I can't believe I had never seen this film before.  As a rule, I usually hate slasher movies because they only exist to find newer and more graphic ways to kill stupid people.  The original HALLOWEEN is positively Hitchcockian, full of suspense and foreshadowing and with deaths that can hardly be called graphic.  I felt like I was watching JAWS while stitting through this film.  You know there is a powerful, deadly force out there...you get glimpses of it...and you are scared out of your mind in anticipation.  GREAT stuff.  There is a scare in this film where something breaks a window...it took me almost 15 minutes to calm down after that one.  I love being scared!!!