History Film / Halloween1978

* CatchPhrase: Lynda drops "totally" into a lot of her sentences. Debra Hill claims it reached MemeticMutation levels with a few teens in one showing she went to.

* HalfEmptyTwoShot: Used when Michael emerges from the closet to attack Laurie.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Annie, Bob, and Lynda got murdered. Even though our heroes Laurie, Tommy, Lindsey, and Dr. Loomis survive, Laurie is horrifically traumatized by the whole ordeal and Michael vanishes despite being shot by Loomis and thrown over a balcony.]]

-->'''Dr. Loomis:''' Don't underestimate it.\\

'''Dr. Loomis:''' If you say so.

* ColorWash: Cinematographer Dean Cundey used this to give the daytime scenes an autumnal brown tint and the night scenes an eerie blue one. (The 2003 DVD transfer of the film "[[DigitalDestruction fixed]]" this, much to the dismay of Cundey and the fans. Fortunately, the issue was largely rectified for the 35th Anniversary DVD/Blu-ray release in 2013.)

* AmbiguouslyHuman: For most of the movie, Michael seems to just be an insane man who can't (or won't) speak, but Dr. Loomis insists that there's something not quite human about him. Towards the end, we see some compelling evidence to support this idea, as he displays [[ImplacableMan superhuman levels of endurance and pain tolerance]], even [[spoiler:quickly getting up after being shot six times in the chest and falling out a second-floor window]].

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Annie, Bob, and Lynda got murdered. Even though our heroes Laurie, Tommy, Lindsey, and Dr. Loomis survive, Michael vanishes despite being shot by Loomis and thrown over a balcony.]]

* ReCut: The 1981 Creator/{{NBC}} broadcast featured a new cut of the movie with less violence and 12 minutes of additional scenes shot during the production of [[Film/HalloweenII1981 first sequel]] with mostly the same crew, and Pleasence, Curtis, Soles, and Kyes reprising their roles. They were all toward the beginning of the film, and mostly just exist to pad out the runtime and tie the story more directly into the sequel. This cut was used for almost all TV broadcasts until the late '90s when the film was first remastered. Around that time, an "extended cut" was also released on VHS and DVD that was the original theatrical cut with the additional scenes included. These scenes were also included as a separate bonus feature on the 2013 Blu-ray, but, due to fan demand, the full "extended cut" was included in the deluxe box set in HD as a bonus feature (with the added scenes in SD). Fan reaction to these scenes is mixed. They're generally accepted as canonical, but some (including Carpenter himself) think they hurt the movie's pace and establish too much backstory. There are also fans that can't watch this movie without them. Since they set up the future sequels, they work better when this film is viewed more as the first entry in the franchise instead of a standalone feature. However, the sore thumb scene that sticks out most of all is the one detailing the aftermath of Michael's escape from his room, where he's written "SISTER" on the door as a way of [[RetCon retconning]] why Michael escapes and stalks Laurie. Carpenter has long regretted desperately coming up with Laurie's and Michael's sibling relationship while drunk and trying to think up a way to force the story to continue into a second film when he felt that there was nowhere else for the story to go after the first, considering it a huge mistake, and he's finally gotten his wish to pull CanonDiscontinuity on that contrivance with the new trilogy of sequels beginning with ''Film/Halloween2018'', on which he serves as an executive producer and composer. These films are a direct continuation of the story after the original film and write every single sequel out of canonicity, including specifically addressing and discrediting any claim that Laurie and Michael are siblings, and as such, due to Carpenter's direct involvement, this scene and all the pre-2018 sequels are now officially non-canonical.

* DaylightHorror: Michael Myers stalks Laurie Strode and her friends through the sunny, idyllic streets of Haddonfield in the middle of the day.

* {{Novelization}}: Long out of print and tough to find now, it offers up a few additional plot points about Michael. For instance, it answers the PlotHole about how Myers knows how to drive: by carefully watching Loomis operate the car, during their many sessions apparently. It also heavily suggests that Michael is possessed by the ghost of an ancient Celtic boy who murdered a girl he was in love with and was subsequently cursed, making Michael an innocent victim. It also explains the wrench that can be seen in his hand when he smashes the window to scare Marion (he used it to smash the locks in the other patients' rooms, allowing them to wander outside).

* {{Novelization}}: Out of print and tough to find now, it revealed a few plot points about Michael. For instance, it answers the PlotHole about how Myers knows how to drive -- by carefully watching Loomis operate the car during their many sessions apparently. It also heavily suggests that Michael is possessed by the ghost of an ancient Celtic boy who murdered a girl he was in love with, making Michael an innocent victim. It also explains the wrench that can be seen in his hand when he smashes the window to scare Marion (he used it to smash the locks in the other patients' rooms, allowing them to wander outside).

