Did John Carpenter know he would be making horror movie history when he unleashed a low budget thriller called Halloween on an unsuspecting public starring a young Jamie Lee Curtis and seasoned b-movie actor Donald Pleasance? Nope, but that doesn't change the fact that he did. While maybe not quite as recognizable as Freddy Kruger or Jason Vorhees, the inimitable Michael Myers has long held a place in the hearts of slasher movie fans all over the world and that first film has gone on to inspire, at the time of this writing, seven sequels (with one more in the works), action figures, comic books, and more.

This enduring popularity has lead to a strong fan community being built around the films, which culminated at a convention in 2003 called Return To Haddonfield where a wealth of footage was shot with many of the people who were involved in making these films. A lot of this footage has been edited and put into context and combined with interviews and clips from the films and out of all of this was born the feature length documentary, Halloween: 25 Years Of Terror, narrated by P. J. Soles.

So what can fans expect in this almost ninety-minute look at the franchise? Interviews galore, clips, rare footage and more. We also hear from a lot of the people working in the horror industry now who were influenced by Halloween at a younger age, such as Rob Zombie, Clive Barker and Edgar Wright and on the opposite side of the spectrum we learn of the films that came before Halloween that had an impact on its genesis, such as Hooper's Texas Chainsaw Massacre and of course, Bob Clarke's Black Christmas. It's interesting to see what came before and what came later in regards to the movie as it puts it into context in an interesting time capsule styled sort of way.

The documentary gets a little highbrow in spots but it always remains interesting even when it does in comparing Dr. Loomis' plight to put a stop to Myers's murderous ways to the similarly obsessed Captain Ahab from Moby Dick - a comparison that few of us would likely have caught on to but one that is perfectly valid and quite natural when you think about it. The psychology of Myers himself is also explored to an extent as we hear about the bits and pieces of different cultural villains who came before him and how they manifest in various aspects of the seven movies in which he stars. Of course, it wouldn't be much of a documentary if it didn't explore the reasons that the films are as popular as they are, so of course screen time is given to the sex and violence that this series and so many other slasher movies are known for, though even these more exploitative elements are discussed with some brains and critical insight that makes this more than just a greatest hits reel of kill scenes and exposed breasts.

After hearing how Carpenter's first film was put together we then hear about the sequels. Say what you will about them, they've all been successful and they all have their fans despite the varying degrees of their quality. Even Halloween III: Season Of The Witch, which has nothing to do with Myers at all, is covered in a fair bit of detail and out of fairness to that much maligned third film, it's one of the more interesting follow ups to the first one even if it doesn't expand the storyline.

We hear of the effects work and how that was done from the men who went out and did it and from there the famous murder set pieces. Relating to that is the psychology of the way in which female women of dubious morals are dispatched and how their deaths differ from the men in the films with a few different explanations, some of which hold water, some of which don't.

On a melancholy note, it's both charming and sad to hear how passionate producer Moustapha Akkad was about the series (he was killed in a terrorist attack in Jordan not too long after this footage was shot) and how he always tried to treat the franchise as he felt would benefit it the most.

Really, when it's all said and done, no stone is left unturned as we get insight from writers, directors, actors, effects technicians, fans, and pretty much anyone else you would expect to see show up in something like this. It's all put together very well and proves to be not only entertaining but genuinely interesting and insightful as well.

Video:

The fullframe image looks pretty good overall, despite a few clips here and there that can only look as good as the source material provided (a few of the convention clips aren't as sharp looking as the film clips or the interviews but that's to be expected). Detail in both the foreground and the background of the picture is fine, black levels are pretty strong and there aren't any noticeable issues with mpeg compression nor is there an abundance of edge enhancement. There's some mild line shimmering here and there but nothing to worry about in terms of print damage, dirt or debris. Things look pretty nice all the way across this two disc set.