The first Halloween film I watched was the original. I was about 9 or 10 and home sick from school. My dad pulled out an old VHS tape, recorded from HBO or something. Absolutely blew my mind as a kid. I specifically remember how different it was than the typical horror movies I’d seen before. The stalking scenes and the ending really freaked me out. Just hearing Michael breathing, as they showed numerous places he’d been, or could be. I remember being fascinated with the mask the first time I saw it, and I’ve been a fan ever since. I’d really like to hear how you all got into these movies and this hobby. What was your first experience and impression with the franchise?
First Halloween movie I was old enough to see in theaters was Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2, which was highly influential to my early collecting years. I watched the original movies for the first time on YouTube. Back when you could watch movies on YouTube for free.
I feel like the first Halloween I saw was either Part 2,4, or 6. Im not 100% sure. I was around 7 or 8. But I do know that when Michael comes up behind the nurse in Dr Mixters office in H2…thats always been the iconic Myers shot for me
I was about 8 or 9 when I had watched Halloween 4, got me scared since I was around Jamie’s age, but I was very quickly obsessed with Michael Myers, I watched all the other films after that, been an obsession ever since
I was probably around 10 when I saw Halloween 4 on TV. My parents let me stay up whenever, even if they went to bed before I did. I remember I probably missed the first 30 minutes or so, but seeing that little girl running away from Michael and Loomis on persuit was just fascinating to me. Who was this “Michael” character? Why was this masked stranger after her? Who was Loomis, and why did he seem so important?
It was around 1987, ironically I was 6 at the time. It was Halloween II on regular network tv and my grandfather who raised me didn’t exactly stop me from watching it lol. Needless to say it absolutely freaked me out and I was up all night on the couch with the lights on.
Of course the first thing I see is Laurie ripping his mask off, because of the recap at the beginning. Keep in mind they don’t actually show his face like they do in the first film, so as a kid I’m thinking horrific things about how he looks under the mask.
But the opening scene was what stuck with me. Him walking through the neighborhood going house to house, grabbing the knife from the Elrod house, etc. The whole sequence just freaked me out, and from that point on I was obsessed with seeing the first movie. Eventually I did get my grandfather to rent the VHS and it’s been all downhill from there.
I remember when the Halloween shop opened for the season, I was always looking for a Michael Myers mask. Unfortunately the shop that we always went to never carried the Don Post “The Mask”, so I just assumed it didn’t exist.
That is until the newest “Things You Never Knew Existed” catalog came in the mail and there it was in the catalog. I begged to have that mask for Halloween, and while my grandfather did order it for me, it didn’t make it in time for Halloween due to the mandatory “6 weeks shipping” nonsense. I’m sure folks my age remember that lol. But I did eventually get it and I was just thrilled to have it. Of course it ended up deteriorating over the years due to me beating it up so bad, but I loved it.
Halloween II holds a very special place in my heart since it was the first Halloween movie I ever saw and is solely responsible for my fandom.
NBC 1981.
First ever Halloween exposure I had was watching the end of Halloween 5 on tv during a horror movie marathon on Halloween, the scene where Michael gets trapped by Loomis with the chain net and beats him, I think I was like 8 when I saw that, didn’t watch any of the others till I was a lot older and I then watched them all in order when I was 18
Saw the trailer on TV when I was 12 and knew I had to be there. My Dad brought me and the rest is history! Lol… I know it had to be a nice break for him from bringing me to see Star Wars again & again the year before 
I was about 7 when my parents were watching H1 on tv, and I clearly remember watching the schoolyard scene. When the kid runs into Michael’s arms, it scared me so bad I had to cover my face with a pillow 
I also remember the mask scared the heck out of me at the time. I remember going to a store and seeing a Halloween 5 DVD, and on the back was an image of Michael. I couldn’t get that image out of my mind for the rest of the day
Wish I could have seen H1 when it happened! And the 70s in general, haha. Thank you all for sharing! Pretty cool to see how differently we were all introduced to this.
