10. Donald Pleasance (Dr Samuel Loomis) Halloween
Donald Pleasance had already had a career most actors could only dream of when he appeared in John Carpenter's seminal seventies slasher. He began in repertory theatre before moving into British television and finally cinema with films including The Great Escape, You Only Live Twice and, most brilliantly, in The Caretaker. He was also a genre favourite though with The Outer Limits, Fantastic Voyage and Death Line. Through all of this Carpenter saw in Pleasance an actor who could give real depth to the role of Dr Loomis. For fifteen years, Loomis has treated psychopathic Michael Myers in a mental asylum since he killed his sister at the age of six on Halloween night. On October 30th 1978, however, Michael escapes and heads back to Haddonfield to finish the job by going after Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode. The only person who can seemingly second guess Michael is Loomis. Pleasance is a joy to watch in this film as by turns he is intelligent and quick-witted and by others, clearly as deranged as Michael as he realises that no-one realises the danger they are in. You can see the terror in Loomis' eyes as the hours pass by and Michael draws closer to his family home. It is a great performance which only over-shadows Lee Curtis because Loomis knows the violence about to be inflicted on the teens of Haddonfield. Pleasance would go onto play Loomis four more times and unfortunately, through old age and illness, the character never quite developed beyond 'manic psychiatrist' role but in the original, this British great reinvented the role of the male character in slasher horrors beyond 'token boyfriend' or 'stupid victim' and we must respect him for that.
