You really can’t celebrate Halloween season properly, or as well prefer to call it around here, Nerdoween, without annual viewings of classic movies that are emblematic of this time of year. There’s The Nightmare Before Christmas of course, and more recent films like Trick r’ Treat. But you simply have to include the granddaddy of them all, John Carpenter’s 1978 classic Halloween. (And if anyone suggests the Rob Zombie remake instead, then I say you need to leave this house.) Carpenter’s original film is to the holiday it’s named after what It’s A Wonderful Life is to Christmas.

But instead of watching it on TV again for the zillionth time while greeting trick or treaters at the door, this year, for one night only, and just two days before actual Halloween, you can revisit Michael Myers slashing his way through the teenagers of Haddonfield, Illinois and scaring the crap out of Jamie Lee Curtis the way it was meant to be seen: in a movie theater. Tickets went on sale for the Fathom Events revival screening on Wednesday, September 30, which includes a special introduction of the film by writer and director John Carpenter. Screenings begin at 7:30 p.m. on October 29, at over 220 theaters across the country.

Halloween was made for the very modest budget of $300,00, and debuted October 25, 1978 in Kansas City. It then slowly spread to theaters across the U.S. as it became a phenomenon.  It spawned a total of nine sequels and spinoffs and became a model for the slasher horror genre. Without Michael Myers, there’s no Jason, no Chucky, and no Freddy Krueger, and therefore, half the Halloween costumes you see at this time of year. We owe it all to Uncle Michael.

To buy tickets for a screening near you, click on this link for Fathom Events.

—

HT: Variety