Just Got Home From Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN *SPOILERS INSIDE*

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 11:34pm

So we just got home from tonight's screening of Rob Zombie's new "Re-Imagining" of HALLOWEEN. Wow. I'll tell you, when I first heard this was being done my initial thought was "WHY???" Why mess with what is perhaps the greatest horror film of all time? And when I heard Rob Zombie was doing it I just thought it would be filled with buckets of blood and everything that made the original so great would be sucked right out.

Sadly, I was right.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't dislike Zombie at all. But he has a certain style that I just didn't think worked for telling THIS story. I don't really know where to begin so I guess for those interested in the film, I'll start at the beginning. So here is the obligitory warning

*********TONS OF SPOILERS BELOW*************




The film opens in typical Zombie style with the Myers family in what would have to be the late 70's (judging by the music and surroundings) fighting and cursing up a storm over the breakfast table. Little Michael is upstairs in his clown mask playing with his gerbil and, well you don't need a degree in rocket science to see where this one's going. Sheri Moon Zombie who plays Michaels mother is yelling at his crippled drunken stepfather to set up what a troubled enviroment this is. Michael's sister joins in the fun by making poor Mikey feel like an outcast, also. Moon tries to protect Michael in what turns out to actually be a teriffic performance. As if his family life isn't enough Michael's social status at school is far from popular. (I guess the clown mask look is out in '78!) I really don't want to do a play by play of the entire film but needless to say, bullies are taken to task and wrongs are "righted" by little Michael Myers. After about 20 minutes of this we get to Halloween night and everyone knows what's going to happen here. Sadly up until this point there has been absolutely no suspense built up whatsoever and all so when the
inevitable happens it's a full on gore fest complete with throat slitting, metal baseball bat beatings to the head and lots of various spilt blood. Michael is taken to the assylum where Dr. Loomis (Malcolm MacDowell here in one of the most over the top performances of the decade) treats Michael and they bond blah blah blah. Needless to say, after a lot more blood, Michael escapes 15 years later and we are on to part two.

I say it's part two because what happens next is a completely different film. It's offputting also because the style and tone of the film changes so completely it actually becomes boring. It is this part of the film we are introduced to Laurie Strode and her slutty high school friends. Slutty high school friends = not so good outcomes in case you didn't know that. Zombie doesn't even ATTEMPT to steer away from cliches in this second part. Every horror movie cliche you have seen since the original HALLOWEEN opened in theaters 30 years ago is used here and each one is as tired as the next. Show your tits? Die. Drinking teenager? Die. You'll "Be right back!!" Die. Pulsing music stops for a minute - Uh Oh. Do you think they'll be a scare??? Gee, I wonder. Everything down to one of the last lines "Thank God it's over!" is laughable. The storytelling and character developemnt that made John Carpenter's film so amazing and terrifying is sacrificed here for more blood and gore involving characters written in just so they can be in the wrong place at the wrong time in one scene and die which is ultimately pointless. This screen time needs to be devoted to our heroine and her friends. We all know what's coming but unfortunately in Zombie's film it's all just SO boring.

I stayed as part of a discussion after the screening and gave these opinions and a lot more to the studio and to my surprise when I turned around afterwards, to Rob Zombie himself who had heard everything I said. I'm glad I spoke up though because of the 20 people in the group, more than half felt the film had major flaws. The film I saw tonight most probably will not be the exact film to land in theaters later this year but sadly I don't think there's enough time or money to go back and fix the problems with it.
Updated On: 6/19/07 at 11:34 PM

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 11:37pm

Possible spoliers:

Did they keep the masturbation over dead animals, and sister groping? Or was that mercifully tossed out?

Frankly, the original is a masterpiece...and I have even less desire to see the remake now.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 11:39pm

There is no masturbation. I wouldn't exactly call it "groping" but there was innapropriate touching in there.
Updated On: 6/20/07 at 11:39 PM

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 11:41pm

That's a relief.

Personally, I'm happy with Halloweens 1, 2 and 4...and thinking that MM is just a psycho wanting to kill his family.

[tazber]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 11:41pm

wow! First of all, thank you so much for your review Jordan. I've been looking forward to it.
Well, I guess I'm bummed, but it's kinda what I expected.

