BrowseAI · unconfirmed

Halloween(1978)

Name: Halloween
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Released: 1978
Duration: 91 min

1978 · John Carpenter · 91 min

Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween Night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.

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Horror · Thriller

7.66.4k votes

TMDB score

4/5

Intensity

1/5

Gore

4/5

Stays with you

How scary is Halloween?

The first half is patient and quiet, following ordinary teenagers on an ordinary evening while something wrong lingers just at the edge of the frame. Long, still shots and a killer who barely moves build a sense that you're being watched more than chased, and the dread just keeps stretching tighter as the night goes on. There's almost no blood here; the fear comes from silence, shadows, and a blank mask that never shows emotion. It's a slow, unsettling watch rather than a jumpy one, great for someone who wants to feel genuinely uneasy instead of just startled.

On The Horror Database's 0–5 scare profile, Halloween rates psychological 5/5, visceral 3/5, gore 1/5, lingering effect 4/5, and overall intensity 4/5.

Psychological: 5 of 5
Visceral: 3 of 5
Gore: 1 of 5
Lingering: 4 of 5
Intensity: 4 of 5

Slow burn vs Jump scares: 15 of 100 — leans Slow burn

Slow burnJump scares

Supernatural vs Real-world: 95 of 100 — leans Real-world

SupernaturalReal-world

Fun-scary vs Disturbing: 55 of 100 — balanced

Fun-scaryDisturbing

Intensity over runtime

Shape only — no events

Reveal pacing shapeHide pacing shapeHidden by default — shows where the tension peaks and lets up.

A slow, patient simmer of quiet dread that only tightens into real terror in its last stretch.

Intensity across the runtime, 0 to 100: 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5.

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Subgenres

slasher psychological horror slow burn atmospheric serial killer

Explore this kind of horror

Scary with little gore Slow-burn horror

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