RATING: 2/5 Cast: Malcolm McDowell, Brad Dourif, Tyler Mane, Sheri Moon Zombie, William Forsythe, Scout Taylor-Compton, Danielle Harris
Director: Rob Zombie
Genre: Horror
MPAA: Rated R for strong brutal bloody violence and terror throughout, sexual content, graphic nudity and language. AGE-DEFYING DUO - SAVE
$13 Parental Guide:
Nudity: R equivalent; 10 scenes of female nudity, pornography. PG-13 equivalent; exotic dancing
Profanity: R equivalent; approx. 70 “F” word, approx. 120 profanities
Sex: R equivalent; sexual dialogue, sexual reference, 3 scenes implying sex
Violence: R equivalent; approx. 20 killings, slit throat, beatings, stabbings, gore, horror violence
Other: None
“The darkest souls are not those which choose to exist within the hell of the abyss, but those which choose to break free from the abyss and move silently among us.” – Dr. Samuel Loomis The film opens in Haddonfield, Illinois, introducing us to the definition of “white trash”…the Myers. Deborah Myers (Sheri Moon Zombie) is an exotic dancer, her boyfriend Ronnie White (William Forsythe) a verbally abusive sloth, her daughter Judith (Hanna Hall), resembling the town whore, and her 10-year old son Michael (Daeg Faerch), a quiet, nearly mute child…later learned to be a “very deranged young mind”. When his school learns young Michael has tortured animals they initiate a meeting with Dr. Samuel Loomis (Malcolm McDowell), a child psychologist. Loomis informs Deborah her son is showing early warning signs “for much deeper and bigger problems.”
It all begins on October 31…Halloween. By the end of the night 10-year old Michael Myers slaughters his sister Judith, her boyfriend, and Ronnie White—he spares his mother and baby sister Laurie. The next decade Michael will be under the supervision of Dr. Loomis…until his escape. In 2003 the long-haired heavy metal rocker Rob Zombie, fascinated by Charles Manson, gore, and the occult, and obviously inspired by rocker legends Alice Cooper and Ozzy Osbourne, crawled his way into the director chair with his demented, disturbing House of the 1000 Corpses. Rather than ending his filmmaking career there, to our dismay Zombie embarks on a sequel: The Devil’s Rejects (a blasphemy to the beauty of cinema). Zombie then surfaced another horror flick: Grindhouse (Rose McGowan). But then in 2007, for reasons unknown, Zombie decides to resurrect a classic—John Carpenter’s 1978 slasher Halloween; one of greatest of the Horror genre. Women: What Men Want to See in Your Profile
Expert Flirting Tips Zombie’s remake, the 2007 Halloween, new and modernized, spends at least 30-minutes introducing us to a young Michael Myers; I will confess it was in these moments the film had intrigued me and my doubts were being dismissed. But then the remake arrives at the point where the original started… This remark fails to capture the nail-biting, terrifying tension Carpenter so famously delivered in the original. Instead, Zombie gives us raw savage violence; brutal, gory, certainly not for the squeamish. In the original we observed Michael Myers strolling calmly towards his victims, that famous score initiating, scream Queen Jamie Lee Curtis showing off those pipes, meanwhile audiences feeling compelled to yell ‘run’. This is all absent in the remake. Zombie shows us blood and gore, a towering figure hidden behind a mask, and screaming girls; excuse the pun but it’s a bloody mess. With exception to the violence, the lack of the original score (yes, I wanted to hear it), and the poor performances, my biggest annoyance was the shaky camera, forcing audiences to squint their way through sequences, attempting to make out who was being slaughtered (not that is matters anyway for everyone is a victim).
Actress Scout Taylor-Compton has a nearly impossible feat set before her; she is to tackle the role so famously portrayed in 1978 by scream Queen Jamie Lee Curtis. So it should come to no surprise that the young actress fails. Not only does the young actress fail but the majority of the cast, delivering laughable performances—even Malcolm McDowell (Hidalgo), while playing his usual eerie character is overly dramatic (likely due to the content provided). The cast includes former Halloween cast member Brad Dourif, the new Michael Myers Tyler Mane, Rob Zombie’s wife Sheri Moon Zombie, William Forsythe, and Danny Trejo. If Halloween (2007) is anything, it is Rob Zombie’s finest directional effort as yet (not saying a whole lot though considering his previous outings). I will say this: it was better than I had anticipated but still it is recommended that the original is revisited (unless the curiosity is overbearing).
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