In the 1978 movie, Michael Myers starts out as an angelic looking blonde haired little boy who stabs his older sister to death for no explainable reason on Halloween night.
In the 2007 movie, Michael Myers is a grungy, greasy product of white-trash who tortures animals and stabs his older sister to death on Halloween night because she wanted to have sex with her boyfriend instead of taking him treat or treating.
He also kills her boyfriend - presumably because he is the reason she wouldn't take him trick or treating-, and his mother's boyfriend because he's an unemployed deadbeat who bullies him.
In fact, the only people who Michael likes, and therefore escapes his rage, in his family are his mother, Deborah, who was working (as a stripper) at the time of the murders, and his baby sister, 'Angel' who is subsequently adopted into another family after Deborah commits suicide due to the stress of having a psychopath for a son.
The two remaining siblings grow up leading very different lives; Michael is committed to a life inside a mental institution while Angel is renamed Laurie and grows up in a nice neighbourhood with two loving parents.
Several years later, on the night before Halloween, two hospital employees decide to get their kicks by raping a vulnerable young female mental patient inside Michael's cell and it's then that the now adult Michael breaks out of the hospital and makes his way back to his home town of Haddonfield in search of his now teenage sibling, leaving a bloody trail wherever he goes.
The rest of the movie is then an almost scene for scene remake of the 1978 movie with Michael tracking down Laurie as she babysits alongside her friends on Halloween night.
Some people like to give props to Rob Zombie for trying something different but as someone who is neither very familiar with Zombie's other work, nor a fan of what I have seen, I can't say that excuse sits well with me. It's not that I'm opposed to seeing a different interpretation of the story or even giving Michael a backstory it's just that the 'bad childhood' angle is so dull, predictable and lazy. Seeing an angelic Michael's descent into murder and rage would have been far more compelling.
I'm also not a fan of how Zombie has a tendency to create all of the male characters in his own image and the constant (constant!) dropping of f-bombs.
With that said, there are a couple of aspects that I do like - for instance the ambiguous time period setting of the first half of the movie; it's vaguely seventies-esque, but never explicitly established which makes for interesting visuals.
Malcolm McDowell does a decent job of Michael's psychiatrist, Dr. Loomis but doesn't hold a candle to Donald Pleasance.
Danielle Harris, who played Laurie's daughter in Halloween IV and V, makes an appearance, this time as Annie, Laurie's sarcastic, snarky best friend from the original movie.
I also like how the sibling story arc flows with more ease, though considering this aspect wasn't added until later in the original series, that can be put down to hindsight.
In the 2007 movie, Michael Myers is a grungy, greasy product of white-trash who tortures animals and stabs his older sister to death on Halloween night because she wanted to have sex with her boyfriend instead of taking him treat or treating.
He also kills her boyfriend - presumably because he is the reason she wouldn't take him trick or treating-, and his mother's boyfriend because he's an unemployed deadbeat who bullies him.
In fact, the only people who Michael likes, and therefore escapes his rage, in his family are his mother, Deborah, who was working (as a stripper) at the time of the murders, and his baby sister, 'Angel' who is subsequently adopted into another family after Deborah commits suicide due to the stress of having a psychopath for a son.
The two remaining siblings grow up leading very different lives; Michael is committed to a life inside a mental institution while Angel is renamed Laurie and grows up in a nice neighbourhood with two loving parents.
Several years later, on the night before Halloween, two hospital employees decide to get their kicks by raping a vulnerable young female mental patient inside Michael's cell and it's then that the now adult Michael breaks out of the hospital and makes his way back to his home town of Haddonfield in search of his now teenage sibling, leaving a bloody trail wherever he goes.
The rest of the movie is then an almost scene for scene remake of the 1978 movie with Michael tracking down Laurie as she babysits alongside her friends on Halloween night.
Some people like to give props to Rob Zombie for trying something different but as someone who is neither very familiar with Zombie's other work, nor a fan of what I have seen, I can't say that excuse sits well with me. It's not that I'm opposed to seeing a different interpretation of the story or even giving Michael a backstory it's just that the 'bad childhood' angle is so dull, predictable and lazy. Seeing an angelic Michael's descent into murder and rage would have been far more compelling.
I'm also not a fan of how Zombie has a tendency to create all of the male characters in his own image and the constant (constant!) dropping of f-bombs.
With that said, there are a couple of aspects that I do like - for instance the ambiguous time period setting of the first half of the movie; it's vaguely seventies-esque, but never explicitly established which makes for interesting visuals.
Malcolm McDowell does a decent job of Michael's psychiatrist, Dr. Loomis but doesn't hold a candle to Donald Pleasance.
Danielle Harris, who played Laurie's daughter in Halloween IV and V, makes an appearance, this time as Annie, Laurie's sarcastic, snarky best friend from the original movie.
I also like how the sibling story arc flows with more ease, though considering this aspect wasn't added until later in the original series, that can be put down to hindsight.