The slasher sub-genre received one of its most influential films nearly thirty years ago. In 1960 Alfred Hitchcock arguably gave us the granddaddy of slasher cinema with the classic Psycho. It wasn't until fourteen years later when Bob Clark's Black Christmas and Tobe Hooper's Texas Chainsaw Massacre got the sub-genre kicked off in the right direction.
Then another four years later, John Carpenter, coming off the success of Assault on Precinct 13, turned his eye on bringing horror home. Halloween was a terrifying journey into fear as a masked menace invaded suburbia. It spawned seven sequels, each with varying degrees of success. It was only a matter of time before Hollywood turned their greedy eyes towards the past with intentions of "reinventing" a horror icon. How long will it be before Jason and Freddy get the same treatment?
The very idea of remaking a classic such as Halloween is going to be met with much opposition. The recreation of Texas Chainsaw Massacre a few years back was met with similar resistance. Everyone has films that they have made great connections with, and for genre film fans (primarily horror and science fiction) the attachment can be more pronounced.
There are few other areas where fans are quite as outspoken for their beloved films. This is a great and beautiful thing. At the same time, I am open to the possibility that another filmmaker may have some ideas they would like to bring to the table. This makes the choice of the creative team to be of utmost importance, it is the choice between a quick buck and bringing another vision to the fore. Would you rather have something like the awful The Fog or Black Christmas remakes? Or perhaps something more along the lines of The Thing or Dawn of the Dead? In the former, it seemed that money rather than artistic merit were the goals, while the latter actually had directors with some vision, a creative spark that they wanted to bring to the table.
When Rob Zombie was announced as the writer/director I breathed a sigh of relief, while at the same time others were increasing the volume of their cries. Rob Zombie made his debut with the entertaining experiment House of 1000 Corpses followed by one of the single biggest leaps in skill with his sophomore feature, The Devil's Rejects. Here is a man who has a distinct love for horror cinema and a desire to make movies that he wants to see, not necessarily what everyone else wants, but he retains his integrity for better or worse.
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Article comments
1 - S
I entirely agree with everything that is written here. If you are a Halloween fan, you won't be disappointed. This actually builds a lot of background to the movie and actually explains some of the WHY with Mike Myers's motives. I also recommend.
2 - Randy
Let me begin by saying that while I agree with many of your comments I have to say that as a HUGE fan of Michael Myers and the Halloween franchise I HATED the new version.
In the original film, as well as this disasterous remake, Dr. Loomis makes it perfectly clear that Michael is "uncontrollable" and basically evil personified. How then do you explain the control Dr. Loomis has in reaching the "calmer" side of Michael? I am sorry but the character of Michael Myers should never have been allowed to be subjected to appeals by the good ol' Doctor.
John Carpenter and Debra Hill invented a Michael Myers that was known as the Shape specifically to establish him as the very essence of Evil. Rob Zombie twisted him into a deeply disturbed but still morally recognizant killer . This completely destroys all credibility in my mind.
In closing, while the movie was indeed a newer vision, the hypocrisy that ran rampant throughout this version was enough to disgust me. Rob Zombie must have forgotten the very definition of terms like "uncontrollable".
3 - Christene
Bigger! Faster! Angrier! The new and improved, in-your-face Michael Myers is a force to be reckoned with. Now his rage is understandable, thanks to the new information provided about his early years. You have to love it when his tormentors get theirs! An avid fan of the original Halloween, I always wondered what happened to that cute, little boy to make him the "embodiment of pure evil". He lived in a quiet, suburban neighborhood with perfectly normal parents. So what set him off? His promiscuous sister? Doesn't seem like enough of a reason and what 5 yr old would understand what they were doing anyway? The creepy, atmospheric, surreal original will always be a personal favorite but I do admire the new one and respect Rob Zombie for his insight into Michael's pysche, as well as the retooling of that beautiful, haunting music. Bravo!
