It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

I don't like the Halloween franchise, I've always believed them to be criminally overrated but being that it's that time of year again I decided to watch all three Halloween documentaries.Halloween: 25yrs Of Terror heavily focused on the entire franchise and the fans that kept it alive. Breaking down the history of each addition to the series.This however focuses solely on the original movie and unlike the other documentaries actually features decent in depth interviews with all the stars not just the lil folk.Curtis, Pleasance & the grumpier than usual Carpenter tell stories of the original 1978 classic and even impressed me a guy who thinks it was an average slasher at best.Definitely one for the fans.The Good: Essential for fans of the series Highly in depth Great interview segments The Bad: I still don't like the Halloween films!Things I Learnt From This Movie: Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee turned down the role of Loomis!

I saw this for the first time today on the Biography Channel and although it may not be as deep or entertaining as some of the other documentaries on John Carpenter's horror classic, I still found it to be an engaging and worthwhile watch. Being a two-hour special (about 90 minutes without commercials), this is a relatively short look at the HALLOWEEN legacy, focusing almost exclusively on the making of the first movie back in 1978. Almost everyone from the original cast is interviewed and there is not a single boring speaker in the bunch. Jamie Lee Curtis is the best of all as she talks honestly about her insecurity starring in her first movie, her thoughts on the sequels, and her general dislike of horror movies. Director John Carpenter is equally as blunt, admitting that many of his creative decisions were made based on how little time there was to shoot the film and owning up to the fact he never had any real interest in the series after the first installment. While it's always good to hear Carpenter talk about his work, he makes it pretty obvious here how tired he is of talking about the series for over thirty years at this point. As the director who started it all, it's slightly sad that he comes across as the person with the least amount of enthusiasm for discussing it. Other than that, the only minor complaint I have is that this being a made-for-cable production, some of the film clips that are shown are obviously censored which begs the question as to why the clips were even chosen to be shown in the first place. Those small quibbles aside, this is well done documentary that both horror fans and fans of film history should definitely enjoy. 8/10

Halloween: The Inside Story (2010) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Documentary about the making of John Carpenter's classic HALLOWEEN features the majority of the main cast and crew returning to discuss the production of this now legendary film. There's no doubt that HALLOWEEN: THE INSIDE STORY is a very well-made documentary but there's also no denying the fact that this one little, $300,000 film has been the center of countless other documentaries. If you're a fan of this series then it's probably going to be a fact that you've already seen countless other movies about the making of this film so it's doubtful that you're going to see or hear anything new here. If you're unfamiliar with the history of the Carpenter film or what all history it actually made then there's no doubt that this film does a good job at explaining the history and helps you understand what made the movie so special. Of course the making of the film is discussed as Carpenter talks about his influences, what he wanted out of this picture and we get to other items like the casting of Jamie Lee Curtis, the now legendary opening shot and the various influences it has had. The fact that the film got some pretty negative reviews at first is discussed and it's also talked about what turned the film and made it a box office hit. Carpenter, Curtis, PJ Soles, Nick Castle, Dean Cundey, Charles Cyphers, Nancy Kyes, Tommy Lee Wallace and just about everyone else is interviewed here and all of them share the sames stories as most fans have already heard. The notable missing people are Debra Hill and Moustapha Akkad who both died in 2005. Rob Zombie is also on hand to discuss why he felt the need to remake HALLOWEEN and he also shares the phone conversation he had with Carpenter when he called to let the director know he was remaking the film. If you new to the entire franchise then there's no question that this will tell you just about everything you need to know. If you're a die-hard fan such as myself then it's doubtful you'll learn anything new but then again, it's always fun hearing these stories.

"Halloween: The Inside Story" has the entire cast back together to discuss how they experienced this little movie which became one of the most successful horror movies in history. For the fans who've already seen "Halloween: 25 Years of Terror" and "Halloween: A Cut Above the Rest" this new documentary shows mostly things and facts they already know. On the other hand, it's done very well and I've never seen the complete cast before in one of the others. Little Lindsay Wallace ? Tony Moran (the 'face' of Myers at the end)? I don't recall seeing interviews with them before. Carpenter once mentioned that he never saw Moran after the completion of Halloween back in 1978. They are a nice added bonus next to familiar interviews with Jamie Lee Curtis, P.J. Soles, John Carpenter etc. "Inside Story" shows how "Halloween" was made with a limited budget of 325.000 dollars. (25.000 dollars was the fee for Donald Pleasance). And how this sleeper eventually became a hit. You also get the reaction of Carpenter when Rob Zombie tells him he was doing a remake. Carpenter was hardly involved in any of the sequels and even turned down the opportunity to do "Halloween H20" (which I thought was an excellent movie, the best one since 1981's "Halloween II"). Personally, I also enjoyed Rob Zombie's "Halloween". Unfortunately, I can't say the same thing about his follow-up in 2009. But John Carpenter still receives money when another one is made. I liked it that they mentioned the people who passed away: Donald Pleasance in 1995 and Debra Hill and Moustapha Akkad in 2005. Since so much is already said about this classic (and much information is already said before) I hoped we got some background stories regarding the sequels. Parts II and III (underrated classic) are mentioned briefly. H20 and Resurrection are mentioned briefly. They could have spent some more time on the other "Halloween" movies, especially since Pleasance was involved in most of them. As fans, we do not have much background stories regarding the other sequels. To be honest, Part V and VI were not that great (and that includes the Producer's Cut) but Halloween II, III, 4 and H20 were very well done. In conclusion, If you're 'new' to this (you haven't seen the other Halloween documentaries) than Inside Story is a real treat for you. Because it's one of the finest documentaries, even if you're not a big fan of the classic. For the fans, it's also a treat, even if you know a lot of the facts already, this is a must-see (and a must-have I might add). I'm glad I caught it on the internet, and many thanks for the one who put it up there ! Because at this time, no DVD is yet available of this show.