I have to confess that, although I have seen the original HALLOWEEN, it was sufficiently long ago that I remember very little of it. Furthermore, I haven’t seen any of the sequels (although I’m told that this is not necessarily a bad thing) and only a handful of other slasher movies. So I come to Rob Zombie’s remake as a bit of an innocent. So, how does it shape up?
Well, things start off in an unusual way. We are treated (if that’s the right word) to a surprising amount of background on the young Michael Myers (Daeg Faerch), a ten-year-old boy living in the town of Haddonfield, Illinois in the mid-to-late 70’s. Bullied at school, serial pet killer Michael is also continually harassed by his drunken stepfather and has an unhealthy obsession with his mother (Sheri Moon). It doesn’t make for pretty viewing seeing his screwed-up family, which includes sluttish older sister Judith (Hanna Hall) and infant sister Laurie going about their daily business in typical Rob Zombie style, so it’s rather a relief when he butchers all but his mother (who is out working as a pole-dancer) and baby Laurie and gets sent to a secure unit.
Fifteen years later, Myers (now played by the 6′8″ tall Tyler Mane), silent since his childhood, escapes from the institution and returns to Haddonfield in search of his only remaining relative. In pursuit is his psychologist, Dr Loomis (Malcolm McDowell), who alone knows what Myers is after and how thoroughly dangerous he is.
The first part of this film is so long I seriously thought for a while that this was a full-length prequel or “origin” movie about Myers. Which probably would have made a better film, actually. It’s certainly true that the younger Michael Myers makes for a more interesting subject – a ten year old with limitless rage and a fascination for masks of all descriptions, behind which he can carry out acts of savage brutality and apparently remember nothing afterwards. Of course, even the most casual viewer knows where this is heading, and despite the work of Loomis, Myers continues to be a danger to society on a major scale, and another incident directly leads to another family tragedy for the child. After taking advice from a passing janitor that if he lives within his own mind he is unbound, he becomes completely internalised and uncommunicative, and Myers the man is born.
When Myers comes back to Haddonfield and starts stalking Laurie (leaving a trail of destruction behind him), the slasher-fest begins. I don’t know if it was intended, but most of the characters served up are pretty irritating, including Laurie (Scout Taylor-Compton) herself. Perhaps we are supposed to bond with Myers, I don’t know. Even so, the demise of each of them is pretty brutal, which is my main bone of contention with the film.
HALLOWEEN is consistently nasty and I find relentless nastiness a bit of a turn-off. In this way, HALLOWEEN is much like Zombie’s other films, and you’d be hard pressed to find a likeable character out of any of them.
If I was backed into a corner I’d probably say that this was his best film, for what it’s worth; and I suppose you can applaud him for he creating his own visual style and sticking to it. I doubt he’s ever going to make movies about fluffy rabbits, but I do wish he’d tone down the brutality a bit and deliver some genuine scares – which HALLOWEEN lacks, sadly. Although it’s not as pointless and insulting as some of the recent crop of remakes, I doubt very much that this version of HALLOWEEN will become anywhere near as popular and well loved as the original.
Take this as rumour for now, but Ain’t It Cool are reporting that Tim Burton may be directing a stop motion feature version of FRANKENWEENIE, one of his well known early short films.
I wonder if this new version of BLADE RUNNER will actually be the “final cut”. It’s one film that Warner Bros and 