->''"I met him fifteen years ago. I was told there was nothing left; no reason, no conscience, no understanding -- in even the most rudimentary sense -- of life or death, of good or evil, of right or wrong. I met this six-year-old child, with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and the blackest eyes... the Devil's eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized that what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply... evil."''

* UncannyValley: The original Michael Myers Halloween mask was a Creator/WilliamShatner mask, spray painted white and with the hair frizzed out and eyeholes altered. The effect is downright creepy.

** Haddonfield is named after producer/co-writer Debra Hill's hometown of Haddonfield, New Jersey.

->''"I met him fifteen years ago. I was told there was nothing left; no reason, no conscience, no understanding -- in even the most rudimentary sense -- of life or death, of good or evil, of right or wrong. I met this six-year-old child, with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and the blackest eyes... the Devil's eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up, because I realized that what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply... evil."''

* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: Michael kills a couple of dogs over the course of the movie, though not ForTheEvulz. The first is implied to be killed for food, and the second is killed to stop it from giving away his presence by barking and to ensure it doesn't attack him, since it is being threatening. This doesn't really make its death any easier to watch, however.

* BlueIsHeroic: Laurie is the FinalGirl and spends the second half of the film wearing a blue shirt and blue bell-bottoms.

** This may not be a contrived coincidence at all, but could have actually been planned for by Michael, as he would've known Loomis would be coming to take him to the hearing that night. He waited 15 years to break out, which makes it seem like this was exactly the opportunity he was waiting for.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Myers killing his sister at the age of six, establishing that he is the villain of the story.

* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: Once Michael Myers appears on screen as a child. It may be hard to believe that child with a harmless and innocent appearance is the psychopathic AxCrazy SerialKiller of the whole movie. Even after being unmasked towards the end of the movie, he resembles nothing so much as a normal, even handsome, young man.[[note]]Carpenter specifically wanted Michael to have an "angelic" face, to juxtapose with his horrible deeds.[[/note]]

** When going to meet Paul, Annie finds her car door locked, and promptly goes to retrieve them. Upon returning, the same door is ''open'' and she obliviously gets in, only noticing something is off after noting the amount of condensation on the glass. Michael then promptly attacks from the back seat.

** Later we see Annie topless and in panties (albeit from the back), after she gets hot butter on her clothes and removes them before changing into a [[SexyShirtSwitch man's dress shirt]] as Michael watches from outside.

* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Michael picks off the other victims easily, but he fails to stab Laurie in the first encounter when she was defenseless and caught offguard. His swing only tears one of her sleeves and draws her blood a bit. She gets more injured from the subsequent fall to downstairs, however.

* ItIsDehumanizing: Dr. Loomis's treatment of Michael as a barely-human "it" is established with this exchange with the nurse driving him to the asylum.

* NiceMeanAndInBetween: The three girls again. Laurie is the Nice, responsible bookworm. Annie has a Mean, sharp tongue. Lynda is the In-Between — still rebellious but more vapid.

* NotSoAboveItAll: Laurie gets in a couple of digs at Annie, notably teasing her for "exploring uncharted territory" when Paul drags her into the boys locker room and quipping "oh, fancy" when she sees Annie's SexyShirtSwitch.

* ReCut: The 1981 Creator/{{NBC}} broadcast featured a new cut of the movie with less violence, and 12 minutes of additional scenes shot during production of [[Film/HalloweenII1981 first sequel]] with mostly the same crew, and Pleasence, Curtis, Soles, and Kyes reprising their roles. They were all toward the beginning of the film, and mostly just exist to pad out the runtime and tie the story more directly into the sequel. This cut was used for almost all TV broadcasts until the late '90s, when the film was first remastered. Around that time, an "extended cut" was also released to VHS and DVD that was the original theatrical cut with the additional scenes included. These scenes were also included as a separate bonus feature on the 2013 Blu-ray, but, due to fan demand, the full "extended cut" was included in the deluxe boxset in HD as a bonus feature (with the added scenes in SD). Fan reaction to these scenes is mixed. They're generally accepted as canonical, but some (including Carpenter himself) think they hurt the movie's pace, and establish too much backstory. There are also fans that can't watch this movie without them. Since they set up the future sequels, they work better when this film is viewed more as the first entry in the franchise instead of a standalone feature. However, the sore thumb scene that sticks out most of all is the one detailing the aftermath of Michael's escape from his room, where he's written "SISTER" on the door as a way of [[RetCon retconning]] why Michael escapes and stalks Laurie. Carpenter has long regretted desperately coming up with Laurie's and Michael's sibling relationship while drunk and trying to think up a way to force the story to continue into a second film when he felt that there was nowhere else for the story to go after the first, considering it a huge mistake, and he's finally gotten his wish to pull CanonDiscontinuity on that contrivance with the new trilogy of sequels beginning with ''Film/Halloween2018'', on which he serves as an executive producer and composer. These films are a direct continuation of the story after the original film and write every single sequel out of canonicity, including specifically addressing and discrediting any claim that Laurie and Michael are siblings, and as such, due to Carpenter's direct involvement, this scene and all the pre-2018 sequels are now officially non-canonical.
* RedHerring: Loomis stakes out the old Myers home, thinking that Michael will return there out of instinct. He's right, but Michael had already been there earlier in the day and seems to have no plans to return the same evening.

