Post by slapshot63 on Sept 3, 2007 8:36:04 GMT -5
WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS BE HERE – PLEASE DO NOT read this review if you have not seen the movie. Even if you are dying to know all of what happens, see it for yourself. Don’t ruin it!.
Well, its finally here; the new Halloween. But, it isn’t in the form that I originally wanted. As we all know, it’s a remake and Halloween was one movie that did not need to be remade. The original is not just a horror classic, it is a cinematic masterpiece. Its legacy has lived on for nearly thirty years and has amassed legions of fans, rabid fans at that. So you can imagine the reaction from said fans when a remake of their beloved movie was put on the fast track. I was one of those fans who were not happy about this.
Time went on and information was released about casting, the screenplay and general production news of that sort. Then came the script reviews. They weren’t good to say the least; some people flat out despised it. Whether or not director/writer Rob Zombie listened to this feedback or not, he went in and made some pretty big changes. People still complained about the script and about the story as well. The thing that most fans were complaining about though was all the things that Zombie was doing to make this remake different. Just goes to show you can’t please everyone.
So here we are, thirteen months after this project was officially announced. I have seen the movie and I can safely and proudly breathe a sigh of relief. This movie fucking rules. It’s a great horror film that grabs you by the balls and refuses to let go…and it works. It isn’t perfect by any means but it is easily the second best entry in the franchise and is really the first one after the original to deserve to be called Halloween.
I was hesitant about the whole backstory idea because the majority of the time, it kills the character for the viewer because after you see what shaped them, they don’t remain scary anymore and become boring. Not the case here. Sure, the dysfunctional family can seem excessive at times, but it is always played straight and it is because of this that the movie works so well later. We first meet Michael as a child and we see the environment that he grew up in and the horrors he had to face every day. A loving and well-meaning mother who is a stripper, a drunken bastard for a stepfather, a promiscuous older sister, bullies at school and other problems. The only thing in his life that brings him joy is his little sister “Boo”. After the shit hits the fan and Michael starts slaying, it is Sheri Moon-Zombie who carries this section of the film. Don’t get me wrong; Malcolm McDowell and Daeg Faerch give strong performances that help carry the film, but it is Zombie that brings it all home. She shows how great of an actress she is here with her degenerating mentality and grip on reality after the initial massacre. The scene where she is contemplating shooting herself is filled with emotion and I genuinely felt bad for her and was saddened when I heard that gunshot. My mouth dropped because I cared for her character and all the things she had to go through. This backstory though, as I said earlier, helps the second half of the movie tremendously.
The performances here are all very good. I already talked about Zombie so there’s no need to rehash all that so I’ll get on to the people you really want to know about. Malcolm McDowell is pretty good as Dr. Loomis. He isn’t great and astonishing like everyone expected him to be but he plays the part well. He won’t make you forget about Donald Pleasence anytime soon (or ever) though. McDowell understands the character and plays him well; he just doesn’t have it in his heart. Scout Taylor-Compton is very good as Laurie. She fits right into the character with ease and you never once doubt her as the heroine. It was nice to see Danielle Harris make a triumphant return to the series, even if she was only in it for a short time. I have to say though, that seeing that same eight year old’s face (now 28) covered in blood and writhing in pain was eery. Everyone else is good though. All the supporting cast members play their parts very well.
Tyler Mane dons the Captain Kirk mask this time around and he gives us the best Michael performance since Nick Castle in the original. His Michael is a large, badass motherfucker. When he’s mad, you know it and are afraid of him. He’s a true beast in this one and Rob Zombie has managed to finally make Michael scary again, something he hasn’t been in almost thirty years. He plays Myers with such humanity that you care for him (this is where the backstory comes in). When he captures Laurie, he kneels in front of her, takes off his mask and hands her a picture of him holding her as a baby. You feel for Michael and for the first time, he isn’t a psychotic killing machine who only thinks of what he wants to kill next. He’s a real person with issues. I know this isn’t something we ever wanted to hear in a Halloween film but it really works here. As I said, I felt bad for Michael and wanted Laurie to embrace him. I didn’t want her to attack him, even though it was the most logical thing for her to do at the time. It was in that instance when she stabbed him that Michael became The Shape. He slumped over for a little while and then got back up, put his mask on and became the heartless killing machine that we all know (don’t get me wrong though, he’s still a friggin’ scary badass throughout the whole movie). Speaking of brutality, the kills in here are gut wrenching. The scene in which a younger Michael kills a bully is brutal and disturbing, but isn’t even the most violent kill in the movie. But, because it is being done by a younger child, senses are heightened and we are effected that much more.
