Rob Zombie remakes the John Carpenter classic and I think that we got more of a trick than we did a treat. There are some good decisions here, but some of them are not so great and it feels like two films held together with cellophane tape.
Young Mikey Myers (Daeg Faerch) is a moonfaced ten year old who seems to be in need of a bath. His trailer trash family include stripper mom Deborah (Sheri Moon Zombie), verbally abusive step-dad (or mom’s live in boyfriend?) Ronnie (William Forsythe), somewhat smutty sister Judith (Hannah Hall), and baby sister “Boo” (Sydney and Myla Pitzer and Stella Altman).
Mikey is picked on at school and has a bad habit of cutting up his pets and neighborhood animals. His bad habits finally cumulate in him knifing his family save for mom and baby “Boo.” He’s put into the care of Dr. Samuel Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) and spends most of his life in his asylum.
One stormy night the massive Myers (Tyler Mane) breaks out of the asylum and heads for his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois to reconnect with his family and slaughter some people along the way.
Rob Zombie’s Halloween feels like two movies in one. The first part of the film seeks to flesh out the back-story of Myers and the second part plays like a remake of the John Carpenter film (with a bit of Halloween 2 thrown into the mix).
The first part is like a remake set in the world that Zombie has established in his previous films (House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects). It’s like a 1970’s grungy, trailer trash view of the world. Carpenter’s film was somewhat more appealing in that it showed a seamy underbelly in what appeared to be normal suburbia.
Zombie’s film lacks any of that subtlety as the environs that we see seem like it’s just a matter of time before they go on a killing spree and it’s no great stretch that Myers went off his rocker in this environment.
In my opinion the extensive delving into the past of Myer’s does away with some of the mystery and suspense present in the first film. In the second part of the film, it seems that Zombie just remakes the first film and some shots even are extremely close duplicates to what appeared in the original.
So to me the new version is a bit of a mixed bag. I wasn’t exactly excited when I heard that a remake of Carpenter’s film was in the works and it wasn’t until Malcolm McDowell was cast that I began to express some interest.
McDowell does bring a certain amount of gravitas to the role and plays it a little straighter than the delightful Donald Pleasence did (you just always got the impression that his Loomis was a bit nutty).
The casting of Tyler Mane was a bit more problematic as he seemed too massive to be Myers. I’d have to say that there seems to be a “bigger is better” aspect to the second part of the film.
This film also adds in a familial revelation that wasn’t touched upon till the second sequel originally. Although certain parts of the film didn’t appeal to me I had a good time with the film, especially when a genre vet would pop up in a minor role.
We get bits from Richard Lynch, Sybil Danning, Ken Foree (as Big Joe Grizzley!), Dee Wallace, Udo Kier, Clint Howard, Danny Trejo, Brad Dourif (as Sheriff Brackett), Sid Haig, third time Halloween vet Danielle Harris (as Annie Brackett), and even Monkee Micky Dolenz. These little cameos kept me interested.
What didn’t really interest me in the second part was Scout Taylor-Compton as Laurie Strode. She doesn’t have any of the stuff that made Jamie Lee so great and she really started to get on my nerves enough that I was hoping that Mikey would win. Since the focus is so much on Myers she also seems like a secondary character in this film instead of being the main one as she was in the original.
Zombie also wisely chose to keep Carpenter’s score, but does add some rock tunes to the soundtrack. It could be that this is the first time that I’ve seen the film and it’s in an unrated expanded edition at just a hair over two hours. The theatrical cut shaved off around 11 minutes.
Halloween in presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. The theatrical version is available separately. Disc one contains only one special feature, a commentary from writer/director Rob Zombie. Disc two contains the rest of the special features.
Those include 21 minutes of deleted scenes with an optional commentary from Zombie, including a cameo from ex-Mrs. John Carpenter Adrienne Barbeau! It’s followed by an alternative ending, again with an optional commentary by Zombie. There’s also a 10-minute blooper reel that shows that Malcolm McDowell is a hoot onset.
The 6 minute “Many Masks of Michael Myers” examines both the masks of the young and adult shape. The 19 minute “Re-Imagining Halloween” is a making of documentary in three parts.
The 18-minute “Meet the Cast” has you…meet the cast. It’s followed by 29 minute of casting sessions with the players and there’s also a separate 7-minute “Scout Taylor-Compton Screen Test.” Finally there’s the 2-minute theatrical trailer and sneak peeks at other DVDs.
When you remake a classic you’re probably setting yourself up for some grief. I guess that Zombie does a good job with the film, but I didn’t like the fact that it feels like he’s crossed Halloween with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and set it in the grungy 70s.
If you’re a fan of the film then you’ll get many nice special features in this set. However, this re-imaging left me lukewarm.
Halloween - Unrated Director's Cut (Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition) is now available at Amazon . It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a Feb. 8th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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