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Ahhh, HALLOWEEN!
This would have made my list if I hadn't felt morally obligated to put a ton of Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks movies on my list. (Somebody had to represent.) I find it a bit disheartening that many of the folks who say this film is hackneyed or cliché probably did not see it when it was new in the late '70s, when it was fresh and not already followed by tons of stupid sequels and bad knock-offs later. I'm surprised that it doesn't occur to some people that the film that starts a trend isn't cliché -- it's all the imitators that are cliché.
Plus, seeing a then-groundbreaking horror movie in a crowded local theater with a bunch of shrieking teenage girls changes EVERYTHING.
ANYWAY, having said that, it's time for another Austruck-the-Old-Gal story of seeing this movie in the theater as a first-run release:
I was in high school. It was near Halloween. Three of us went to see this movie together, in my friend's car. We parked way far out from the theater (it was crowded -- weekend night and all that), and, as was ingrained in all three of us, we locked the car doors so nobody'd steal stuff.
Those of you who've seen the movie: You remember the scene where the girl goes out to the car in the garage and gets in WITHOUT LOOKING IN THE BACK SEAT, right? (WHO does that, by the way? Oh wait, girls who are in movies in 1978 before this became cliché, that's who!) And, of course, the car is MYSTERIOUSLY UNLOCKED, so everyone in the theater gasped and held in their breath. We all knew. She was doomed. She hadn't noticed the unlocked car door, and she hadn't checked the back seat. Plus, she was scantily dressed.
Strike three.
ANYWAY, the three of us survived the movie, but by the time we filed out of the theater, used the restrooms and headed out to the parking lot to the car, most people had left. We walked that long walk to our car, and when we got there, the driver's side door WAS UNLOCKED. This, despite us all remembering CLEARLY that we had locked all four car doors (in the days before power locks). Let's face it: We were seventeen years old. We were freaked out, and alone in a parking lot in the dark on Halloween weekend. Yes, we whimpered a little. Okay, a lot.
And then we checked that back seat for MICROBES. And all three of us got down on our bellies and checked UNDER the car. And we opened the trunk and checked the trunk. We ran AROUND the car and met at three points around the car to be sure Michael Myers wasn't somehow following us around the car, crouched down.
Let's just say we couldn't drive home fast enough. Or lock the doors to our homes fast enough.
Geez, I'm getting creeped out just thinking about it.
So glad this one made the list. It's not cliché. It's iconic.
This would have made my list if I hadn't felt morally obligated to put a ton of Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks movies on my list. (Somebody had to represent.) I find it a bit disheartening that many of the folks who say this film is hackneyed or cliché probably did not see it when it was new in the late '70s, when it was fresh and not already followed by tons of stupid sequels and bad knock-offs later. I'm surprised that it doesn't occur to some people that the film that starts a trend isn't cliché -- it's all the imitators that are cliché.
Plus, seeing a then-groundbreaking horror movie in a crowded local theater with a bunch of shrieking teenage girls changes EVERYTHING.
ANYWAY, having said that, it's time for another Austruck-the-Old-Gal story of seeing this movie in the theater as a first-run release:
I was in high school. It was near Halloween. Three of us went to see this movie together, in my friend's car. We parked way far out from the theater (it was crowded -- weekend night and all that), and, as was ingrained in all three of us, we locked the car doors so nobody'd steal stuff.
Those of you who've seen the movie: You remember the scene where the girl goes out to the car in the garage and gets in WITHOUT LOOKING IN THE BACK SEAT, right? (WHO does that, by the way? Oh wait, girls who are in movies in 1978 before this became cliché, that's who!) And, of course, the car is MYSTERIOUSLY UNLOCKED, so everyone in the theater gasped and held in their breath. We all knew. She was doomed. She hadn't noticed the unlocked car door, and she hadn't checked the back seat. Plus, she was scantily dressed.
Strike three.
ANYWAY, the three of us survived the movie, but by the time we filed out of the theater, used the restrooms and headed out to the parking lot to the car, most people had left. We walked that long walk to our car, and when we got there, the driver's side door WAS UNLOCKED. This, despite us all remembering CLEARLY that we had locked all four car doors (in the days before power locks). Let's face it: We were seventeen years old. We were freaked out, and alone in a parking lot in the dark on Halloween weekend. Yes, we whimpered a little. Okay, a lot.
And then we checked that back seat for MICROBES. And all three of us got down on our bellies and checked UNDER the car. And we opened the trunk and checked the trunk. We ran AROUND the car and met at three points around the car to be sure Michael Myers wasn't somehow following us around the car, crouched down.
Let's just say we couldn't drive home fast enough. Or lock the doors to our homes fast enough.
Geez, I'm getting creeped out just thinking about it.
So glad this one made the list. It's not cliché. It's iconic.
), and 3 that definitely won't make it.
