10 Things You Learn Rewatching Halloween (1978)

The first scene proper of the film is another long-take, in which viewers watch from a character's POV as they sneak around a house.

The perspective peaks in the house through various windows and doors, watching as Judith Myers and her boyfriend Daniel Hodges fool around. As the young couple moves up the bedroom on the second floor, the POV shot enters the house, picks up a knife, puts on a mask, and terrible things happen from there.

Daniel leaves after presumably making lightning-fast love to Judith (they're only upstairs for one-minute-and-ten-seconds before he leaves) and then the POV stalks up the stairs, sees Judith naked in the bedroom, and murders her with the knife.

This entire sequence is brilliant. From the nuanced camera work on display, to the way it immediately forces viewers to unwittingly partake in this act of violence firsthand. It's also certainly no mistake that Judith is topless when she's murdered, introducing the interweaved themes of violence and sexual repression early on.

But the best part of this sequence is the ending, where the POV walks outside as the Myers parents arrive home. Mr. Myers yanks the mask off the camera and it is revealed that the murderer isn't just some psychopath, but rather a child. Young Michael Myers stands there, bloody knife in hand, looking just like an average kid. The shot pulls back, the camera craning upwards, as the Myers and the audience are forced to simply bask in the aftermath.