In this likeable slasher movie, a seriously disturbed boy (who, although he's called Michael Myers, has nothing to do with the Mike Myers of Waynes World's fame!) kills his sister, gets locked up in a mental home, and, thirty years later, escapes, ready to terrorise his neighbourhood again. Pleasence knows about him and tries to stop him, Curtis soon learns about him and tries to stop it. It basically amounts to a load of jump scenes put together very slickly.

The film is standard jumpy fare. It's the sort of film where the lead character would see something rustling behind the bushes, would walk up to the bush slowly, would look round the bush slowly...and.....there's nothing there! S/he, of course would then turn around, and bump into the local sheriff/old guy/kid, giving the hero, and the audience, a short scare. The film does this well. The audience gets nervous because they don't know if something will jump out the bushes/cupboard/door. Of course, the film has it's fair amount of gore, there's lots of silly supporting characters who do silly things, and the usual sex scene. In theory this should be very tacky, but Carpenter directs it in such a way, and the music plays scarily throughout, you can't help but feel a little nervous and scared.

Sadly, however, the ending can't hold up. It's silly, and not very scary. In fact, I thought the ending took an easy route out, and left itself open for a sequel (which, of course, they have been loads of). In fact, like The Game, the ending let down the film a bit. However, I still recommended this, especially if you get a big group of friends, turns the lights out, and make silly noises throughout.