History Film / Halloween1978

* DullSurprise: Young Michael's parents' reaction to discovering him in front of the house clutching a bloodied carving knife. His mom even shoves her hands in her pockets.

* OrphanedPunchline: A non-joke variant comes when the cemetery keeper begins to tell Loomis about another grisly incident from the town over's past but gets cut off before he can finish.

* CatScare: There's a scene where Loomis and Brackett are exploring the abandoned Myers house and a broken gutter suddenly crashes through a window, causing a startled Loomis to whip out a handgun.

* EvilClown: Michael's childhood Halloween costume.

* ShoutOut: To ''{{Psycho}}'' (see below), ''Film/TheThingFromAnotherWorld'', ''ForbiddenPlanet''...

* CatchPhrase: Linda "Totally!" has one.

* BanalEvil: The only time Michael is unmasked, you see the face of a normal, 20-something boy who looks like an average guy.

* EvilIsBanal: The only time Michael is unmasked, you see the face of a normal, 20-something boy who looks like an average guy.

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* ShoutOut: To ''{{Psycho}}'' (see below), ''TheThingFromAnotherWorld'', ''ForbiddenPlanet''...

->''"It's Halloween, everyone's entitled to one good scare."''

* TheGhost: Ben Tramer, Laurie's crush.

* OrphanedPunchline: A non-joke variant comes when the cemetery keeper begins to tell Loomis about another grisly incident from the town's past but gets cut off before he can finish.

* DullSurprise: Likely unintentional, but young Michael's parents' reaction to discovering him in front of the house clutching a bloodied carving knife in the intro kind of falls into this. His mom even shoves her hands in her pockets.

* DullSurprise: Michaels' parents' reaction to discovering him in front of the house clutching a bloodied carving knife. His mom even shoves her hands in her pockets.

A horror film by JohnCarpenter, and the TropeCodifier for the SlasherMovie formula. Released in 1978.

During the Halloween night of 1963 in Haddonfield, Illinois, the six-year old Michael Myers suddenly snaps and kills his sister Judith with a kitchen knife. He is sent to Smith's Grove Asylum, where he is placed under the eye of Dr. Samuel Loomis (DonaldPleasence). Fifteen years later, Michael escapes during a blackout and starts heading home, with Dr. Loomis in pursuit.

High school student Laurie Strode (JamieLeeCurtis) has a job as a babysitter for Halloween. She is yet unaware of the danger lurking in her hometown, but as the night of the masks draws nearer, she keeps seeing an eerie masked figure stalking her....

The film became a massive success on its release, and in turn [[FollowTheLeader inspired]] countless other films like it. It also spawned [[Franchise/{{Halloween}} a long lasting franchise]] and [[Film/{{Halloween 2007}} a remake in 2007]].

!!Has the examples of:

* TropeCodifier: Along with ''Film/FridayThe13th1980'' for the entire slasher genre.

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* DramaticUnmask: At the end, Michael Myers is finally unmasked to reveal... a surprisingly attractive man.
** Really? I'd say your milage may definitely vary on that one.

** Really? I'd say YourMilageMayVary on that one.

->''The night '''he''' came home.''
-->-- The {{tagline}}

A horror film by JohnCarpenter, and the TropeCodifier for the SlasherMovie formula.

The film became a massive success on its release, and in turn [[FollowTheLeader inspired]] countless other films like it. It also spawned [[Franchise/{{Halloween}} a long lasting franchise]] and [[Film/{{Halloween 2007}} it was remade in 2007]].

The film became a massive success on its release, and in turn [[FollowTheLeader inspired]] countless other films like it. The success also made it [[Franchise/{{Halloween}} a long lasting franchise]].

The film became a massive success on its release, and in turn [[FollowTheLeader inspired]] countless other films like it.