Halloween (2007)

Home
Smell the Movies
Smell the TV

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Year:	2007
Country of origin:	USA
Director:	Rob Zombie
Genre:	Decent remake
Starring:	Malcolm McDowell, Scout Taylor-Compton, Tyler Mane
Rating:	4/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373883/
Tagline:	When Darkness Fell, HE Arrived
Favourite line:	"Bitch, I will crawl over there and I will skull fuck the shit out of you!"

Rob Zombie’s controversial remake of a John Carpenter classic.

The plot:
Michael Myers seems like every other school boy.
Bit cheeky.
Cute, podgy little face.
Likes to wear masks.
Oh, and he also takes photographs of animals he has killed.
Just like a normal boy would.
One day, he dons a clown mask and, for seemingly no reason, slaughters his family in cold blood.
Thrown into an institution for the criminally insane, there he waits, never revealing the reason for the killing, nor showing any sign of remorse.
One night, set to be transferred to another maximum security unit, he escapes, and heads back to his home town to finish what he started……

More a re-imagining than a straight-forward remake, this takes the back-story that was only vaguely hinted at in the original, and puts flesh on the bones, the first thirty minutes effectively taking us to the point of the opening of the source movie. Normally, such elaboration would prove redundant and frustrating, but here it is handled very effectively, giving life to the monster, putting a face to the fear, though in child form, thereby not shattering the illusion of anonymity when he is fully grown.
And boy, doesn’t he grow.
In Tyler Mane – the man behind the mask – Zombie has found a genuine man mountain. Standing six foot nine, and weighing in at some nineteen stone, there’s not an ounce of fat on the fucker, every inch of him bulging with musculature so that he is, in fact, He-Man made flesh. And so effective in scenes when he is stalking prey, his sheer bulk adding menace to what would already be a fairly tense moment.
Superb casting.
For the rest of it, Zombie wisely chooses to drop the most infamous of scenes, all too aware, presumably, that to simply ape what had gone before would destroy any credibility of the new movie as no way could it match it. There are occasionally nods to the source – the ghost costume, the pinning to the door – but nothing to really focus your mind on the original scenes, which is how it should be.
Clearly a big fan of the horror genre, and having previously directed the quite excellent House of 1000 Corpses, this demonstrates that not all remakes are a bad idea. What’s important is that they are put in the hands of those who love the genre. A Rob Zombie. An Alexandre Aja, rather than fucking bean counters whose only love is the money they can squeeze from the deluded multiplex denizens.
Yes, Marcus Nispel, I’m looking at you, whilst shuddering at the prospect of The Fly remake coming later this year. You cunt.
Purists will, of course, decry the very notion of remaking a Carpenter movie and, usually, I would be in agreement but, every so often, one comes along to prove you wrong.
And that’s the case here.
Really didn’t want to like it.
Impressed by the end result.