Young Michael Myers has a rough life, his situation at home, in school, and just about anywhere is shitty. Eventually it all becomes too much and he lets it all out. Because of that, he's sent to the loony bin where he spends 15 years to thereafter escape. Now Michael is out, and he has only one thing on his mind.
For me and for tons of other folks out there Carpenter's HALLOWEEN was a film seen at an early age and was a horror film to remember... a classic as some definitely would say. There had been way too many remakes already before the announcement of Zombie's take on Carpenters classic horror film, and frankly, it had long ago started to get boring hearing about people not being able to write new inventive scripts but instead re-write old films that should've been left alone. But since Rob Zombie was set to write and direct the film, it felt like the project still had a lot of potential, being a fan of his previous feature films HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES and THE DEVIL'S REJECT'S, there were many factors pointing that this could end up a great thing after all. Znyder had done it with DAWN OF THE DEAD, Aja with THE HILLS HAVE EYES and now Zombie was gonna do it with HALLOWEEN, or at least that was what one was hoping for.
Despite of and no matter how good you think Zombie's film was, is or is gonna be, Carpenter's HALLOWEEN will forever remain a classic to all horror fanatics out there, no matter what. But personally I have to say that Zombie's take was far better than expected, and even though I didn't find the film to be outstanding, at least I had a very good time watching it. I'd also like to add that this film is not a complete remake in the sense of the word, rather it's a (at times quite) different take on something that had already been done before. Best thing may be that the film starts off with Zombie doing his own thing and thus the viewer does not start comparing him to Carpenter right away, but is given some time to sink into what is what.
 
As the film starts, we're introduced to young Michael, played by Daeg Faerch, and we soon realize that the kid has some bad habits killing small animals that, just like Loomis later says, may eventually turn into something else, and obviously it does. It turns into what defines Michael Myers and that is killing just about everything in its way. Sheri Moon Zombie plays the mom who lives with William Forsythe, who is a bastard and basically little Mike have a shitty family situation. It felt a bit cliché this whole thing, showing the family and Mike's shitty life at the start and that would make us understand that, well, this guy could've had it much better. But cliché or no cliché, it works, it builds into something and that's all that really counts. Eventually Mike can't control his urge to kill and soon ends up at the loony bin.
While locked up, Mike becomes more and more distant -- he has sessions with Doctor Loomis that at the beginning go rather well but later turns into long session where Michael, as a human kid, is no longer present. He had a thing with masks before and develops this thing where he makes masks and wears them pretty much at all times, and the more he does, the more distant and inhuman he becomes. 15 years later he escapes the loony bin and if you've seen the original you pretty much know what happens next. HALLOWEEN is dark, somewhat raw and has many sides to it; most of them being rather good but some that truly failed to impress.
One of my problems when I watched HALLOWEEN was that there were too many well known actors involved in the production. It's just fun some would say and I actually thought so at first too but the longer it kept on rolling and the more faces I recognized, the more tired of it I got. One thing that I love about good movies is when the film's so good that it draws you in and you forget that you're only watching a movie, it's bigger than that and it consumes all your impressions and focus during its running time. Problem with too many well known actors here was that you could never shake the feeling of that it was just a movie that you were watching, as familiar faces from Zombie's previous films kept popping up on screen. I would've preferred more unknown actors which would've given the film a more realistic feel rather than the feel it gave: trying to recognize as many actors as possible.
Laurie and the two other girls didn't impress either as they were truly annoying and had dumb dialogue constantly coming out from their mouths. Malcolm McDowell on the other hand did great and I truly enjoyed his performance. But Brad Dourif, Udo Kier, Clint Howard, Bill Moseley and a whole pack of others, did they all really had to be in the film? Just so you don't misunderstand me, I do like all those actors mentioned, but at the same time, with lots of them having non-significant parts that could've easily been played by John Doe, it just felt like too many chefs in the kitchen.
HALLOWEEN was pretty much what I had expected and hoped for, a remake that was still much better than most remakes and definitely a film worth watching. Zombie's a talented man, no doubt, but I sure hope he makes his own films in the future... they tend to be much better.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Hall9ween, Halloween 9, Halloween: Retribution, Trick or Treat
MOVIE YEAR: 2007
DIRECTOR: Rob Zombie
WRITING CREDITS: Rob Zombie, John Carpenter
GENRE: Horror
CAST: Malcolm McDowell, Tyler Mane, Daeg Faerch
COUNTRY: USA
RUNTIME: 121 min
RATING: 7/10
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