There are a lot of people out there claiming this was made for the teen audience who eats up slashers like popcorn chicken lately. But I saw it with those teens and they came in wanting an easy film that they could laugh at, and what they got was a disturbing, brutal film that stays uncomfortably with Michael Myers during every perverse and psychopathic moment. There was very little laughter and most of the time it was uncomfortable.
Zombie gives us a more fleshed out version of Michael's childhood. But if you think he's making excuses for the monster the boy will become, you're wrong. If you pay attention you'll find Dr. Loomis saying that Michael is a perfect storm of outward and inward circumstances. Every monster is someone. Hitler was a boy eating soup and playing with a dog at one point. It is that innocence that lingers in our peripheral vision which is so scary. In a world of child soldiers and gun toting high schoolers, THAT is the update to the mythos.
While I found the movie frightening, I do think it lacks the atmosphere of dread that was so ever present in the original. It's always clear where Myers is coming from and there is little chance to invite the audience to scream at the screen. Perhaps that's a good thing?
As stated earlier, Zombie's Myers himself is ever present. He doesn't waste any time in his killing, except for an unfortunate rip from the original in which he playfully wears a sheet to spook a girl. Zombie's Myers, relishes in the spectacle of death but he does not get overtly creative which may also have been a let down to SAW fans. Some of the deaths are so cold- blooded they gave me a chill, like when Myers' ever so slowly pulls back a girls neck until it pops and she slips down dead. That fragility, the fragility of the human body and the transience of life, is something the movie gets orgasmically right. Halloween or not.
The gore isn't mindless in my opinion. I think it's very deliberate. I think a lot of Zombie's thoughts went into how to make the gore tasteful and impactive. He doesn't show you nearly as much as some people are intimating. He does in fact show a great deal of restrain and sleight of hand in choosing what to show and what to suggest in his scenes.
The choice of making Myers' 6'8" of pro wrestling strength seems an odd one, especially since his early looks seem aped from WWE wrestler Kane... but when you see the physicality of his kills you'll understand why the choice was made.
Zombie gives us a more fleshed out version of Michael's childhood. But if you think he's making excuses for the monster the boy will become, you're wrong. If you pay attention you'll find Dr. Loomis saying that Michael is a perfect storm of outward and inward circumstances. Every monster is someone. Hitler was a boy eating soup and playing with a dog at one point. It is that innocence that lingers in our peripheral vision which is so scary. In a world of child soldiers and gun toting high schoolers, THAT is the update to the mythos.
While I found the movie frightening, I do think it lacks the atmosphere of dread that was so ever present in the original. It's always clear where Myers is coming from and there is little chance to invite the audience to scream at the screen. Perhaps that's a good thing?
As stated earlier, Zombie's Myers himself is ever present. He doesn't waste any time in his killing, except for an unfortunate rip from the original in which he playfully wears a sheet to spook a girl. Zombie's Myers, relishes in the spectacle of death but he does not get overtly creative which may also have been a let down to SAW fans. Some of the deaths are so cold- blooded they gave me a chill, like when Myers' ever so slowly pulls back a girls neck until it pops and she slips down dead. That fragility, the fragility of the human body and the transience of life, is something the movie gets orgasmically right. Halloween or not.
The gore isn't mindless in my opinion. I think it's very deliberate. I think a lot of Zombie's thoughts went into how to make the gore tasteful and impactive. He doesn't show you nearly as much as some people are intimating. He does in fact show a great deal of restrain and sleight of hand in choosing what to show and what to suggest in his scenes.
The choice of making Myers' 6'8" of pro wrestling strength seems an odd one, especially since his early looks seem aped from WWE wrestler Kane... but when you see the physicality of his kills you'll understand why the choice was made.