In a nutshell:

* Clearly influenced by Black Christmas (1974) - Still one of the pioneers of the sub-genre we know as ‘Slasher’ 😱
* Donald Pleasence brings some gravitas while a star is born in Curtis - Everyone else is purely mince meat for The Shape 🎭 
* Carpenter leaves his mark, like with all great film makers you feel their presence (love him or hate him) 🎥👏 
* The score lives out its welcome, but it’s iconic and adds something 🎵 
* The script’s simplistic there’s no denying it - I think it’s more important to focus on the impact the film had at the time. It’s dated for sure but it has a charm and a stamp on cinema history so have to give it credit for that 📝 
* It’s a slow burn, one that would have been more effective in its hay-day. No trimming needed, just showing its age 🤷🏻‍♂️
* One shot towards the end - The Shapes face coming into the light from the darkness... genius 👌
* It’s hard to say if I would have found it tense/scary back in the day, sadly it has little to no effect on me now and I never found it scary when I was younger 👎
* Let’s talk kills! There’s only one gooden in my books, it involves a door and a head tilt (you all know the one!) 🔪
* Nice climax/set up for a sequel, effective and looming 🎃

I don’t hate it by any means, and I acknowledge its place in Horror history + with a budget of $300,000 (estimated) Carpenter and Co can give themselves a HUGE pat on the back. It just doesn’t connect with me.