Halloween and the 10 best horror movies to watch on Shudder

3.  Halloween

It’s only fitting that we follow up Black Christmas with its sister in crime, the original Halloween. Though followed by numerous sequels and a remake, there is nothing quite like John Carpenter’s autumnal slasher flick.

Carpenter wrote, scored and directed the film for a whopping $10,000, and the screenplay was written in about ten days with the assistance of then-girlfriend Debra Hill.

Unknown actress Jamie Lee Curtis played Laurie Strode, and veteran actor Donald Pleasence played Dr. Sam Loomis, who was bound and determined to catch Michael.

What set Halloween apart from other slasher flicks? For one thing, these were characters you actually cared about, not just disposable, slutty teenage girls. And then there was Michael Myers. We first see him as a small boy in a clown costume, and when he returns to Haddonfield years later, he is a grown, very relentless man wearing a mask.

Halloween is often cited as the first slasher to have a “final girl” – a trope that is now present in nearly every horror movie involving females. And, despite the many murders committed by Michael Myers, little blood is splattered on-screen.

Whatever the draw, Halloween was a huge success, and 40 years later, it is still THE movie to watch on Halloween night.