Rob Zombie’s Halloween
Article By: Tyler Durden
Continuing on my quest to review the Halloween series in honor of the original’s 30th anniversary, the next offering is Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake. Released in 2007, Rob Zombie not only remade the legendary movie, he retold it. Unfortunately, he received mostly negative reviews: a 26% rotten rating on RottenTomatoes.com and a 6.0 rating on IMDB. Starring Daeg Faerch as young Michael Myers, Malcolm Mcdowell as Dr. Sam Loomis, Sheri Moon Zombie as Deborah Myers, and Tyler Mane as adult Michael Myers.
Rob Zombie’s Halloween did some interesting stuff. Michael Myers was a mortal in the movie, whereas in the original he was more of a manifestation of evil. Michael Myers was also given a fairly detailed childhood (weighing in at at least 30 minutes of the just under 2 hour long movie.) This childhood screen time is most likely the least popular part of the movie. Given the childhood, Rob Zombie did do a few things right. He made Michael Myers menacing again. He would show up unexpectantly and lurk in the shadows much like his earlier self. The movie starts off with a young Michael as a kid. Trapped in his house with a foul mouthed step dad, a slutty sister, and the only person who truly loved him, his mom. His little sister, Laurie, was too young to tease Michael, and because of this Michael would treat her kindly. He would be verbally abused by his step dad, teased at school because his mom was a stripper and his sister a slut, and Michael eventually lashed out on classmates, killing one in the woods.
Michael would later return home in order to go trick or treating with his sister while his mom goes to work and his incapacitated step dad would get drunk. His sister ditches Michael for her boyfriend. Michael still goes out, but returns home angry and concocts the plan to kill his step dad, his sister and her boyfriend. He does so in some brutal sequences that involve a kitchen knife, baseball bat, and the classic Michael Myers mask (being worn by his sister’s boyfriend.) Michael however, spares Laurie by taking her outside to wait for their mother to return home. She would eventually discover what has transpired and presumably immediately calls 911. Michael would be sent to Smith’s Grove under the watchful eye of Dr. Loomis. Michael is unaware of what he has done but soons comes to grips with the fact that he isn’t going back home with his mother.
His mother visits him everyday, and in some scenes you can really believe that her heart is breaking while Michael asks if everyone at home is okay. Loomis is meanwhile conducting research on the boy and documents key events from inside Smith’s Grove. He notices that Michael has become fixated on hiding his face from the world by creating paper mache masks, each becoming more twisted and each proving the point that Michael is detaching from society until he inevitably shuts down. Fifteen years later, after becoming mute and emotionally and physically immobile, Loomis has to leave Michael’s side. Whether out of greed to sell his new tale or that he is tired of Michael or just plain scared, he leaves Smith’s Grove and begins a book tour.
Just in time for Halloween, (what are the odds?), Michael is interuppted when two security guards come into his room with a female patient. They proceed to rape her in front of him but piss him off by taking and wearing some of his masks. Michael snaps and kills both of the guards and escapes, killing many more people in the process, most notably one of his friends from the sanitarium, a janitor. Thus proving that Michael is truly lost.
Michael makes his way to a truck stop and steals a semi by – what is my opinion one of the better kills in the movie – killing the driver in the bathroom stall, stealing his uniform and keys. Now donning his trademark janitor outfit, he makes his way back to Haddonfield. Meanwhile, Loomis gets word of Michael’s escape and tries to warn people that Michael is going to try to go back home. Met with blank stares, Loomis sets out after Michael, who returns to his old house and retrieves his most prized possesions: his famous mask and a knife. Both were hidden under floor boards of the house.
Cutting to a scene of Laurie at her new family’s house, she sets out for school, but her father requests that she drop of some paperwork for one of his real estate clients. Which just happens to be the old Myer’s house!
DUN-DUN-DUNNN!!!!!
Michael is inside and spots Laurie and her younger neighbor, Tommy, coming up to the door to drop off the papers. He eventually follows her around just like in the original. Laurie goes to school and we meet her friends who are planning on partying on Halloween night. Laurie sees Michael out the windows and on their way home and gets creeped out.
