Dammit Loomis

Halloween (1978) is a classic. One of my favorite movies of all time and without doubt a tradition for many to view at least once during the spooky season. I could and would normally shower it with love and admiration, but that's not what we're here for today. Today, I'm going to point out one of it's faults. Of course even with it's faults I still love it, but part of loving something is recognizing such things and loving it anyway.  The movie has it's faults, most are pretty easy to ignore. It's such a well made movie that you can look past John Carpenters cigarette smoke in one scene, crew members shadows and reflections in others. However the older I get, the more the most glaring error gets more noticeable.

In recent years I started noticing it more and more. I don't know if it's the millions of viewings or just getting older and experience starting to make me think more. What is it? Well, the movie is one part Laurie and her friends being stalked by Michael. The other part is Dr. Loomis and Sheriff Brackett looking for Michael. The Myers house is like a block or so away from where Laurie is babysitting. Know all that yelling she does while running away from Michael? Loomis is literally standing outside just down the road.

In the beginning of the movie we see Laurie stopping by the old Myer's house to drop off a key for her dad. Tommy Doyle meets her along the way as their both walking to school. He meets her right after she leaves her house and they stop at the old house right after. Clearly it's not far of a walk from Laurie's right?  Later Annie picks her up to drive to their respective babysitting jobs and drive through town. Remember Tommy walking to past Laurie's house earlier? Admittedly this could have just been teens goofing around as teens do, they smoke a joint and we don't know if maybe they were stopping at the store or something. That's fair right? But it's established already that Tommy was in walking distance from Laurie's house and the old Myer's house.

Later that night Dr. Loomis and Sheriff Brackett are waiting at Michael's old home expecting to catch him there. The sheriff leaves to respond to a call, but Loomis stays. He's outside, up front behind some bushes. Waiting for Michael to come home. Remember that one point where he hears some kids and it startles him? Clearly he's on guard. So during this time Michael kills Annie, Lynda and Bob. Mind you those were done pretty quietly... except for Annie honking the car horn the entire time he's killing her. Later when Tommy and Lindsey run away from the house screaming is when Dr. Loomis sees them and runs to help. One minute later he's upstairs saving Laurie. HE WAS A FEW HOUSES DOWN. He didn't even hear all that honking, neither did Laurie, but she was inside with some loud kids. A little later, Laurie is outside screaming bloody murder for somebody to please help her.  

LOUDLY.

People that are sleeping wake up, turn off their lights clearly thinking it's a prank. She's LOUD. I literally have to turn my TV down during this part. SHE'S SCREAMING VERY FUCKING LOUDLY. I can hear car horns in the front of my neighborhood and I live in the back. I can hear kids playing loudly in the nearby neighborhood on a quiet day. It was a quiet night. Did Loomis hear all that damn screaming a block or so down? While on the lookout? Nope, just digging in his ass.