Halloween (2007)

August 31st, 2007 by James Cook | Source:

Directed by: Rob Zombie
Written by: Rob Zombie. Based on characters created by John Carpenter and Debra Hill
Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Brad Dourif, Sheri Moon Zombie, Tyler Mane, William Forsythe, Daeg Faerch, Scout Taylor-Compton, Hanna Hall

Score: 7/10

Any die hard fan of the original Halloween will tell you that the words remake and Rob Zombie shouldn’t be used in the same sentence. Now I can’t say that I’m a die hard fan of the original, but I do think it’s an amazing piece of filmmaking, and I’m not a fan of remakes at all, granted there are times when a remake can surpass the original but that’s a rarity. So I was kind of on the fence with this one. I appreciate and enjoy the original a lot, but Rob Zombie hasn’t proven himself as a worthy director yet. Thankfully, while Halloween definitely has it weaknesses, it was much better than what I was expecting.

The word re-imagining keeps getting tossed around for this movie. For whatever reason people don’t want to call it a remake. I would have to say that it’s a little of both. Rob Zombie takes what Carpenter explained in five minutes and stretches it out into about an hour. The beginning of the movie is Zombie’s re-imagining of the story.

He’s decided to take the young Michael Myers portion and add to it. He’s building the side of story we haven’t really seen. I can respect his approach to this movie and like that he wanted to make it his own and add something new. So many remakes are just carbon copies or tell the same story with maybe one or two new characters thrown in. Zombie has actually taken a very iconic character and given him his own identity.

The main problem with this is that I’m not sure if Zombie was the right guy to do it. Ultimately the young Myers story is what fails the movie. It starts out in Typical Zombie fashion; it’s loud and in your face and instantly becomes very annoying. There’s absolutely no subtlety to any of these characters. You have this white trash hillbilly family, with the abusive step-father, Myer’s mother is a stripper, and his sister is the town slut. I’m not sure if he wants us to feel sorry for this kid or what but it just doesn’t work. The best thing of the original is that you don’t really know why Myers snaps. You’d like to think that it’s just because he’s pure evil not because of his surroundings.

Whatever the cause for his madness, he does eventually snap and is sent to the mental hospital that he will eventually break out of fifteen years later. He’s in the care of Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell). McDowell is the surprise hit of the movie. His performance isn’t as memorable as the original, but is definitely a step up from horrendous acting of some of the other people. He ends up filling the shoes nicely.

Another major flaw of this re-imagining beginning is that once again Zombie has cast his wife. This time in the role of Deborah Myers, the stripper mom. Seriously Rob you have to stop casting your wife in your movies. She isn’t a good actress, she’s a major distraction. Not only is she not a believable mother, she just can’t act and when she’s screaming and yelling it just becomes laughable.

So after all that how could I possibly come away with some enjoyment? It’s because once Zombie is done playing around in the Halloween sandbox and gives us the full grown Michael Myers wearing the famous mask - the movie actually becomes pretty decent. This is also where the movie switches over into remake mode. Zombie is able to capture a lot of the creepiness of Myers. Much like the original, he places Myers quietly standing in the background of the shots and it’s still very effective. However Zombie’s choice of casting a giant, in the role of Myers, wasn’t really a smart one. At times he moves to fast and storms through walls like the hulk, when stuff like this happens the creepiness of Myers is lost.

Overall, Halloween is destined to be ripped apart from the original die hard audience. Rob Zombie was basically in a no-win situation, but for the most part manages to keep it together. This entry in the series is vastly superior to anything we’ve seen in recent years (Remember Busta Ryhmes!) and for that Zombie deserves some credit.