Michael Myers is the masked killer at the centre of the Halloween film series, which began with John Carpenter's Halloween in 1978. Carpenter composed the film's famously minimal piano theme himself, and its spare, repeating motif became inseparable from Myers and the idea of an unseen threat approaching. The theme has been reused across sequels, trailers, and Halloween celebrations, and short clips of it spread widely online as shorthand for suspense. Today creators use it to borrow that instant horror recognition, even when the video itself is comic rather than frightening.