From here on in, it is pretty much the same as the original. The girls have to babysit neighborhood kids, but end up getting killed. Michael digs up his mother’s gravestone and takes it back to the old Myer’s house. I’m going to skip ahead a little because, like I said, it is pretty much the same. Eventually, Loomis shows up just as Michael finds Laurie. Laurie is captured by Michael and wakes up to find that she is held hostage in the old Myer’s house.
Unbeknownst to her at the time, she finds her mother’s gravestone and her friend lying in the basement of the Myer’s house. Michael appears, but instead of attacking her, he shows her a picture that his mother had once given him. The picture is of young Michael holding infant Laurie. Obviously, Laurie is confused and takes the chance to attack Michael with his own knife. She escapes outside and is cornered in a pool with Michael approaching when all of a sudden Loomis shows up and shoots Michael! YAY! They walk slowly back to his car and sit and talk about what just happened, (instead of calling the cops! IDIOTS!) and are again attacked by Michael. Laurie is pulled out of the car by Michael and Loomis tries to convince Michael to stop, but to no use. His head is crushed by Michael, but in the ensuing head-crushery, Laurie escapes. Michael chases her all throughout the house and even into the attic. She finds Loomis’ gun and attempts to shoot Michael, but cannot get a clear shot and has to continue running. She is seen crawling through the decrepit and shoddy ceiling, while Michael bashes it apart until it collapses and she falls. She stands up next to a window and Michael charges into her, propelling them both off and over the railing and landing hard on the ground.
Laurie wakes up and finds that Michael broke her fall. With the sounds of approaching police sirens, she fumbles for the gun. She aims at his face and pulls the trigger, CLICK! EMPTY! CLICK! EMPTY! CLICK! EMPTY! And just as Michael raises his hand and grabs hold of Laurie, the gun goes of, blood flies on Laurie’s face and the movie ends with her screaming.
Now, I understand why people don’t like this movie, or at least why they think it isn’t as good as the original. I figure that if Rob Zombie remade it shot for shot, scene for scene, he would get roasted. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t. The negatives to this movie are as follows:
1. Young Michael Myers is shown prominently and, more importantly, shown as a mortal. The original painted him as a being of pure evil. This one? He’s just a kid who gets shit on a lot and finally cracks.
2. The movie doesn’t feel like a horror movie. When Michael kills, you don’t get scared, you just get the idea that Michael is just lashing out. He doesn’t feel like an evil spirit.
3. Rob Zombie has a definite style to his movies. He loves white trash and foul language. This movie is so over the top with both that it distracts. It is like watching The Devil’s Rejects, except it takes place on Halloween. And there is a guy with a knife who kills people.
4. The music. John Carpenter’s score is barely heard. Instead we get Nazereth, Blue Oyster Cult, Rush and Kiss. Like I said in the first Halloween review, the music is almost 80% of the movie. Without it, it just isnt the same. Sometimes you just gotta have certain things in a remake. This was sorely lacking.
5. Way too much nudity and sex and blood. It’s a horror movie. I understand that these three things are the friggin’ holy trinity in horror movies. But enough is enough. Not everyone has to be nude or a hillbilly in this movie. It is just another distraction. The first movie had hardly any blood and very little sex, and it worked.
6. Time period. I couldn’t understand if this movie was taking place in the 60s to 70s in the beginning. Everyone looked so hippy-ish. But then, in the movie that claims is 15 YEARS LATER, Loomis has a cell phone and everyone looks like they are all driving hybrid cars and shit.
I tried to not compare it to the original, but that is impossible to do. You can’t not compare it. When you remake something as classic as the original, you must expect it to be compared. Ultimately, it will never surpass or equal the original.
That being said, I will give Rob Zombie some props. He has improved on his film making. House of 1,000 Corpses was nigh impossible to watch and The Devil’s Rejects was slightly better. Halloween is a visual improvement on Rob’s part, but he is still miles away from Martin Scorsese. I know, that’s not fair. But hey, if you are going to be in the movie industry, you are gonna have competition.