* SexyShirtSwitch: Annie soils her clothes while cooking, so she spends the rest of her time in the film walking around in panties and a man's oxford shirt.

** Dr. Sam Loomis's name is a reference to the Sam Loomis from ''Film/{{Psycho}}''.

* StealthHiBye: Pulled off repeatedly by the Shape, most notably [[spoiler:in the ending]]. It is especially egregious at an earlier point of the film; Laurie sees Michael staring at her from a neighbor's yard, but after a close-up on Laurie that lasts all of a couple seconds, he's gone without a trace, with no sign that Laurie had even taken her eyes off of him.

* UnbuiltTrope: One of the films that [[TropeCodifier defined]] the SlasherMovie craze...only the killer's not all that invincible, the main adult character is actively hunting the killer down rather than being [[AdultsAreUseless useless]], the violence is [[BloodlessCarnage shockingly bloodless]] by modern standards, there are only four onscreen deaths, the killer is deliberately given ''no'' FreudianExcuse, and under his mask he's just [[AntiClimacticUnmasking a guy.]]

** When Laurie [[spoiler: rips off Michael's mask, you'd expect to see a deformed monster like Freddy or even Jason...except it isn't the case. When Laurie removes his mask, Michael is ''[[TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse seen as a normal looking twenty three year old man]]'', a complete aversion that he is a ''normal human being'' who's truly empty and soulless inside]].
** The ColdOpen, where we are shown a FirstPersonPerspective of Michael's first ever murder. He goes into a house, steals a knife, takes a mask, and stabs a girl to death. He then runs outside, where the girl's parents come home and take his mask off. [[spoiler:We see that Michael is a six year old boy, and the girl he killed was his older sister.]]

* FanDiservice: Judith, Annie, and Lynda are all in various states of undress during their very horrific death scenes with Laurie finding the corpses of the latter two.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Myers gives one of Tommy Doyle's bullies a good scare after said bully taunts Tommy about the boogeyman.

* GenreSavvy: Sheriff Brackett wants to alert the public that Michael is at large, but Loomis dissuades him.

* GenreSavvy: Sheriff Brackett wants to alert the local media that Michael is at large, but Loomis dissuades him.

** Haddonfield is named after co-writer Debra Hill's hometown of Haddonfield, New Jersey.

* InvisibleParents: The only characters' parents shown are Michael's, as well as Laurie's and Annie's fathers, and only the latter--Sheriff Brackett--gets any significant screentime or involvement in the plot. Michael's parents are only shown for a moment and we hardly even see their faces, while Laurie's dad is only seen for a few seconds.

* FanService / FanDisservice:

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Annie, Bob, and Lynda have been murdered. Laurie narrowly avoids death, but Dr. Loomis is unable to stop Michael, who vanishes.]]

* AssholeVictim: The film's teenage victims, in an understated way.
** Annie and Lynda are implied to regularly pass off their babysitting charges to Laurie so they can party and have sex with their boyfriends, Paul and Bob. Annie also teases Laurie about her lack of a love life and Lynda, in a scene filmed for the television airing of the film, pressures Laurie into letting her borrow a blouse she has just gotten for her birthday and hasn't even worn yet.
** Bob, Lynda's stoner boyfriend who makes jokes about child molestation and has no qualms about trespassing in someone else's house.

** Again at the end, when the adult Michael is briefly unmasked to reveal...[[AntiClimacticUnmasking a normal-looking, and surprisingly beautiful, man]] (aside from the eye injury, of course).

* EnemyRisingBehind: One of the movie's most famous scares has a NotQuiteDead Michael Myers slowly rising up behind an exhausted Laurie after she thinks (and we think) she killed him.