There are no films that represent a holiday nearly as well as Halloween represents Halloween. There’s no movie called Christmas that perfectly defines Christmas, and there are no movies about the Easter bunny that captures the essence of that holiday either. Halloween is different, because it defined a sub genre that’s now as obviously halloweeny as pumpkins and candy is. 

And John Carpenter is the man to take credit for it. Sequels and franchises galore, but nothing comes close to the ringing impact of this one super simple little slasher. It’s focus is admirable, and it’s influence is updated every other October or so. A real phenomenon.