making a sound. He can openly stalk Laurie and her friends during the daylight hours in suburbia, without anyone batting an eyelash; then at night, he silently emerges from the shadows with the patience of a jungle cat ready to strike. A patient serial killer without reasoning is the scariest kind of killer.

What keeps this movie from being 100 percent enjoyable is the horrific acting by a majority of the cast. Jamie Lee Curtis (Laurie Strode) and Donald Pleasance (Dr. Loomis, Michael’s shrink) are the standouts in a sea of wooden acting, but it wouldn’t take much emotion to show up their castmates. Thankfully, all the bad actors get what is coming to them at the hands of the ever silent Michael Myers.

The final word: Even exuding a very definitive ‘70s vibe, “Halloween” still manages to terrify innocent (and not-so-innocent) babysitters to this very day.