Halloween (2007)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Rob Zombie

Writers (WGA):

Rob Zombie (screenplay)
John Carpenter (1978 screenplay) ...

Release Date:

31 August 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Evil Has A Destiny

Plot:

After being committed for 17 years, Michael Myers, now a grown man and still very dangerous, escapes from the mental institution (where he was committed as a 10 year old) and he immediately returns to Haddonfield, where he wants to find his baby sister, Laurie. Anyone who crosses his path is in mortal danger.

Plot Keywords:

Shot In The Back | Child Murder | Child In Peril | Killer Child | Dripping Blood

Cast

Malcolm McDowell	...	Dr. Samuel Loomis
Scout Taylor-Compton	...	Laurie Strode
Tyler Mane	...	Michael Myers
Daeg Faerch	...	Michael Myers, age 10
Sheri Moon Zombie	...	Deborah Myers
William Forsythe	...	Ronnie White
Danielle Harris	...	Annie Brackett
Kristina Klebe	...	Lynda
Skyler Gisondo	...	Tommy Doyal
Danny Trejo	...	Ismael Cruz
Hanna Hall	...	Judith Myers
Tom Towles	...	Larry Redgrave
Bill Moseley	...	Zach 'Z-Man' Garrett
Leslie Easterbrook	...	Patty Frost
Steve Boyles	...	Stan Payne

Also Known As:

Hall9ween (USA) (working title)
Halloween 9 (USA) (working title)
Halloween: Retribution (USA) (working title)
Rob Zombie's Halloween (USA) (complete title)
Untitled Rob Zombie Halloween Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong brutal bloody violence and terror throughout, sexual content, graphic nudity and language.

Runtime:

109 min | USA:121 min (unrated version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia) | Ireland:18 | UK:18 | Canada:18A (Ontario) | Netherlands:16 | France:-16 | Singapore:M18 | Australia:R | Norway:18 | Hong Kong:III | Taiwan:R-18 | Finland:K-18 | Germany:18 | Philippines:R-13 (cut) | Argentina:16 | Italy:VM14 | USA:R (certificate #43755) | Portugal:M/18 | Germany:18 (JK/SPIO) | New Zealand:R18 | Japan:R-15

Filming Locations:

Altadena, California, USA

Company:

Dimension Films

Trivia:

While calling 9-1-1 to get help for the injured Annie, Laurie identifies the street she is on as "Winchester Road". "Winchester" is the name of the production company which produced the horror classic The Thing from Another World (1951) by Howard Hawks. The movie prominently appears on the TV during a horror movie marathon on both this version of "Halloween" and the original film by 'John Carptenter (I)'. Carpenter later remade "The Thing". This was Rob Zombie's nod to the originals and remakes of both films.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Laurie is walking to school and stops at the Myes' house she has no backpack, but in the following scene she is carrying one.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Michael Myers - Child: Come on, sweetie pie. Morning, Elvis. You're a pretty Elvis, aren't you? Yes, you are.

Movie Connections:

References Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Soundtrack:

Deck the Halls

Way, WAY better than I expected

I'm not a big fan of the recent trend of remaking all the classic horror films of the '70s and '80s, but I decided to go see the new "Halloween" anyway, if for no other reason than I'd never seen any of the original films in a theater. (That, and I figured they couldn't do much worse than the god-awful "Halloween: Resurrection", the most recent entry before this remake.) IMHO the original "Halloween" is one of the greatest horror films ever, and certainly the best "slasher" movie (unless you count Hitchcock's "Psycho", but that's another topic.) I really expected to be let down, even though I haven't seen any of Rob Zombie's other movies.

For the first five minutes, I thought, "Great, they took this classic American slasher flick and turned it into a white trash festival." But once Michael started talking (which he never does in the original film) something clicked, and I was hooked. The new film takes the Michael Meyers "mythos" (if you will) and fleshes it out, giving the audience a frightening insight to the true horror that exists all around us before eviscerating us with the shocks and gore we really paid to see.

The movie loses some of its momentum when it jumps to the present day, when too often it reverts back to simply restaging some of the trend-setting scenes from its predecessor - Laurie staring out the window at school and seeing the weirdo in the coveralls and the white mask staring at her, only to vanish seconds later. But hold on, friends - just when you think you know what's coming, the new "Halloween" veers off on its own course, and from then on all bets are off.

One of the most significant updates to the "Halloween" legend is the development of Dr. Loomis, the Van Helsing to Meyers' Dracula. The original Loomis (played memorably by the late Donald Pleasance, who kept returning for sequel after sequel despite his age and - in later years - ill health) was little more than John Carpenter's answer to Captain Ahab. Each film saw him trying to convince another group of skeptical law enforcement officers of the imminent slaughter, never to be believed until the bodies started piling up. The new film's Loomis, however, is a more complex character; he's not the selfless hero the old Loomis was, but he's not quite a villain either, as long as one can forgive him for giving up on Michael to turn his experiences into a cottage industry of "true crime" books and public speaking engagements. When Loomis and Michael are reunited later on, there's more going on then can be seen in a first viewing.

Zombie's "Halloween" succeeds on all fronts. It brings modern touches to a format that had long since fallen into cliché without changing it so much that it becomes unrecognizable. It manages to restore the menace and dread of the iconic Michael Meyers character in an era when masked psychopaths usually prompt the audience to laugh rather than gasp. Most importantly, it delivers the goods horror fans demand but includes enough depth and subtext to make it more than just cinematic junk food.

In short, I was pleasantly surprised with this new version of "Halloween". Like Zach Snyder's redo of "Dawn of the Dead", the 2007 "Halloween" could never replace its predecessor, but does make for a very admirable companion piece to a horror classic, blending the old and the new into an entertaining and thought-provoking fright film.