Halloween

Halloween (2007)

Written and Directed by: Rob Zombie, based on the film written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill

Starring: Scout Taylor-Compton, Malcolm McDowell, Tyler Mane, Danielle Harris, Brad Dourif, Skyler Gisondo, Jenny Gregg Stewart, Kristina Klebe, Dee Wallace, Pat Skipper, Daeg Faerch, Danny Trejo, Lew Temple, Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon Zombie, William Forsythe, Sybil Danning, Sid Haig, Udo Kier, Clint Howard, Hanna Hall

Okay. The weather was, indeed, permitting. I've been feeling a little sick lately, I actually shat myself for the first time in many years the other day (ah, details, details) but I'm feeling quite a bit better now, I must say.

Remake of the 1978 flick concentrates a lot more on Michael Myers' younger days. The first part of the movie involves the conditions which lead to him murdering his family (turns out he had a dysfunctional family - mom was a stripper, step-dad was a drunken asshole, sister was a slut - it's always the dysfunctional family with these people). It then skims over his fifteen years in the asylum before the violent breakout.

From then on, it's basically the same as the original movie, with Mike hacking and slashing his way through piles of partially naked teenagers to get to his younger sister, Laurie, whom he seems to love very much.

My overall thoughts were that Rob Zombie should really stick to redneck horror (I was somewhat surprised at the number of rednecks living in Illinois in this movie). The movie was not bad by any means - it was well made for the most part, and vaguely interesting.

However, it lacked the sense of DOOM (which Carpenter does so well) and creepiness that the original had. It seems to me that Mr. Zombie is much better at directing gruesome violence than anything really scary, and indeed the first little bit where Mike butchers his family is pretty nauseating.

From that point on, however, the quality of the movie gradually slips until by the end it's a dark, murky blob. I couldn't actually see anything for the last part. Shit was going on, I could tell by the sound and the occasional gray mass which moved across the screen, but what that shit was? Perhaps I'll never know.

Anyway. Like the other Rob Zombie movies I've seen, it was very stylish, with good music (he obviously directed music videos before working his way up to feature length movies) and that weird sense of humour I love so. They used the Halloween theme, as well as a bunch of other little references to the original - the kids are watching The Thing from Another World on TV (although it would have been amusing had they been watching the Carpenter remake... not really a kiddie friendly movie, though), that sandman song. I didn't spot any cameos from any actors in the original film, although Danielle Harris, who played Jamie in parts four and five, plays Annie in this movie (she's eerily convincing as a 17 year old, despite the fact that she's, like, 30). Apparently there was an Adrienne Barbeau cameo which got cut from the film.

The cast was pretty good. I liked Malcolm McDowell as Loomis, and the kid who played Michael at the beginning, Daeg Faerch (who I have the weirdest feeling I've seen in something before), was good. I didn't like Scout Taylor-Compton all that much - she didn't have that thing Jamie Lee Curtis has. She kind of annoyed me, actually, I wanted her to get killed.

But anyway, there were lots of other good people, like Brad Dourif and Danny Trejo and Udo Kier and them, so it wasn't, you know, boring. Me and my friend had great fun trying to spot Sid Haig (fun's not exactly the right word...). Of course, Sheri Moon was in it. She's really awful, y'know? Oh she's very pretty, but she's a terrible actress (it also brings up the eternal question - what kind of perve casts his wife as a stripper? Mind you, she probably is a stripper).

Still, I can't help but wonder, what's Rob going to do now (not that I want to give away the ending or nuthin', but I don't think he'll be doing a sequel)? He's done Texas Chainsaw Massacre, twice, now he's done Halloween. Is he going to come up with something on his own or pick another '70s movie to rehash (he seems to dig the '70s in a major way). Maybe he should do something older. He obviously loves stuff from the '30s & '40s - he could remake White Zombie, with the soundtrack completely by White Zombie. Wouldn't that be cool? Like it's any of my business. Heh.

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