Review of Halloween (2007) by John D — 05 Jul 2013

Rob Zombie wanted to make this the Batman Begins of horror- make it darker than the original, expose an origin story, and actually take a remake seriously. He was somewhat close, and I can see how he thought this was worthy.

Zombie, as I've learned from his two previous films, isn't one to build suspense or even be scary. He's all about being bloody, violent, and grotesque- and that's good enough for him. Also, he can develop a character, as he does with Michael Myers here, but has a hard time making a human character we can connect with and feel for.

That's why this movie didn't work. Those two problems have one thing in common- lack of emotions. That's a problem- how can we get scared when there's no one to care about? Bluntly, the teenagers in this movie are stiff, cheesy, inhuman, unconvincing, awkward, uncomfortable to watch, and poorly written.

Because of that, when one gets stabbed, I see an actress who just had red goo poured on her as opposed to an actual character (much like how Myers himself sees people). It's a shame because the movie looks great, Malcolm McDowell does a fine job as Dr.

Loomis, and there are passionate additions to this movie that could have worked had the screenplay gone through a few more drafts and then handed off to another writer.