10 Secrets From The Set Of John Carpenter's Halloween 1978
4. Dark Lighting Was All The Better To Save Money With
To say that this film was done on a small budget doesn't quite do it justice. There was no money for reshoots and so everything had to be captured in as close to a single take as possible.
This also had another knock on effect. While the crew didn't rely on natural lighting only, there simply wasn't enough money for the strong lights to illuminate many of the night time scenes.
The film's distinctive dark look comes from a budgetary place as opposed to an entirely stylistic reason, however when you look at the attached image, you can see that this 'issue' is one of the film's strongest attributes. The dark and brooding atomsphere of the night scenes adds to the tension and fear that Michael Myers brings to the town.
Who said doing something on the cheap doesn't pay off?