The original HALLOWEEN is in my personal Top Five favorite flicks of all time. As a DP, I reference it surprisingly often in my meetings with directors; it's so well made. I also show examples of Cundey's spectacular HALLOWEEN lighting when I teach cinematography classes, both to demonstrate artistic use of contrasting color temperatures, and also "how to light darkness effectively". Cundey always puts something in the frame "on exposure" or even "over exposure" -- even when it's supposed to be very dark -- so you can more effectively fear the shadow areas that AREN'T lit. Darkness is best felt relative to light, in my experience... instead of making everything equally dark and murky. HALLOWEEN is a masterclass in "lighting the darkness".
I also use the original HALLOWEEN's slow-burn pacing as a perfect example of how modern Hollywood is cutting out too much of the "shoe leather" these days. Seriously, most of HALLOWEEN is some character walking from point A to point B... and it's awesomely tense and scary.
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