Review of Halloween (2007) by G.m. W — 11 Jun 2017

As a remake, Rob Zombie's Halloween is okay. As a stand-alone film, it's okay. Overall, it's okay. It's actually a solid movie. But, sadly, this movie will never be seen the way it should be, because people really don't realize what a remake is. Rob Zombie said he would remake Halloween, a masterpiece, and people were worried, understandably. However, nobody remembered that this was supposed to be a remake. There were so many disappointed fans of the franchise, and they hated this remake because they obviously didn't really want one. Critics, too.

What people don't see about this version of Halloween is that it actually adds to, adjusts, and rebirths the premise of the franchise. It ties up loose ends, gives us more of a needed perception of Michael Myers, changes things up a bit (gore), and does an okay job in the process. Not to mention that it does add more of a twist to the generic structure of a Halloween film. Rather than copying the conflict of the original Halloween, this version gives Michael some humanity. He becomes quite developed as a character. I can't say this totally succeeds, though. It's never said if Michael had a mental issue in the first place, before he truly cracks and actually goes on a killing spree.

So, understandably, that will take you out of the movie and you might not believe that this would happen just from his upbringing, even though the direction of his terrible upbringing was pretty well executed. What helps here, though, is the performance of Michael, as a young boy, from Daeg Faerch. If you're convinced of what Michael does, then it's because of him.

Speaking of characterization, this movie is surprisingly full of it. The characters have tangible emotions and differences, which are occasionally portrayed by the cast to be very over the top emotions, which doesn't hurt the film all that much, but it still didn't feel real at times.

Sure, its not perfect, but what people have to accept is that this film did what it wanted successfully. You cannot fault a movie for not going places it never intended to go. This movie stayed true to the idea of literally remaking a film.

Some things that actually bog down the film, though, are more than a few over the top performances, a VERY long exposition, and the utter fact that the second half of the movie is a little bit too rushed and convenient. It feels like everything is squished in at some points, yet it's extremely simple. And, because of that, some questionable events happen. Sometimes you don't fully understand why Michael does something, like murder someone, but, when he does, there's always somewhat of an unspoken, sensible reason. It's just not totally coherent or reasonable sometimes.