For our Classic Trailer Park series, we’re going to highlight effective genre movie trailers.  While these clips are highlighted, this doesn’t necessarily speak to the quality of the film itself, only the effectiveness of the preview.  Some films have excellent trailers but the film is terrible like The Nightmare on Elm Street remake, while for others, the opposite can be true like the original Friday the 13th.

Since we’re now officially into the Halloween season it feels only appropriate for today’s Classic Trailer Park to highlight one of cinema’s most groundbreaking works and revisit the trailer for JOHN CARPENTER’S HALLOWEEN. We know the story…an mental escapee steals a William Shatner mask and kills babysitters on Halloween night. Thanks to the hundreds of ripoffs and the film’s own sequels it’s easy to dismiss the OG film as a tame example of what a slasher film should be. However it would be a mistake to overlook the brilliance of this 70s masterpiece. Unlike the later sequels and it’s own remake series, JOHN CARPENTER’S HALLOWEEN remains eerily effective for a different reason. The film’s strengths lies in it’s suspense and it’s stark realism. In this film, Michael hid in the shadows and closely studied his prey as they were unaware of his presence. The kills weren’t over the top and “showy” because they didn’t have to be. As an audience, there’s a sense of dread that’s felt before each character came face to face with Michael Myers. Another ingredient which makes this film stand out is the iconic score from Carpenter himself. Very few franchises can claim such a taunting yet beautifully memorable score. JOHN CARPENTER’S HALLOWEEN is a seminal classic which ushered in a new era in the slasher genre and still holds up over 4 decades later. If you haven’t seen it in a while do yourself a favor and revisit this classic. After all, it’s the perfect season for it.