Rob Zombie's Halloween is an artistic failure. One can only say that because Zombie showed himself to be nearly a horror film genius with "Devil's Rejects," a flawless and terrifying horror movie that captures and ratchets up the spirit of '70s horrors like Texas Chainsaw and Last House on the Left. So expectations were understandably high when Zombie agreed to do the unthinkable: remake a masterpiece and make it his own.
The result is a film that, at its best moments, echoes some of the themes we saw in "Devil's Rejects" and, in its worst moments, feels like a bad "Halloween" movie in the spirit of "Halloween 6."
We're all very familiar with the basic "Halloween" storyline. For this remix, Zombie takes a more sympathetic view toward Myers, who wears a Kiss T-shirt at 10 and kills off the class bully the same day he offs (now) his entire family along with his now annoying sister.
The first third of the film, focusing on Myers' abusive family led by stipper mom Sherri Moon Zombie, has some of the spirit of "Rejects" and you can tell this is the kind of world Zombie likes to film about -- one of drunks, derelicts, abusers and (finally) long-haired serial killers.
But things start getting ridiculous when Zombie starts shoe-horning elements from Carpenter's universe: Dr. Loomis (now played by Malcolm McDowell, who seemed like an inspired choice but is just going through the motions in the role) seems like a forced, almost unnecessary character. He was the protagonist of the original movie. Not here. Laurie Strode (playeds irritatingly now by Stout Taylor-Compton) doesn't show up until halfway through the movie, after we watch Michael grow up from a normal looking and acting (aside from the fact that he kills people) kid to a silent hulk in an asylum obsessed with making masks.
The killings are more brutal this time around, more graphic, and sleazier, but they also feel stunted -- like Zombie didn't have the creative freedom to make the movie he really wanted to make. John Carpenter's music is back too, and it doesn't gel with this vision of the story -- and constantly reminds us that this is a remake. Good remakes should make us forget about the original, not inject the original into its mix every chance it gets.
Brutality in horror works if it increases the realism of the film. But by definition a "Halloween" movie can't be realistic. Here's where Zombie failed in his mission: Attempting to inject a gritty realism to a film that is, by definition, too fantastic to be real. There is much that is unbelievable in this film, from the dialogue of the high school girls to the weird lack of any real police presence when Meyers shows back up in town. Come on. A mass murderer escapes from an asylum and the police in his hometown doesn't care? In the first film, he wasn't a mass murderer by the time he broke out. And some of the lapses in logic didn't really matter that much. In that film, Meyers was a borderline supernatural being. He was the Boogey Man. Zombie tries to humanize him here and, no, it doesn't work at all.
Fans will recognize Danielle Harris, who played Laurie Strode's daughter in the infinitely superior "Halloween 4" and now returns as her doomed friend. There's some genuine tension at the end of the film when Strode confronts Meyers, and at the beginning, when young Daeg Faerch portrays an unsilent, psychotic 10-year-old Meyers. He's good in the role as a creepy long-haired kid. There's some good Rob Zombie horror here, and plenty of cameos from the likes of Udo Kier, Clint Howard, Ken Foree and many others. But all in all "Halloween 2007" was a big mistake and something Zombie is going to have to live down.
In short, it's about as good as "Halloween 5" (i.e., not good).
It was a great movie to me all the way up until the end. Humanizing Michael Myers made everything seem more real - but made it impossible to use the great ending of the original.
I thought it was by far one of the better remakes - but still not as good as the original.
Posted by troll on May 25, 2008
It was an awesome remake. It is usually impossible to make a good remake of an amazing classic and i would say that Zombie did better than any other remake out there
Posted by Scott Gregg on September 9, 2008
This remake was okay. I actually agree with the review by Lucious Gore. It has good moments and not so good moments. Still a must watch for Halloween fans. Only thing I don't agree with is that Halloween 5 was a bad movie. I loved it. A great sequel to part 4 in my opinion.
Posted by terrornights on September 16, 2008
total garbage NO MORE REMAKES
Posted by jariospeedwagon on September 22, 2008
i couldn't get over the most retarded plot hole of all: what year did he murder his family? late 70s? lets say, at the latest, it's 1979. whats that plus 17? 1996. what are these people doing with cell phones and clearly living in a post 2000 america? i loved the first half of the film, but it got trite into the second half and end.
Posted by on October 2, 2008
this remake is a shittie movie it sucked im mean who does this rocker guy think he is he totaly destroy a amazing classic
Posted by chris cox on December 24, 2008
it's obvious to me not-one-of-you-gets it!!!!
the whole idea Mr. Rob Zombie is getting at with his re-make!?
after watching this film one is supposed to feel for the victims of michael myers psychotic killing -spree and hate micheal myers.
but... if you conclude michael myers is the "party dude of the day"
then i conclude you to be a mentally-totalled-blackhearted-asshole.
I PROUDLY OWN THIS ONE!!! (the 2-disc version)
Posted by ryan johnson on July 14, 2009
i liked this film. alot, but there is alot of shit that bothers me about it .look im all for unpolitical corectness and shock value but this movie attempts that without the art of shock, its like zombie was thinking, if i put a shitload of titties and naked chicks people will think im edgy! no! mister zombie, no! the devils rejects was a great film, because it was scary and the nudity had a purpose. example: baby firefly is a sociopath and a huge perv, and used her body to lure victims in, and somtimes just to crudley insult someone. tell me mr. director was is the reason for having the infamous bed scene be a standing up killing so u can demean the woman? if u have seen this u know what im talking about. look theres to much useless sex, i love me some tiities, but i also like to be scared and not feel like im watching a porno disguised as a horror film. i said i liked this film, and i do, for one simple reason, when the film works it works. and its scary, especially the little kid myers scenes, give that kid a fucking grammy. so all in all this is just an artless wannabe classic. hope h2 is better. but if your horny and your cable is shut off, this is a good porn fill in.
Posted by ryan jonson on July 14, 2009
*oscar*
Posted by PhantomCloneInX on October 10, 2009
This movie is one of the worst remakes of all time. Rob Zombie showed some talent with House of the 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects, but his artistic "vision" does not mesh well with the universe and characters that John Carpeter created. The acting was overall pretty terrible, especially by Sheri Moon, Scout-Taylor Compton, and Daeg Faerch. The worst crime this film committed is that is just isn't scary. No suspense, no sympathetic characters, no believable dialogue. The original Halloween stands as a masterpiece and was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry; this remake will be forgotten. I think that speaks for itself.
Posted by bloom on October 26, 2009
This remake is everything I expected from a Rob Zombie movie. Trashy, dislikable characters; an overload of cussing and sexual references; a favor of death and violence that mimics a 10-year old boy's fascination with dinosaurs; a completely uninspired and predictable plot; and finally, Zombie's wife Sherri Moon flaunting herself on screen. This is an abomination to John Carpenter's masterpiece.
Posted by marcus on November 8, 2009
halloween 07 is very awsome especailly because of danelle harris's awsome acting. halloween origanal and remake are both in my top 10 of best horror movies.
Rank this film on a '666 scale' of one to six (left to right). Based on 2526 votes.
