For most of his life, John Carpenter had been directing films. Surrounded by artistic influences ever since he was young – his father was an accomplished violinist and his mother routinely took him to movies – Carpenter naturally made the transition from childhood experimenter, to film student, to finally, professional director. Unexpected, however, was his making one the most important horror films ever in "Halloween" (1978), a chilling tale of a serial killer terrorizing a small town that was shot for a mere $300,000 and became one of the most profitable films of all time. Without stars,