Let me ask you (although you did mention it in your review), Laurie is one of the few Heroines in the slasher film canon that I have actually cared about. Curtisi s a kick ass actress with a well written part. Do you care about Laurie in this version or is she reduced to just another teenager?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 11:45pm

Sadly, she's reduced to just another teenager. Her role is a bit different here than it was in the original and I don't want to give it away here but it is not the same. However like I said, Zombie breaking this up into two seperate films virtually, didn't let you get to know her at all. We are introduced to her and find out she's in high school, has a family has slutty friends and BAM, it all begins. No development whatsoever.

[tazber]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 11:56pm

[Auggie27]

Posted: 6/20/07 at 10:53am

What this illustrates more than ever is the dearth of ideas -- seemingly everywhere. When in doubt, remake with more, more, more of everything. The original had a lean n' mean quality that made it unique. The low budget kept it strangely "honest" -- no attempt at pretention. The sequels became increasingly banal and repetitive, but I, II and even the disappointing H20 are all of a piece -- with Curtis. The H20 film at least had ambitions -- you can see someone trying to pay everything off with some thoughtful writing. The scenario devised for Laurie's character two decades later made good sense. To me, that should be the final word. I will stay away from this, happily.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 6/20/07 at 11:29am

I think part of what is soooo good with the original, beyond the "MM is a psycho" part, was it was filmed soooo darkly...you get to edit in the violence. Personally, my mind will create worse scenarios than you can show me. And, if I am watching it late at night, then he doesn't kill the dog, he gives it a bone with some sleeping agent.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/20/07 at 12:52pm

No surprise here. No doubt, there will be a huge cult following from the teens and twentysomethings who have deemed themselves "subversive" and anything with blood, gore, and/or torture will be hailed as "edgy" and "dark", which automatically means they are not only good films, but artistic and important.

I hope this trend ends soon. I enjoy a bit of grand guignol, but there really seemed to be no purpose to this remake other than for Zombie to attach his name to something that was already popular.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/20/07 at 12:58pm

You're absolutely right, Mister Matt. And I can tell you after the screening and after listening to the reactions from what should be his "core audience", Zombie was NOT happy. Even outside he was shaking his head a bit.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 6/20/07 at 6:31pm

There is a reason why Jamie doesn't get the character development that she did in the original. Rob Zombie switched the main character. In this film, Michael Myers is the lead.


I still can't wait until this comes out.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/20/07 at 7:37pm

That was actually discussed last night at length, Spiderdj82. However, the problem still remains that even with Michael as the lead character you don't really care about him and without any character development, you don't care about the others so when it came down to it....who cares?

[Sylar2]

Posted: 6/20/07 at 8:44pm

some other reviews:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/33082

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/33079

[worrell4077]

Posted: 6/21/07 at 12:56pm

There is a line from The Critic where Jay Sherman says "If it's a remake of a classic, rent the classic". Most remakes fail to be as good as the original. For example, Gus Van Sant's Psycho was a decent film, but it was nothing compared to Hitchcock's original.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 6/21/07 at 1:11pm

The reason it was decent, was because it was shot frame for frame, line for line as the original (with a couple of extras added in). If you are going to remake something, go all out. What is the point of remaking a movie from the original script?

[tazber]

Posted: 6/21/07 at 1:13pm

There are plenty of re-makes that are better than the originals too. There was a whole thread on that not too long ago.

Halloween will not be one of them however.

[tazber]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 7:43am

It seems Zombie has heard the voice of the early screeners.
The changes described here are not the kind I was hoping for though. Apparently he's upping the gore quotient. While I'm all for that, I still think he's missing the point, which Jordan pointed out in his review. Anyway, check this out:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/33205

[mattonstage]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 8:19am

What about the music? I'm going to assume they don't use the originals brilliant piano theme? Am I wrong?

[tazber]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 8:23am

He wasn't going to at first, but b/c of the outcry, he capitulated and will be using a "variation" of the music.
That's what I heard at least.
Jordan?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 10:42am

First off, Zombie aparantely didn't listen to a damn word that was said that night. I said and had many people there agree with me that there was already TOO MUCH gore in this movie and way too many ridiculous killings that took away from plot and character development. It sounds like he's making it even worse which, really, is pretty hard to do.

As for the music, the Halloween theme was used a few times throughout the film but of course that might change.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/2/07 at 11:26am

Well, as we all know, upping the grow improves the quality of any film. It worked for Hostel II, right?

[tazber]

Posted: 7/18/07 at 7:36pm

New publicity posters:


http://joblo.com/new-hween-posters