Halloween

The Halloween films are a popular and financially successful series of horror films. The first is considered one of the most important and influential of the genre. All but one of the films feature Michael Myers as an unstoppable psycho-killer.

The first film, Halloween, was released in 1978. It was directed by John Carpenter and produced by Debra Hill. John and Debra wrote the screenplay together, based on an idea by Irwin Yablans. The film starred Donald Pleasence and it marked the motion picture debut of Jamie Lee Curtis. Shot on a budget of $320,000, it became one of the most successful independent films ever. The town of Haddonfield, a small, quiet suburban town where the majority of the film takes place, is named after screenwriter Debra Hill's New Jersey hometown.

The film tells the story of psycho-killer wearing a white-painted William Shatner mask (from the film The Devil's Rain). Six-year-old Michael Myers brutally kills his older sister on Halloween night, 1963, and is locked in a mental institution. Fifteen years later, he escapes and returns to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois to repeat his rampage. Pursued by his psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis (Pleasance), Myers sets his murderous intentions on a group of young female babysitters.

Halloween is an observance celebrated on the night of October 31, most notably by children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door collecting candy. It is celebrated in much of the Western world, though most common in the United States, Puerto Rico, Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada, and with increasing popularity in Australia and New Zealand. Halloween originated in Ireland as the pagan Celtic harvest festival, Samhain. Irish, Scots and other immigrants brought older versions of the tradition to North America in the 19th century. Most other Western countries have embraced Halloween as a part of American pop culture in the late 20th century.

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