Love Letters (1984)

Well-done slice of life about a radio personality named Anna (Jamie Lee Curtis) who is shocked to discover a box of love letters among her mother's things after the older woman passes away. The letters detail a passionate, intense affair.

Anna meets Oliver (James Keach) who is a big wig who may help her grow her career. There is an attraction between them that Anna wants to avoid at first. Eventually, an affair does take place. Anna wants to emulate the affair her mother had, but does not recognize that Oliver, who's a married man, has a different agenda.

There is some tension between Anna and her widowed dad (Matt Clark). The audience is given the sense that their relationship is not close, but the script doesn't hit them over the head with that. There was a scene when Anna's dad wakes up in the middle of the night, and it appears that he might mean harm to her, but the moment passes.

Amy Madigan stars as the best friend of Ms. Curtis' character. She played Kevin Costner's wife in Field of Dreams (1989). Bud Cort (Harold and Maude, 1971) plays a tech geek at the radio station. Bonnie Barlett plays Curtis' late mom in flashbacks. Matt Clark is a veteran of many western films, including Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid (1973). James Keach is the brother of actor Stacy Keach; he was also in The Long Riders (1980).

Halloween (1978)

The boogeyman cometh in this very scary horror classic, directed by John Carpenter. It is never explained why Michael Myers kills; a flashback scene shows a six year old Meyers taking a butcher knife to his sister on Halloween night. Flash forward to the present where the medical board of the institution Myers has been in for a couple of decades review his file to see if he can be released. Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance) speaks strongly against Myers' release and it is not granted. Later that night, Myers gets loose and escapes.

He goes back to small, sleepy Illinois town he came from, where teenaged friends Laurie, Annie and Lynda (Jamie Lee Curtis, Nancy Kyles and P.J. Soles) go to high school and hang out with their friends. It is Laurie who first senses all is not right near them, but her friends turn her gut feelings into a joke. She catches a glimpse of Myers a few times, but he disappears as fast as she shows up. Meanwhile, Dr. Loomis goes on a desperate search to find Myers, whom he considers an unredeemable monster. Then Halloween night decends on the town, and the true terror begins.

I like that this film did not rely a lot on gore. In fact, there is very little blood shown. The scares and shocks come out of shadows, darkness and quiet moments. Halloween is credited with starting off the "slasher" genre, which still continues to this day, but this film was way better than the ones of the same type that followed it. Like most popular horror stories, the film generated several sequels, none of which were as good as the first. The third installment, Halloween III: The Season Of The Witch, had nothing to do with the films that came before or after it, having to do with a plot to kill thousands of kids on Halloween via cursed masks and a TV broadcast.

Jamie Lee Curtis is the daughter of actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. She has the nickname of "The Body" because of her curvy figure. She has appeared in several films including, Trading Spaces and A Fish Called Wanda. The late Donald Pleasance appeared in several films including Fantasic Voyage, and one of the James Bond films, You Only Live Twice. P.J. Soles was one of the mean kids in Carrie and in the cult classic Rock N' Roll High School.