Review of Halloween (2007) by Devin P — 03 Oct 2012

There are things I like about Rob Zombie's remake and things I don't. Zombie's biggest mistake is de-mystifying Michael Myers. Carpenter's original had an average little boy from an average family, savagely murdering his older sister for no apparent reason on Halloween night. Zombie makes him the product of a broken white trash home with a stripper mother who has a taste for loser boyfriends. Giving Myers a reason for his violent behavior takes away the mystique the character had. Zombie's Myers is a damaged young boy who grows into a homicidal man. Carpenter's Myers was pure evil, the young boy stopped existing and grew into a vessel for an unexplained evil force. The original Myers became a supernatural being, where Zombie's Myers is all too human. Another mistake is spending over an hour examining Myers incarceration at a mental hospital before he is set loose to return home to find his little sister, now a teenager. Carpenter got things rolling within a few minutes and, in the original, Laurie Strode is a random victim, we didn't find out she was related to him till the original Halloween 2. Finally, the casting of genre legend Malcolm McDowell, as Dr. Loomis, doesn't work. I love McDowell but, his portrayal is off. He also botches a couple of the classic lines. Patrick Stewart would have made a far better Loomis, not that he would have done such a film.

On the plus, Zombie does have a nice visual style and things do get intense once he let's Myers loose on the peaceful Haddonfield. Zombie's Myers has a savageness that the original Myers lost after being dragged through numerous sequels, and the havoc he raises is some of the best action the character has seen since the original. As for the climax, Zombie chooses to end his remake with a blunt and aparently final ending where John Carpenter crafted an opening ending that left us with a feeling of dread even after the film was over.

I stand by my opinion that Zombie has a great horror film in him but, he needs to concentrate on using his distinct visuals more often and moving past his fascination with the 70's grindhouse style filmmaking. He also needs better scripts.

The lowdown: better then pretty much all of the sequels but, a far cry from John Carpenter's original masterpiece.