For me it was seeing Halloween II and Friday the 13th part 3 on network tv every Halloween in the 80s…. Just magical. That along with Garfield and Rosanne Halloween (THE MASTER!)
Garfield’s Halloween is an absolute classic. Watch it every year, have it on DVD:jack_o_lantern:
Hell yes!!
I think the first Halloween movie I ever saw was Halloween H20. I believe it was, funny enough, on Halloween night itself, I may have been around 13. My older cousin rented it and we watched it in her house.
When I eventually found the movies a few years later at 15 (2002), I’d all but forgotten H20 and I began with the original movie.
It was 1985 and WGN was airing Halloween II & III back to back. It must have been near Halloween, but not sure if this aired on Halloween night or not. I was talking to a friend on the phone and he told me he was going to watch them and they were good, so I tuned in. I had a small 13" TV in my room, which is what I watched them on. I remember we stayed on the phone pretty much the whole night. That was a thing in the 80s, I’m not sure why, lol. But we essentially watched them together. Aside from really liking the movies, I was really intrigued by the universe that was created by HII. It seemed like legend or folklore that this MM character existed, and I had to know more. I was really drawn to all the exposition that Loomis said. Everything from telling the backstory to Deputy Hunt, to the description of Samhain in the school, to him elaborating on it in the marshal’s car. I hung on his every word, and that made it way scarier. He gave MM a dangerous validity, so the stakes seemed so high. When HIII came on after, I just thought this was a separate story like the Halloween series was made up of different self contained stories, therefore it didn’t bother me. These were both the TV versions with a lot of edits, especially HII. When I eventually rented HII from a video store and saw the theatrical movie for the 1st time, I was blown away with how much was left out. I had never seen what happened to Alice, Janet, Dr. Mixter, etc. This made the movie so much more intriguing. HII will always be ranked high for me in my fave Halloween movies list. Not only is it a great film, it’s pure nostalgia for me.
Theater wise it was H20. Bluefield, West Virginia beside the mall. Loved it.
Halloween was my first. I remember renting it from the local video store when I was a kid. Wooo early 1990. I was 6 or 7.
I remember when AMC used to have their scary movie marathons each October to kick off the Halloween season and they’d always rotate through all the old classics. Don’t know if they still do or not, but I’m sure we all remember those days.
I was always intrigued by scary movies as a kid and loved Halloween. It was early 1990s and the original H1 and my dad had it on the TV downstairs as background noise while my parents were cleaning up the house after work. What I remember is him jokingly screaming at how scary something was and he would say things like “oh he missed!” followed by “ahhhh, she got him in the neck with a knitting needle!” At that point I walked downstairs and didn’t know what he was talking about and by the time I got there, Michael just appeared at the top of the stairs and I immediately though “what a cool mask! What is that? Who is he?” My dad just said that it’s Halloween!
Next thing I remember is that I started watching it as soon as it came on the TV next and loved the movie, but the next movie in the sequence AMC played was Halloween 4. So I watched it, became really confused, and wasn’t until a few years later that I was able to get my hands on the rest of the films in proper sequence until H20 came out. That’s how it all started, followed by me making a PVC pipe manequine at some point and ordering a pair of coveralls to place on it as well as one of Justin Mabry’s Psycho’s in early 2000s after I found this place!
This is funny. Can’t believe I’m reading this. Garfield Halloween. As a kid and still to this day for my kids this is the best. Lol. I remember watching this as a kid couple days before Halloween night and was so pumped to go out and do the real thing. Thank you for bringing this up. Wow.
And as for Halloween 1 I remember seing this for the first time I was probably 8 or 10. I’m 46 now lol and this will always be the number 1 movie around Halloween for me. Can’t ever be beat. The soundtrack for me as a kid was insane. Plus this white mask we knew nothing about just scared the shit out of me. This is why he is the boogeyman.