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Some of the worlds most well remembered pieces of music consist of but only a few notes.  The Kinks did it with quite a few of their songs, as did the far more popular The Beatles.
Film Director/Writer/Producer/Composer John Carpenter created one of the most memorable film score themes next to Bernard Herrmann's Psycho theme.  Over the years Carpenter's Halloween theme has been jazzed up a little with it's subsequent, and often substandard sequels, but at it's core, has remained the same old theme...aaaaah

In it's time, Halloween was to the Seventies what Blair Witch was to the new Millennium (though considerably better I might add!).  Both were low budget independent films which set the box office on fire, and it actually took over 20 years for any independent film to beat the box office receipts generated from Halloween.  That film also happened to be the Blair Witch Project.

Opening the film is a Point of View sequence of a killer who is about to kill a post virginal girl.  We are the eyes and ears of this killer as he makes his way up a flight of stairs, down a hallway and into a girl's bedroom.   All this time we are hearing the heavy sound of muffled breathing from within the Killer's mask.  In an instant we see stabbing motions as the girl turns around and is murdered before our eyes by her eight year old brother, Michael Myers.   
Fifteen years pass and Michael has been locked up in an asylum.  Unfortunately he has just escaped

In Haddenfield an eighteen year old girl, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis in the role which made her the definitive scream queen) drops by the Myer's abandoned house to leave a key for some potential victims..err I mean tenants.   As she walks away from the house she's being watched from the inside. 
Over the course of the day Laurie gets the distinct impression she is being watched.

Since Micheal's escape from the mental hospital, his Doctor Sam Loomis [Donald Pleasence] (named after a character in Psycho :) tracks Michael down to Haddonfield with one goal in mind.  to destroy him.

On the night of Halloween Laurie's fears come true, someone is stalking her, and pretty soon her friends are offed, one by one.  (isn't that always the way)

Unlike films of today, the emphases of Halloween is suspense, not full on shocking gore (not that there's anything wrong with that :). 
The intensity of this suspense is the contributing factor to many people thinking this film's violence is graphic in nature.  funny how the mind works isn't it.
Kudos go to John Carpenter for delivering such a fine horror film which set the standard for horror as we know it.  Enough rambling, onto the DVD.

So How Does This Transfer Hold Up?

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VIDEO
Quite recently Halloween was released in the USA by Anchor Bay and underwent some major restoration.  A New Anamorphic Widescreen Video Transfer was stuck from an new interpositive and the results were ever so pleasing.  (check out the DVD Review Article on the restoration of Halloween)
Direct Comparisons of the NTSC DVD to our PAL DVD reveal an Anamorphic Widescreen PAL transfer to have been made for the restoration, they are virtual identical ('cept for that tiny orange spot on ours at the start of the closing credits :)
While it has dated somewhat over the past 20 or so years, the end result is a very respectable looking transfer.  The only real difference between these two versions is the additional resolution inherent in PAL transfers.  We're looking just a bit smoother with slightly improved image definition. 
Though I did see the odd spot of MPEG artifacting on our version.  It's not glaringly obvious.(with all the extras this should be been put on an RSDL DVD)
Colour saturation is a touch muted, and black level is a fraction high, so shadow detail is a just a tad greyish, but it still manages to make quite an impression when we get to Halloween Night.  and THANKGOD Halloween has been delivered in all it's panavision Widescreen Glory.  This is one film that is totally ruined with 4x3 Pan and Scan.   I am so pleased that Infogrames went the extra mile and not only delivered a Widescreen transfer, but an Anamorphic Widescreen Transfer THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU (it would have been nice to list it such  on the DVD slick though guys).

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AUDIO
While we may have been given the Anamorphic Widescreen Treatment we have certainly lucked out in the audio department as we don't get the lovely Dolby Digital 5.1 remix.
Part of the Halloween Restoration was a complete audio remix.  Using the original 20 track mag tapes, they remixed a mono track, 2.0 surround mix and a 5.1 surround mix.
Though there is only so much you can do with such an old mix to get 5.1 it does sound pretty damn good.  As does the Dolby 2.0 mix which the REGION 4 version gets.
The front soundstage of the 2.0 mix is quite wide, and dialogue comes across nicely.   There is still the odd bit of distortion, but hey, it's over 20 years old and it adds character to the mix :).  Surround usage is not that prominent, but there's a nice continual light ambience. 
I understand the reason for our version NOT getting the 5.1 mix is the owners (who are not anchor bay as it turns out), weren't willing to give it up (I'm assuming money has a lot to do with this so what can ya do). 
While the 5.1 mix reveals a bit more detail, comes across with a wider soundstage and stronger bass,it certainly not the difference between chalk and cheese, and our little 'ol 2.0 mix holds its own against it's bigger 5.1 brother..

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EXTRAS
Okay, now this is where we've done really well folks
Feature wise our version is virtually identical to the region 1 release.
Other than a handful of missing piccys from the 2 Photogalleries, we're matching feature for feature.
Toplining this DVDs extras is the excellent 30 minute doco, Halloween Unmasked 2000.  This is actually an NTSC to PAL conversion as the running times on the NTSC version match ours perfectly.  While the source material is 4x3.  This doco is Anamorphic Widescreen and as such on a 16x9 display you only get black bars left and right.
Sadly, the 4x3 Pan Scan encoding was NOT utilised for our version as it was on the USA DVD release.  So unlike the USA DVD release which stretches the image out to Play as Full 4x3 on 4x3 TVs,  ours comes out as...windowboxing on 4x3 TVs....noooooooooo!

Also included is a Halloween Re-Release Theatrical Trailer, Cast and Crew Bios, 2 TV Spots, 3 slightly loud Radio spots, Trivia Notes (some good stuff here), and animated menus with Music. 
Being only a DVD5, there's obvious signs of low compression on the menus as the white HALLOWEEN text shows some artifacting around the edging.  With so many extras PLUS the movie, this really should have been a DVD9 RSDL formatted.  (the US Release was a DVD9, BUT it did also include a 4x3 Pan Scan Version of the Movie)

A Classic Horror film in the best tradition, Halloween has scrubbed up quite nicely for DVD.  Considering the really crappy Aussie Dollar of late, buying the USA version which at the end the day only includes a DD5.1 track which is not a huge sonic improvement is an expensive option to take at the moment. 

Review Equipment
TV: Pioneer SD-T50W1 (16:9 RPTV)
DVD: Pioneer DV717  (using RGB outputs)
Receiver : Denon AVC-A1SE ( 7.1 THX Ultra )
Speakers:-
     Mains: Quadral Phonolgue Gold Amun
     Centre: B&W CDMC-SE
     Surrounds Left/Right: B&W 602
     Surrounds Back : Jamo Magic 14
     Subby: M&K V125 

- Reviewed 15th March February 2001

*Halloween  jpeg files for internet promotion use only. Copyright© exists on all aspects of these files by Infogrames