VS.
October 31, 1963 in Haddonfield, Illinois and 6 year old Michael Myers stabs his sister to death. Fifteen years later, Michael Myers escapes from the loony bin to return home. Why? Well he got one sister, but not the second. He is out to finish the job. Hot on his trail are the cops and one Dr, Sam Loomis, his shrink. What follows is a fantastic slasher and the mother of all great Halloween films for years to come!
Along comes Rob Zombie to do his reboot of the film. As a horror fan how would he handle it?
Halloween 2007
The plot is similar to the first film with Michael out to get his little sister who is now in high school, but with a major difference.
We are treated to the back story of one Michael Myers. Yup. Even here we are treated to a fleshed out history of little Michael Myers. Alright so.....Micheal Myers comes from a horrible family where he is bullied by his white trashy step-father and treated like shit by his slutty sister. Plus his mom is a stripper and that leads to problems.The only joy he has is when he sends time with his baby sister. Even better he is bullied at school and he has a love of killing small animals.
Why all this? Well why not I guess? yeah another reboot with villain exposition that is made for you to feel sympathy for him. I guess if you have a horrible home life and are subject to bullying, then it is alright to murder your sister,his boy friend step-dad and the school bully. Well actually I was ok with the bully beat down, until he cracked his skull open. Still this is another bit that is way to popular in these reboots. We are not supposed to feel sorry for these villains. Why?!
The cast is full of the usual Rob Zombie suspects, his wife, Bill Moseley and Sid Haig. Then there are the three previous horror stars to have parts: Brad Dourif (or the voice of Chucky forever), Dee Stone (or Dee Wallace Stone as I knew her in the Howling) and Danielle Harris (who was in Halloween 4 and 5). Follow this with the cast of character actors; Danny Trejo, Clint Howard, William Forsythe, Udo Kier and Ken Foree. Finally add Sybil Danning and Leslie Easterbrook to the mix for a throwback to all the movies where they showed (or tried to show) off their incredible bewbs back in the day. Then there is Malcolm McDowell as Dr. Loomis, not a bad choice.
Micheal Myers is played by Tyler Mane this time around. The guy who did Sabertooth in the original X-men and...well that is really it worth mentioning. His version of Micheal Myers is gods damn gigantic and way more brutal than the original film. His movements are still slow, until the moment he gets a victim. Then he becomes a beast. The attacks are more vicious and bloody. I'm actually ok with that aspect here. The downside of these attacks are that they also come with loudness and a bit of fast camera work. This becomes a bit of a push for me as I liked the crazy brutality of this Michael Myers, but hated the way it was filmed.
Then there are the high school kids. Damn they are another group of unlikeables. This is another common bit in all the remakes I have seen this month. The three main girls, even our heroine Laurie, are pretty witless and unlikeable. I know high school kids are dicks, but these girls are pretty terrible. Michael's sister that he kills is just abysmal. Why am I supposed to like these ladies? I guess I'm not. At least a couple get topless and that is always fun! It is still never a good idea to want the hero/heroine of a horror movie dead.
Ah I'll end this before I go down a ranting rabbit hole. The biggest problem here is that the new Micheal Myers is not scary. We are forced to feel some bit of sympathy for him. We even kind of want him to murderize the people he does because on some level they are as bad or worse than he is. Michael Myers was originally a blank slate to throw any type of fear at. he was evil incarnate. He killed to kill, not because of an unsatisfying home life and a bully. Even better he is the focal point of the film and not his sister Laurie. Here we never really get to know her character or even like her character.
At the end of the day this cannot hold a candle to the original and I knew it wouldn't. A fun side cast of characters and a more brutal Michael Myers does not make up for the rest of the movie. Another horror film that should have been left alone.
We are treated to the back story of one Michael Myers. Yup. Even here we are treated to a fleshed out history of little Michael Myers. Alright so.....Micheal Myers comes from a horrible family where he is bullied by his white trashy step-father and treated like shit by his slutty sister. Plus his mom is a stripper and that leads to problems.The only joy he has is when he sends time with his baby sister. Even better he is bullied at school and he has a love of killing small animals.
 |
| The face of evil? |
Why all this? Well why not I guess? yeah another reboot with villain exposition that is made for you to feel sympathy for him. I guess if you have a horrible home life and are subject to bullying, then it is alright to murder your sister,his boy friend step-dad and the school bully. Well actually I was ok with the bully beat down, until he cracked his skull open. Still this is another bit that is way to popular in these reboots. We are not supposed to feel sorry for these villains. Why?!
 |
| Never eat the last balonge sandwich in the Myers house! |
The cast is full of the usual Rob Zombie suspects, his wife, Bill Moseley and Sid Haig. Then there are the three previous horror stars to have parts: Brad Dourif (or the voice of Chucky forever), Dee Stone (or Dee Wallace Stone as I knew her in the Howling) and Danielle Harris (who was in Halloween 4 and 5). Follow this with the cast of character actors; Danny Trejo, Clint Howard, William Forsythe, Udo Kier and Ken Foree. Finally add Sybil Danning and Leslie Easterbrook to the mix for a throwback to all the movies where they showed (or tried to show) off their incredible bewbs back in the day. Then there is Malcolm McDowell as Dr. Loomis, not a bad choice.
Micheal Myers is played by Tyler Mane this time around. The guy who did Sabertooth in the original X-men and...well that is really it worth mentioning. His version of Micheal Myers is gods damn gigantic and way more brutal than the original film. His movements are still slow, until the moment he gets a victim. Then he becomes a beast. The attacks are more vicious and bloody. I'm actually ok with that aspect here. The downside of these attacks are that they also come with loudness and a bit of fast camera work. This becomes a bit of a push for me as I liked the crazy brutality of this Michael Myers, but hated the way it was filmed.
Then there are the high school kids. Damn they are another group of unlikeables. This is another common bit in all the remakes I have seen this month. The three main girls, even our heroine Laurie, are pretty witless and unlikeable. I know high school kids are dicks, but these girls are pretty terrible. Michael's sister that he kills is just abysmal. Why am I supposed to like these ladies? I guess I'm not. At least a couple get topless and that is always fun! It is still never a good idea to want the hero/heroine of a horror movie dead.
 |
| Sooner they are dead the better? |
At the end of the day this cannot hold a candle to the original and I knew it wouldn't. A fun side cast of characters and a more brutal Michael Myers does not make up for the rest of the movie. Another horror film that should have been left alone.
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