Given that there isn’t anyone from the original Halloween in this new one, some of the acting is fair. Tyler Mane makes for a pretty good Michael Myers. Given that Michael doesn’t talk as an adult, his acting is purely body language, and for the most part, he pulls it off. Malcolm McDowell is a good Loomis. Don’t get me wrong, Donald Pleasence is the best, but McDowell is a fair substitute. The young Michael Myers kid is downright scary looking. That kid could be the monster in a movie even without a mask! YIKES!
Overall, I say that this movie is at least rentable. If for some reason you haven’t seen the original, DO NOT WATCH THIS ONE FIRST! I beseech you! Watch the original 1978 version before watching this one.
The DVD has an alternate ending which is worse than the theatrical ending. In it, Michael is gunned down by police officers at the doorstep to the Myer’s House. It ultimately doesn’t suit the character. You don’t want to see Michael get killed by some shmuck with a badge, you want Laurie to do it. So thankfully it got scrapped. Here is a comparision between the two:
Theatrical:
Alternate:
I have also noticed that somehow a THREE DISC COLLECTOR’S EDITION is coming out. Might I ask why? Or how? Isn’t two discs enough for this movie? What is left to document that isn’t fully documented on two discs? The Lord of the Rings were four discs, but this shit fest is not the Lord of the Rings! Whatever. I don’t understand how this movie will have a three disc, but the original is chopped down to one. I would gladly buy the original one again if it had some extra features. Alas…here I am, complaining about things again. *sigh*
Well, that is it for Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake. Give it a watch, but don’t expect the original.
I give it 6 out of 10 Michael Myers masks.
Up Next: Halloween 2!
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Tags: halloween, Rob Zombie
October 1st, 2008 at 8:33 am
I bought this the day it came out on DVD and still haven’t watched it. Every year, my wife and I watch horror films all throughout October, so I guess I’m saving it for that. I’m skeptical, but my expectations are low so I don’t think I’ll be too disappointed. I actually like Rob Zombie’s films. I thought The Devil’s Rejects was great.
Anyway, nice write-up.
October 1st, 2008 at 1:43 pm
If you liked Devil’s Rejects, you might like this more.
Dont get me wrong, this isnt a bad Halloween movie, believe me, the bad ones are coming.
its totally serviceable, but dont set your expectations too high.
October 1st, 2008 at 3:34 pm
I’m generally cool with Rob Zombie’s stuff, but I kept this movie at arm’s length since it was a remake/retelling of one of my favorite slasher flicks of all time. However, the workprint of this movie leaked out on the interwebs prior to the theatrical release. Curious little monkey that I am, I checked it out… and loved it.
Now, the workprint is vastly different from the theatrical version in terms of narrative. Zombie made Michael an honest-to-god, sympathetic character. There were no Hulk-a-Mania moments of Michael ripping through chains or killing of the janitor.
The first half of the movie primarily serves as character development for Michael. Which makes itself completely fucking invalid and pointless in the theatrical version. That’s why this movie is so damned schizophrenic. Watching this in the theatre, people heckled… I scoffed loudly at the screen… then got angry and threw Twizzlers.
I’ve had surreal daydream moments where I meet Mr. Zombie at a party… we toss a few back, I oogle his wife covertly. After sufficient bonding, I lean in and ask, “Ok, Rob. Man. WTF happened to the theatrical version of Halloween? I mean, I’ve seen the workprint! THAT’S what the movie shoulda been!” Rob turns to me with a pained and desperate look in his face, “Fuck, man. It was the god-damned stidio! They wanted all that shit! The fucking chains, the shitty music… It wasn’t me, Jas! Shit, man… how do you think that workprint got out in the first place?”
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:35 pm
I agree, you can’t outdo the original and I was intrigued watching this show and comparing Zombie’s art style and story telling abilities. I loved Devil’s Rejects and was eager to see what he would do with this interpretation. What we get isn’t so much scary as it is disturbing. While the original ending left me frightened for weeks, The end scene of this movie left me with a feeling of immense dread. It’s different and I can apprecite it for that…