Halloween (1978)
from Reel Deep Dive Hosted by Ryan Valentine
One could plausibly argue that Halloween is one of the most imitated movies ever made. It was hardly the first horror film whose plot points drive it to what is now known as the slasher subgenre, but it created or calcified most of the tropes that define the idiom. Its impressive feat of reaping massive returns on its tiny investment guaranteed an onslaught of sequels, reboots, remakes, rip-offs, and parodies. Halloween's shadow extends to the present day and it's unlikely to dissipate anytime soon. Ryan is joined on this episode by Sylvan, who had never seen the film prior to getting invited to cohost this episode. In addition to Sylvan's hot take on what all the fuss is about, this episode features discussion about Halloween's development, its scrappy production, and its subtextual themes regarding suburban repression, sex shaming, and stigmatization of the mentally ill. There's also a short conversation over how the "final girl" trope can be interpreted through the lenses of second and third wave feminism. This show ends with a brief round-up of Halloween's numerous web of follow-ups, but there's also some compare/contrast with rival franchises launched by Friday The 13th (1980) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
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