1978 Iconic Film Ranked Among 'Best Movies of All Time' Still Holds a Near-Perfect 97% Rating

A low-budget 1978 movie that has often been credited with helping to create the modern slasher genre has been named one of the best movies ever made. John Carpenter'sHalloween also earned so much praise from critics that it holds a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Who Ranked 'Halloween' Among the 'Best Movies of All Time'

Rotten Tomatoes includes 1978's Halloween in its official ranking of the 300 Best Movies of All Time. The outlet decides on which films to include in the list based on a combination of critic scores, fan scores, and other factors like the number of reviews movies receive. Based on those metrics, the John Carpenter horror masterpiece earned a spot among many of the most celebrated films in history.

Rotten Tomatoes is far from the only outlet to include the film on prestigious lists. Rankings of the best horror movies of all time from Variety, Complex, and Collider have also included Halloween.

Similar to another iconic John Carpenter movie that is often called the greatest horror movie of all time, Halloween continues to be praised decades after its release. The movie embraces a less-is-more approach to scares and spends much of its runtime making viewers care about Laurie Strode. That is very notable since many horror films only succeed at getting fans excited about the villain.

Halloween expertly turns Michael Myers into a silent and inhuman force who menaces every moment, even when he isn't on screen. When the masked hulk of a figure does appear with his trusty knife in tow, he feels like an unstoppable force hellbent on killing. Those two opposed characters allow the movie to create one of the most effective cat-and-mouse sequences in movie history.

Filmed on a shoestring budget, Halloween became such a massive success that the studios and many filmmakers wanted to follow its example. The film's influence resulted in many imitators and some truly great movies being released in the years that followed. Its influence is also felt in many great modern scary movies. That is why it has often been credited with changing the course of Hollywood by helping to create the slasher film genre. While fans can debate if the movie deserves that credit, virtually everyone agrees that Halloween at least played a huge role in popularizing slashers.

'Halloween' Has a 97% Rotten Tomatoes Score

In addition to being included on many greatest-movies lists, Halloween also managed to become a critical darling. Considering that even many beloved horror movies get panned, the fact that it has a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score from critics is amazing. It is also worth noting that the Popcornmeter sits at 89% based on more than 250,000 user ratings, which is arguably even more impressive.