Tyler Bates’ has done well with the score. Many times, cues from Carpenter’s original masterpiece score are used and used very well. They brought a big smile to my face, yet a sense of dread as well. That sense of dread, of course, came from the fact that the music was foreboding and you knew that something bad was about to happen…you just didn’t know what. The score was very very good and effective and I love how Bates and Zombie chose to keep specific pieces from the original to be used in specific scenes here, but reworked them enough to where they sound the same, but aren’t exactly the same. Very good stuff here.
As I mentioned before, this movie isn’t perfect. There were some things that irked me. For starters, the last third felt way too rushed. It really was a cliff notes version of the original…to a point anyways. It seems as if Zombie touched on all the main points that were in the original and once the big chase started, that’s when he threw us for a loop. From the point at which Laurie finds Annie and Lynda until the credits start to roll are some of the most intense moments I’ve seen in a very long time. It’s all very different than the original and it was nice. The throwbacks to the original (i.e. similar plot points and deaths) were a nice little touch and I enjoyed them, but I loved the new stuff something wicked. Another thing was the music selections. Now, Zombie chose all great songs to put in here, but it seems as if they were there because he wanted them to be, not because they enhanced the scene or bettered the movie. On top of that though, they all but quit after the fifteen years later title card shows up and it makes the beginning selections feel forced. That brings me to another point; the transitions. Yikes, these were pretty rough. Michaels’ mother shoots herself in that emotionally wrenching scene and two seconds after the gun goes off it abruptly cuts to “Fifteen Years Later” it was jarring and caused some laughter in the audience and the awkwardness of it. Speaking of the audience, they freaking sucked. They were laughing at all the wrong parts and they weren’t parts that were meant to be serious but were funny anyways. People laughed when Michael came up and killed Laurie’s father! There’s nothing funny about that! What the hell!? I could tell though that most of them hadn’t seen the original because they laughed at lines like, “Was it the boogeyman?” as if she was stupid for asking because of the conversation earlier in the movie, not realizing that it is in there as a nod to the fans of the original.
Continuity was another problem here. Whoever was in charge of continuity on this film should be shot. In the bathroom scene, a display case is knocked over and the glass broken, two seconds later it is completely intact. On another occasion, a character has his eyes gouged out and is killed, with blood trickling all over his face. Michael then drags the body into the house and all the blood is gone and the victim’s face is completely clean! Come on. Some of the dialogue in the beginning was a little iffy as well, but I dealt with it. One last problem I had was the fact that things in the last third felt like they happened or characters were there because they were in the original. Loomis doesn’t do much of anything, but you can’t leave him out. Paul? Worthless but was in the original. Sheriff Brackett is vastly underused here and, again, was in the original so he was shoved in here.
Despite all this movie’s problems, I couldn’t help but love it. This movie was a rousing success in every conceivable way and absolutely is a worthy remake of the original. Everything has come together to give us something that we never expected to happen again; a new, good Halloween movie on the big screen. Rob Zombie delivers a vicious, violent and unrelenting horror movie that the world has not seen in a damn long time. This is the greatest horror movie to come out in a long time and we need more like this. This is a balls to the wall horror film, no two ways about it. You’ll be scared, surprised and overall, happy when you leave the theater. I understand that not everyone will enjoy this movie, as it is impossible to please everyone, but I don’t care, I loved the damn thing and honestly, I want to see it again immediately. Oh, and the ending is a suspenseful doozy. Absolutely wonderful. Bottom line, if you are Halloween fan, you NEED to see this film.
4/5
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