The late, great John Zacherle, sometimes spelled Zacherley, remains in a dead heat with a number of others as the best television horror movie host of all time with his show Shock Theater.
And that is what fascinates me about this archetype; the fearless woman who can outsmart a serial killer and subvert gender roles in 90 minutes or less.
When Dee Wallace was asked what it was like to work with kids and dogs, she laughed and responded, “I don’t think I would have had a career if it weren’t for kids and dogs!”
However, thanks to one of the great child actor performances Halloween 5 is elevated to, emphatically better typical 80s horror slasher fare. That actor was Danielle Harris.
Whatever he is he can’t be comprehended by humans, let alone defeated; a bleak message that is typical of John Carpenter and that’s what I love most about Halloween.
Dr. Samuel Loomis has no real rival in horror film history and the performances by Donald Pleasence were always nuanced, playful, tragic, and real, elevating whatever miserable excuse for a script he was handed into something magical.
