Even before the sequels, Halloween was not yet regarded as a classic and barely regarded as a respectable picture, which is why Hooper's synthesis of Carpenter's most famous directorial flourish with Hitchcock's most famous sequence was preemptively one hell of a compliment.
Rather than spooking us with images of murder and mayhem, we have been treated to body mutation, both human and animal, and mounds of aging twisted flesh, the real horror of mortality and age.
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