I was born in 86, I didn't see the film until sometime in the late 90's on VHS.
To give some context, I was really beginning to explore the horror genre for the first time. "Scream" came out in 96', when I was 10, and that beep floored me. It was the catalyst for me getting into horror.
One day my parents came home with a copy of "Halloween". I begged my mom to let me watch it. She warned me that it was the scariest movie she had ever seen, telling me of how terrified the entire audience at the theatre was when she saw it on release.
The anticipation built up, I finally took the VHS from the sleeve and watched "Halloween". The movie started, the music set the mood and I prepared for a murder-fest.
"That was boring!" was my initial pubescent response.
All that I remember taking away from it was that there was one cool kill, and almost no blood. The hyperbolic nature of "Scream" unfortunately lead to myself finding it boring.
Many years later I re-watched it after gaining appreciation for the craft of film, and an appreciation for the influence of "Halloween" in the slasher sub-genre. Now I feel like I can safely say this is one of the most effective horror films ever made. Even if you don't like the film, you can not deny the impact this film had.
This is a yearly watch now.

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Awwww, that stinks. Most movies aren't worth going to see now anyway.

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Why? Don't get out much, Real?
RIP Gene Wilder. One of the funniest people of all time. RIP Matt Roberts. You were great.

Never saw Halloween at the Theater, but I was privilege to have seen Rambo First Blood Part 2 & Rocky IV when first came out in 85I was like a kid going to Disneyland, Stallone was larger than life when I was a kid in the 80's
Always rememberDon't be a sucker.

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In the theater, Minus? I just saw it for the first time in the theater last year. Awesome.
RIP Gene Wilder. One of the funniest people of all time. RIP Matt Roberts. You were great.

I just remember thinking "Wow, that was intense. I want more!"
Watched it at least two more times that weekend.
Anyone here mentions Hotel California dies before the first line clears his lips.

I try not to think about - I just keep on imagining it's the guy at the end when they show his face
Always rememberDon't be a sucker.

Warlock did a wonderful job though.
RIP Gene Wilder. One of the funniest people of all time. RIP Matt Roberts. You were great.

Dave,
I saw that Tommy Lee Wallace played THE SHAPE breaking in the closetthere was always something different about ithis head made the mask look a little more like William Shatner. Nick Castle has a thin face with a big nose that gave the mask a unique look. It also changed the look in Halloween II since h didn't play him.

Wallace played the Shape the best. Lol.
RIP Gene Wilder. One of the funniest people of all time. RIP Matt Roberts. You were great.

In her own words, the Shape shrank. It was also her hands grabbing the knife in the beginning of the film. Remember also, that Tommy Lee Wallace played Michael when he punched through the door of the Wallace house and the closet in the Doyle house. He knew how to break it in one take. On the contrary, I like that they told us who was who, it's a neat what to look for moment, an A HA moment. You can definitely tell it's Wallace grunting in the mask in the closet now, not Castle.
Trivia. Doesn't bother me a bit.
"He came home." - Dr. Sam Loomis from the original HalloweeN

Debra Hill was a grown woman, but I know what you mean. It kind of does ruin the "idea". I think I already knew that though and I still find that scene creepy.
-Di

Lady,
The scene where Michael is just standing there staring at the kid was Debra Hill in the costume!
That is the type of information, I wish I never knew aboutIt kinds ruins the scene ever since I heard about it, knowing a little girl is under the mask

Lady,
The scene where Michael is just standing there staring at the kid was Debra Hill in the costume!

Certainly plausible.
Movie Theater: Young Frankenstein 10/10. RIP Gene Wilder. One of the funniest people of all time.

It was released in Oct. of 1978, but as Jamie Lee and other creative forces have said, it took months for it to get around and get any traction. They had 400 copies printed. They hit the bigger markets first and then the smaller ones, so it is conceivable that Halloween didn't make it to Maine until 1979, which frankly is only 2 months later than the end of Oct.
So that part is accurate.
"He came home." - Dr. Sam Loomis from the original HalloweeN

ScaryMary123, I hope you're being sarcastic because its hard to tell.

1. I don't know where the hell you were living in Maine, maybe it was in a forest? Halloween was release on October 25, 1978, not in 1979. To your second point of pumpkins ad no Halloween motif being present, you're wrong again. Pumpkins are present throughout the movie, autumn leaves are also there, kids getting ready for trick-or-treating as well as those partaking int he activity. So yeah, your whole first AND second paragraphs are basically invalid.
2. Actually you're comment about the haircut seems right.
3. My reaction to your last paragraph is, "What?" So I'm not even going to try.
   Herbert West: Who's going to believe a talking head? Get a job in a sideshow.

With all due respect it's not a documentary.

I'm old enough to have seen Halloween upon its original release, and it was April of 1979 when it hit my local theater in Maine. Not exactly a "Halloweeny" time, so I didn't quite plug into the autumn feel of the movie. For one, there was very little of fall OR Halloween in the film. All the leaves were green, the trees were full, and even the pumpkins didn't look quite right.
So, it basically all came down to a psycho killer on the loose who seems to be after baby sitters. That's essentially it. The Halloween motif is not only secondary, it's so far in the background to be practically invisible.
For another thing, when Michael's unmasked at the beginning, it's supposed to be 1963. No way would a boy in 63 have shaggy long hair like that. More than likely a buzz cut, or, as they used to call it, a "crew cut."
The only thing this movie had going for it then was the very ending with the boogie man comment from Dr. Loomis. And the fact that Michael disappeared. What a disappointment to learn, in Part II, that he merely just got up and walked away.

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Scariest scenes to me as a kid were when Tommy looks out the window and sees Michael just standing there across the street staring back at him. Just the stillness is so eery!
Also when Laurie finds Annie's body laid out on the bed with the jack-o-lantern glowing next to her. It freaked me out as a kid!
-Di