Halloween

Halloween

2007

Action (Horror)

Rated: R

Running Time: 109 minutes

Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Scout Taylor-Compton, Tyler Mane, Danielle Harris

Directed By: Rob Zombie

Rating 7 out of 10

Outline

After spending most of his life in a mental institution the infamous killer Michael Myers is back and looking for his baby sister.

Review

It is hard to believe that over 30 years have passed since this first Halloween was released. Like most horror movies that have had long runs and in this case a course of eight movies. The once iconic brand has dwindled down to an embarrassing pathetic state. That is no more as horror director Rob Zombie must have had seen what the fans were seeing and worked to correct it. It takes a brave person to tackle a screen icon in super killer Michael Myers but lucky for us Zombie was able to breathe life back into a franchise floundering in awfulness. I had lost faith long before Busta Rhymes was delivering round house kicks to Michael Myers in the last movie Halloween Resurrection. Gone are all the gimmicks as this is a reimagining of the first movie and arguably the best of the franchise done by director John Carpenter. This film takes the thin original story and modernizes it with most of the same characters and expands on it giving insight into the creation of the monster that is Michael Myers. This film unlike the first offers a firsthand glimpse of Michael Myers childhood and is the best part of this movie. If you think Michael Myers all grown up is a monster seeing him as a kid is very frightening. The messed up family life and the bullying at school shows you the beginnings of one of one of the most prolific killers in cinema history. Director Rob Zombie is clearly a fan of the original and follows the same storyline for most of the scenes involving Michael’s adulthood. The story may be the same but the execution is not. Gone from the original is the average sized Michael with pasty white William Shatner mask and knife (truly it is a Shatner mask if you did not know). It has been replaced by an enormous man in actor Tyler Mane with a beat up dirtier mask and a will to kill in any way possible. Gone is the camera work from the original that had you terrified at every turn wondering when and where Michael will strike. It has been replaced by sheer brutality and viciousness of Michael as he kills the citizens of Haddonfield with reckless abandon. Zombie pays homage in all the right places though as the same legendary music plays as Michael stalks his victims. The film is well constructed for the horror lover as Michael is angry and in search of his sister and his brutality is as expected bloody and violent. The film also uses some unique flickering camera work that was a nice new touch and maybe we will see that in more movies of this type. There are drawbacks to this film as I found although the human element was a good touch when Michael was young it didn’t pay off when he was old. The film was trying to humanize the older Michael and it was misplaced and a major story killer. The actual dialogue was at times subpar and the acting missed its mark in places. But for all of that this movie shows with a new set of eyes and a passion for the genre you can literally save a franchise with new direction. I give this movie a strong recommendation to fans of the original and horror in general. It works into your mind with violent abrupt killing and truly can give you the shivers with the suddenness of a slammed door.  

T Factor + If you don’t care about solid dialogue in your films this could score higher on the rating scale.

T Factor – If you don’t like scenes of extreme violence this could score lower on the rating scale.

If you liked this film reel recommendations: The Devils Rejects, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.