Caution-Major Spoilers.
Well Rob Zombie was in an unenviable position. Staying true to his vision, while also doing justice to one of the all time classic Horror films. I'm pleased to say he succeeded. Halloween 2007 is a very worthy successor to John Carpenter's original and miles ahead of most of it's sequels. Now that isn't to say it's perfect, because it's not. Yes, it has it's flaws. It's a step down in quality from The Devil's Rejects and nowhere as fun as House of 1,000 Corpses. But if you go into with an open mind, you will be rewarded.
The first hour is a revisionist expansion on the first 15 or so minutes of the original. In this film we get the home life of Michael Myers, his back story, and it is not pleasant. His older sister is a slut, his stepfather (a sinisterly sleazy Bill Forsythe) is an abusive, foul mouthed drunk. His loving Mom (Sherri Moon Zombie) is nice enough, but can only find work as a stripper, and baby sister is living in a crib where a finger slashing pop top is one of her playthings. Here we have a collision between the white trash world of Zombie's earlier features and Carpenter's original. Young Michael (Daeg Faerch) likes to kill his pet rats and other animals, step dad lays on some nasty verbal abuse, and his academic life is troubled by a bully who viciously makes fun of his stripping Mom. The school calls in a shrink, Dr. Sam Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) and he will soon have his hands full. Michael takes his first steps towards human victims when he nearly beats the bully to death (and trust me, this punk was deserving). On Halloween night, his Mom has to work and Older Sister is to take him trick or treating. But Sis would rather have sex with her boyfriend, while Step Dad gets drunk and passes out. He never wakes up as Michael slits his throat (and again, this was someone who deserved what they got), but the next victims are undeserving. Boyfriend is brained by a baseball bat and Big Sis is slashed. Michael then cradles his baby sister, wishes her Happy Halloween and takes her to the porch away from the carnage. Mom comes home to the scene and in no short order, Micheal is off to the loony bin to be treated by Dr. Loomis.
At first it seems like progress is being made. Michael and Loomis talk a lot, Mom comes to visit every week and a nice orderly (Danny Trejo) reaches out in friendship. But young Micheal refuses to admit to anything, still thinks things are fine back home and prefers to hide behind paper masks he has crafted. But coming home is out of the question. Then one day he snaps and kills a nurse. The day after wards he falls silent, never to speak again, Loomis fails to reach him in any way and Mom kills herself. 15 years later, Michael is now a silent hulk of a man who makes his escape from the asylum and heads back home to find baby sister, who was adopted by the Strode family. He is now no longer human, but the Boogeyman. The second half of the film is basically the actual remake part, with even a few nods to Halloween 2 tossed in for good measure (The Michael/Laurie family relationship and "Mister Sandman" playing on the soundtrack).
It helps if you are familiar with the first film and how it unfolds. Because the original film's main events are squeezed into the second half of the new version, we don't have too much time for characterization. If you are intimately familiar with the first film and it's characters, then you will be okay. If not, you may feel a little cheated and the characters might come off as less then fully developed to you. But it's an exciting ride to be sure. Old fans will love seeing how Zombie reinterprets the main set pieces of the first film, old and new fans will love the action and Michael's rampage. Anyone worried about Tyler Mayne as the new Michael need not worry, he's the best since Nick Castle in the original. If you don't have a shiver going up and down your spine when he first puts on the iconic mask and the equally iconic Halloween theme tune plays, then you have no soul.
Zombie does well in most of his re-staging of the original's big moments. Michael has come home to reunite with his Sister, not to kill her. But the happy family reunion is tossed out the window of course. The redux of the Lynda kill is good and the re-staging of the climactic balcony scene in inspired. Also nice is the glimpse into Laurie's family life, barely glimpsed in the first version. Unfortunately, the inevitable "Was that the Boogeyman?-I'm afraid it was" dialog does not have the same impact as in the first film and it might have been better to have left it out rather than give into the fans who were expecting this. Also the end is a big disappointment. It's far too abrupt and leaves you saying "That's it?" It's somewhat saved by a House of 1,000 Corpses style end credit sequence that flashes us back to Michael's childhood, but a better ending would have been nice.
The new Halloween does stumble a bit at times, but Zombie pulled it off. I was entertained for two hours, and left feeling that something finally got remade with a modicum of respect, little warts and all. I feel Halloween 2007 is a film that will get better with repeated viewings and I for one can't wait to see it again.
