10 Things You Learn Rewatching Halloween (1978)

It's easy to forget now, seeing as it would go on to spawn one of the most successful horror franchises of all time, but the original Halloween was an incredibly low-budget affair. The film was independently made and as a result, wasn't exactly looking to cast big names in the roles, which is how audiences got relative newcomers like Jamie Lee Curtis in leading roles.

But the notable exception to this is Donald Pleasence. By the time of Halloween's release, Pleasence had already appeared in eighty-five (!) other films, including classics such as You Only Live Twice, The Great Escape, and THX 1138.

Playing Dr. Samuel Loomis, Michael's psychiatrist at Smith's Grove Sanitarium, Pleasence delivers an outstanding performance. Loomis is very much the Van Helsing to Michael Myers' Dracula, and as a result, winds up getting a lot of Carpenter's more hefty dialogue about the nature of evil.

And where other actors might have faltered, Pleasence soars. He sells all of the dialogue with a conviction and intensity that really does work wonders for the film. He even adds more subtle layers of characterization, like when Loomis gleefully teases a young child whose thinking of going up to the Myers' house because of a dare. He's got a glint of madness in his eye and it makes the character.

All of which is all the more impressive, considering that he was only on-set for five days and only gets a total of eighteen minutes of screentime.