Featuring AFI Honorary Degree recipient Jamie Lee Curtis in her breakout performance, HALLOWEEN (1978) is director John Carpenter’s pioneering prototype of the enduring slasher genre – establishing many of the tropes and conventions that course through even the most contemporary installments, while also building a distinct iconography all its own. One of the most heart-pounding films ever, AFI included the film on its list of cinema’s greatest thrills. A self-professed fan of Howard Hawks, Carpenter pays homage to the great director with this brief glimpse of THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD – produced by Hawks for his own Winchester Pictures Corporation. Carpenter would later remake the film with his own distinct sensibilities as THE THING.

Visit the AFI Catalog to learn more about HALLOWEEN.