Happy October 1! Let's Watch 'Halloween' With an Audience From 1979
It’s October, and you know what that means: Halloween, and the accompanying horror-movie marathons, are right around the corner. But watching classic slasher movies on cable can’t compare to the experience of seeing them for the first time in theaters, back when audiences weren’t embarrassed to scream at the top of their lungs. In celebration of scary-movie season, check out this audio recording (with accompanying video) of a theatrical audience watching the climax of Halloween in 1979, one year after the movie’s initial release. [Warning: Halloween spoilers.]
Related: ‘Halloween’ Returning to Theaters for One Night Only
YouTube user Kyle J. Wood’s DarkCastle2012 writes that he made this recording on tape while seeing John Carpenter’s film at a Hollywood Boulevard movie theater. The thrill-chasing crowd couldn’t be more enthusiastic. There are shrieks of horror at the sight of serial killer Michael Myers (Nick Castle) rising from the floor and creeping towards his next teenage target, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). When psychiatrist Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance) sends Michael off the balcony with a handgun, his fall is met with applause, as well as shouts of “Get up!” and “One more time!” (At this point, remember, Michael has survived being stabbed by both a knitting needle and a knife.) Sure enough, when Dr. Loomis looks down at the yard, Michael has vanished — leading to surprised screams and wild laughter from the audience. Little did they know about the nine Halloween sequels to come…
If you want to check out Halloween in the theater for yourself, be sure to buy tickets for the movie’s one-night theatrical run happening later this month. And for more vintage movie-theater audio, check out this recording of a teenager seeing Star Wars with his mother in 1977.
