John Carpenter’s Halloween made a simple premise into one of horror’s most enduring nightmares. The 1978 movie is about a masked killer, Michael Myers , who returns to his hometown and starts stalking babysitter Laurie Strode, played by Jamie Lee Curtis. It’s a Halloween-season staple nearly five decades later, and Entertainment Weekly ranked it No. 1 on its list of the greatest slasher movies of all time.

What’s remarkable about the accomplishment is that it doesn’t rely on elaborate effects or graphic violence. Carpenter builds up the tension through the quiet suburban streets, lingering camera shots, and a chilling musical theme. Michael Myers barely moves, but his presence makes the ordinary deeply disturbing. It’s a formula that helped define the slasher movies that followed.

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How Michael Myers Changed Horror Movies

Halloween wasn’t the first film to feature a masked murderer stalking unsuspecting victims.…