4 - Patrick
I enjoyed the hell out of this "remake." I thought what Chris wrote up above pretty much hit it in that while it is a remake (of sorts) of a classic, it still managed to be its own film. I do remember being a tad (just a tad) disappointed with House of 1000 Corpses, but extremely satisfied with Devil's Rejects and so I came to this one with open arms. And I'm so glad I did.
I think one of the best things about this flick was the killings. They weren't corny, they weren't unnecessary, and we were shown just enough to keep us interested. Some flicks can go overboard with the gore, causing me (and, I'm sure, others) to only look [primarily] for more gore, as opposed to the story.
Overall, I give it a thumbs [way] up, in terms of horror flicks.
P.S. I do agree that the two friends did seem too shallow and almost unnecessary to story (though I guess I can understand that we needed them for the gore factor :)).
5 - Hamp
GREAT MOVIE PERIOD!!!I hope and pray that they keep this series going, for the sake of people that like real scary movies!!!
6 - Reverend
I'll start by saying that this is a Rob Zombie movie and expect more of the same hillbilly devil rocker sensibility here that he employs in his other two movies. There are valid points every where above but ultimately i ask everyone this: What was the point? What purpose does the movie serve in the end? It is the original movie, compacted into 45 minutes and tacked on to the end of 45 minutes of backstory that we didn't need. So, Michael Myers is move evil now than in the original because he killed more people as a kid? People who, one could argue, deserved it.
I'm waiting for a Friday the 13th where we find out that Jason takes money from all his victims and donates it all to help fight autism.
I think Rob Zombie should work for the SciFi Channel.
7 - Return to your trailer Zombie
Zombie gets the chance to let loose his "creative" (white trash) vision of Michael Myers hazy history, which comes out decent for the first 30 minutes or so but then comes the other 1.5 hours of sitting there and willing for the movie to end so you can say you saw it and hated it. Note to Zombie: Just because you have money does not mean you are a director, don't whore out your wife and friends pretending they can act, and try using most of the more words in the English langauge in the script instead curse word after surse word. This was one big B*tch slap in Carpentar's, Curtis's, and everybody else's face who worked on the "Orginial" Halloween. This movie needs to be retitled "Halloween Gone Blair Witch Bad".
8 - Kenny
There was the plus side that you found out about michael's past, but besides that this movie was horrible. The story was awesome, but that was already created before the first film. It is just an over all blood and gore movie. If you are a true halloween fan of course your going to go watch this because you cant miss this! But just prepare to severely disappointed.
9 - Michelle
I personally didnt hate the movie- but this is the first Halloween I have ever seen so my opinion may change after I see another one.
I just wanted to ask a quick question...
How did Mike get so strong from being in the nut house for 15 years? I mean all he did was make masks out of newspaper--I mean come on!
10 - Michelle
I personally didnt hate the movie- but this is the first Halloween I have ever seen so my opinion may change after I see another one.
I just wanted to ask a quick question...
How did Mike get so strong from being in the nut house for 15 years? I mean all he did was make masks out of newspaper--I mean come on!
11 - daniel
Someone posted an interesting poll about the new Halloween vs the old one on pollsb.com (click on my name to get there).
12 - darren
this is by far the wqorst film I have ever had the misfortune to see
13 - Chris Beaumont
darren: You may not like it, but if this is the worst you have seen, you have not seen many movies.
14 - underdown
HATED the new version.
In the original film, as well as this disasterous remake, Dr. Loomis makes it perfectly clear that Michael is "uncontrollable" and basically evil personified. How then do you explain the control Dr. Loomis has in reaching the "calmer" side of Michael? I am sorry but the character of Michael Myers should never have been allowed to be subjected to appeals by the good ol' Doctor.
. This completely destroys all credibility in my mind.
i am sorry but that movie runied everything,
15 - lolz
this is halloween aghhh aghhha ghhgg die mtherfucker i commented on this from my school