"On a cold Halloween night in 1963, six year old Michael Myers brutally murdered his 17-year-old sister, Judith. He was sentenced and locked away for 15 years. But on October 30, 1978, while being transferred for a court date, a 21-year-old Michael Myers steals a car and escapes Smith's Grove. He returns to his quiet hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, where he looks for his next victims."

And so begins one of my favorite horror films of all time. I was 9 years old the first time that I saw this film and I will never forget how I reacted. I was obsessed and immediately wanted to see every film in the series, even the third installment that has no thing to do with the Boogeyman himself and is, in my opinion, one of the worst films in the franchise. I'll get to my personal ranking of the films in the series towards the end of this post because I want to focus on the original film, but just know that the third one is probably the worst of the series in my opinion. 

So, there I was, a 9 year old perusing the Horror section at Blockbuster in search of as many of the Halloween series films as I could find. Nothing could ever top my first viewing of each film on VHS tapes, bundled up in my mom's king sized bed watching the series with her. I had never seen a scary movie until that point and it changed my life forever. Halloween introduced me to an entirely new genre that would later become my favorite genre of anything and everything. Books, TV shows, films, you name it and I wanted it scary! And I'm still that way to this day, always looking for the next thing to scare the crap out of me. But truthfully? Nothing spooks me quite like Halloween.

There's something about the original Halloween that's scarier than any horror film I've seen since watching it for the first time. It's not bloody and  filled with gore or tons of jump scare like a lot of films in the horror genre tend to be these days. Its subtle horror, which I feel is the best kind of horror you can experience. Halloween isn't in your face with the scares but rather sprinkles them throughout the film in a gradual buildup of terror. What I feel makes it even better is that the villain doesn't have a clear motive. You know he killed his sister when he was six years old but what you don't know is why. And you also don't know why he breaks out of Smith's Grove Sanitarium to return to Haddonfield outside of the fact that he just does it seemingly to kill again. That unknown reason for why he feels the need to kill is, I feel, one of the scariest aspects of the film. 

There's seemingly no particular rhyme or reason when it comes to selecting his victims. Laurie and her friends appear to just be chosen by chance, a wrong place at the wrong time situation. Following Laurie as she walks home with Michael stalking her is one of my favorite sequences because it feels so slow and eerie and he almost seems to have the ability to teleport with how he constantly appears and disappears. John Carpenter's iconic music adds to the atmosphere and creates a level of tension that you might not even realize is present at first, but it appears from the very first scene and lasts until the credits begin to roll.  It's a build-up that happens so naturally that you can't help but be amazed and watch, eyes wide and heart racing, as the events unfold on the screen in front of you. It's an experience like no other and one I still get when I watch it, almost 19 years later.

What do I really love about Halloween? Everything. The atmosphere, the slow pace, the music, how you don't get anything but quick glimpses of the villain. It's difficult for me to nail down one specific thing about this film that makes me love it so much when it has so many different things that add to my love for it. I have fond memories of watching the series with my mom, and that one time I was being that weird kid at a YMCA Halloween "party" that put her ear right up to the speaker to listen to the iconic theme song at full blast. I always have a marathon of the franchise in October, but I find myself watching the original even outside of spoopy season. There's just so much about it that makes it one of the best horror films I've ever seen and I will absolutely always recommend it to anyone looking for a good horror film to watch. They just don't make horror films like this anymore, do they?

I suppose that watching this at 9 years old, while it did have a pretty big positive impact on my life, also gave me a pretty big negative as well. I was obsessed with the series for several years, but I was also a kid with an overactive imagination, and it eventually came back to haunt me. I'm not ashamed to admit that even as a 27 (almost 28 yikes) year old adult, I'm terrified of the Boogeyman. I started to see him everywhere, and he quite literally haunts my nightmares. I have horrible nightmares most nights and my poor husband has to wake me up when I'm screaming because of them. And most of the time, they involve the villain of the Halloween series, Michael Meyers. Even typing his name is difficult for me because it just makes my brain become aware of all of the memories that I have locked away. It seems silly, typing all of this out, especially after praising the film so highly. But it's something that I live with and I don't mind talking about the negative side of something that I love so dearly.

So, now that I've gushed all over the original Halloween, I want to take a moment to share my personal ranking of every film in the franchise. Please feel free to let me know in the comments what your rankings for the series would be!

11. Halloween: Resurrection

10. Halloween 3: Season of the Witch

9. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Meyers

8. Halloween 2 (2009)
7. Halloween (2007)
6. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Meyers
5. Halloween (2018) 
4. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Meyers

3. Halloween 2
2. Halloween H20
1. Halloween (1978)

And that about does it for why I love Halloween (1978) and my rankings of the films in the franchise. I know some of my rankings may be controversial, but it honestly fluctuates quite often! H20 is a close second for my number one spot, and most of the time I just consider the original Halloween and Halloween 2 to be one continuous film, but I separated them for the sake of ranking them. The Rob Zombie remakes are pretty...unpopular, but I have a soft spot for them because I love Rob Zombie as a director and I appreciated the new take on the story that he brought to the franchise. But that's about it on my ranking for each film and since this post is already miles long, I won't go into depth about each film. But I'd love to know your thoughts on the films if you've seen any of them and I'd love to know what your personal ranking would be! I'll see you tomorrow for Blogtober day 3 where I'll be sharing my first spoopy book review! Thanks for stopping by and I'll scare ya later!