Well Rob Zombie was in an unenviable position. Staying true to his vision, while also doing justice to one of the all time classic Horror films. I'm pleased to say he succeeded. Halloween 2007 is a very worthy successor to John Carpenter's original and miles ahead of most of it's sequels. Now that isn't to say it's perfect, because it's not. Yes, it has it's flaws. It's a step down in quality from The Devil's Rejects and nowhere as fun as House of 1,000 Corpses. But if you go into with an open mind, you will be rewarded.
The first hour is a revisionist expansion on the first 15 or so minutes of the original. In this film we get the home life of Michael Myers, his back story, and it is not pleasant. His older sister is a slut, his stepfather (a sinisterly sleazy Bill Forsythe) is an abusive, foul mouthed drunk. His loving Mom (Sherri Moon Zombie) is nice enough, but can only find work as a stripper, and baby sister is living in a crib where a finger slashing pop top is one of her playthings. Here we have a collision between the white trash world of Zombie's earlier features and Carpenter's original. Young Michael (Daeg Faerch) likes to kill his pet rats and other animals, step dad lays on some nasty verbal abuse, and his academic life is troubled by a bully who viciously makes fun of his stripping Mom. The school calls in a shrink, Dr. Sam Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) and he will soon have his hands full. Michael takes his first steps towards human victims when he nearly beats the bully to death (and trust me, this punk was deserving). On Halloween night, his Mom has to work and Older Sister is to take him trick or treating. But Sis would rather have sex with her boyfriend, while Step Dad gets drunk and passes out. He never wakes up as Michael slits his throat (and again, this was someone who deserved what they got), but the next victims are undeserving. Boyfriend is brained by a baseball bat and Big Sis is slashed. Michael then cradles his baby sister, wishes her Happy Halloween and takes her to the porch away from the carnage. Mom comes home to the scene and in no short order, Micheal is off to the loony bin to be treated by Dr. Loomis.
At first it seems like progress is being made. Michael and Loomis talk a lot, Mom comes to visit every week and a nice orderly (Danny Trejo) reaches out in friendship. But young Micheal refuses to admit to anything, still thinks things are fine back home and prefers to hide behind paper masks he has crafted. But coming home is out of the question. Then one day he snaps and kills a nurse. The day after wards he falls silent, never to speak again, Loomis fails to reach him in any way and Mom kills herself. 15 years later, Michael is now a silent hulk of a man who makes his escape from the asylum and heads back home to find baby sister, who was adopted by the Strode family. He is now no longer human, but the Boogeyman. The second half of the film is basically the actual remake part, with even a few nods to Halloween 2 tossed in for good measure (The Michael/Laurie family relationship and "Mister Sandman" playing on the soundtrack).
It helps if you are familiar with the first film and how it unfolds. Because the original film's main events are squeezed into the second half of the new version, we don't have too much time for characterization. If you are intimately familiar with the first film and it's characters, then you will be okay. If not, you may feel a little cheated and the characters might come off as less then fully developed to you. But it's an exciting ride to be sure. Old fans will love seeing how Zombie reinterprets the main set pieces of the first film, old and new fans will love the action and Michael's rampage. Anyone worried about Tyler Mayne as the new Michael need not worry, he's the best since Nick Castle in the original. If you don't have a shiver going up and down your spine when he first puts on the iconic mask and the equally iconic Halloween theme tune plays, then you have no soul.
Zombie does well in most of his re-staging of the original's big moments. Michael has come home to reunite with his Sister, not to kill her. But the happy family reunion is tossed out the window of course. The redux of the Lynda kill is good and the re-staging of the climactic balcony scene in inspired. Also nice is the glimpse into Laurie's family life, barely glimpsed in the first version. Unfortunately, the inevitable "Was that the Boogeyman?-I'm afraid it was" dialog does not have the same impact as in the first film and it might have been better to have left it out rather than give into the fans who were expecting this. Also the end is a big disappointment. It's far too abrupt and leaves you saying "That's it?" It's somewhat saved by a House of 1,000 Corpses style end credit sequence that flashes us back to Michael's childhood, but a better ending would have been nice.
The new Halloween does stumble a bit at times, but Zombie pulled it off. I was entertained for two hours, and left feeling that something finally got remade with a modicum of respect, little warts and all. I feel Halloween 2007 is a film that will get better with repeated viewings and I for one can't wait to see it again.
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