Welcome to “The Horror-Verse,” where I bring to light both the good and bad movies of the horror genre. If you too love horror movies, but hate wasting your time on the vast amount of sub-par ones, this blog is specifically catered to you. 

As a horror movie fanatic, I’m always appalled when I hear that a lot of my friends and family who enjoy horror haven’t watched a classic like John Carpenter’s “Halloween.” However, I soon realized that I myself hadn’t watched the original movie since I was 12. Now, with “Halloween Ends” being released on Oct. 14, it felt like this was the perfect time to refresh my memory. 

“Halloween” follows Michael Myers (Nick Castle) as he breaks out of Smith’s Grove Sanitarium 15 years after he killed his older sister on Halloween night. He spends his night of freedom returning to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, and terrorizing the local babysitters, especially Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). 

The movie begins with the death of Michael’s sister, which ends up being incredibly anticlimactic for an opening scene that’s supposed to show us how the main character ended up where he did. Immediately, I got the feeling that this movie wasn’t going to live up to its reputation.

Even throughout the movie, almost all of the death scenes felt cliché and like they were following a routine. Michael would catch the victim off-guard and we would watch them meet an awkwardly slow death. This became repetitive to a point where the scenes just became silly — even laughable — and my sister and I would pause the movie simply to discuss how annoying it was to not see more creative methods to evoke fright from the viewer.

Though I find these types of scenes to be one of the most important aspects to slasher movies, I’ll admit that I still understand why “Halloween” has become such a classic movie. What “Halloween” lacks in fear is made up through its unique cinematography, iconic music, thought-provoking subtext and bringing the genre as a whole one of the best — and most well known — “final girls” to date, Laurie Strode.

The use of the loud and fast-paced music, mixed with Dean Cundey’s camera-work throughout the movie, is what managed to make those seemingly underwhelming scenes keep me on the edge of my seat, anticipating when Myers would strike and appear on the screen. That, along with the purposeful avoidance of Myers’ backstory, made the movie something to be discussed after watching. I couldn’t stop wondering what drove this child who seemed to have a decent life to become the infamous force of evil that he is. It’s mysterious and enthralling. 

Though “Halloween” lacks the scare-factor to compare with today’s standards, its underlying themes and attention to detail prevail to make this movie a must-watch for any newbie in horror. I truly can’t wait to see what’s in store for what seems to be a bittersweet end of the iconic franchise.