I just finished watching the 2007 remake of Halloween, as done by Rob Zombie, starring everyone and Sherri Moon Zombie's butt. She has a very nice butt, I might add; I hope Mr. Zombie appreciates the booty he married into.
I was fully expecting a cinematic abortion; almost every podcast I listen to denounced this pretty completely. I was expecting something on the lines of suddenly the movie turns into X-Men 3 (which WAS a bad movie, by the way), or suddenly Micheal Myers bursts into song and wails The Marriage of Figaro as he hacks and slashes "teenagers" getting freaky.
Honestly, I liked this movie just fine, and found it to be much more credible than any of the sequels to the actual movie. I like those just fine too (except Halloween 3 because SURPRISE! it sucks), but let's be honest-- they're pretty silly, and get sillier as they go along.
This version of the Myth of Micheal Myers was interesting; the Meyers family is shown as very discordant and dysfunctional. Mom's a stripper, step-dad's got a bad case of needle dick, big sister's got a touch of the Ho Bag, little Mikey likes to butcher his pets and school mates, and the baby.. is a baby. She's cool.
Micheal Myers is played more as a straight forward psychopath, evincing all of the traditional markers of a burgeoning killer. There is no mysticism here, jut a really BIG man in a mask terrorizing Haddonfield in his quest to find his unknowing baby sister.
This version of events deviated a lot from the original 1979 Halloween, but I don't regard that as sacrosanct like a lot of horror fans seem to do. Don't misunderstand-- I love the original version of the film, and have a copy of that as well as the 25 Years of Halloween DVD that came out a few years back. People tend to hold this up as the end all be all of slasher films, but I'm just not that emotionally invested in most of the slasher genre. I enjoy it in a brainless way, but supernatural stories are more likely to scare me.
The original is a beautifully shot movie to be sure, and very moody and creeping. In this respect I think the original is superior to the remake. Rob Zombie is a very competent technical director, if not given as much of an artistic bent as John Carpenter. But Rob Zombie's kill scenes are much more realistic, frighteningly so. Plus, you gotta respect a kid who stabs a nurse to death with a fork.
John Carpenter is hit or miss with me-- on one hand we have Halloween and The Fog. On the other hand, he also did The Ghosts of Mars and produced the horrible remake of The Fog in 2005. So the idea of a remake of Halloween really didn't surprise me, and it was a pretty safe bet that Rob Zombie would get it an R rating, which he did.
I don't know that I would buy a copy of this for full price, but I'll snag it used for sure. It's worth a watch at the very least.
7 comments:
I still have yet to see this. I feel the same way about you with the original. While I think its wonderful, its not the bible for me. I think I'd be more offended to see a remake of Hellraiser or Nightmare on Elm Street than Halloween (And I'm about 99% sure that both are on the remake train).
I do like Rob Zombie and not just because is last name is Zombie. He made The Devil's Rejects, a movie I would probably find completely repulsive in every way, a really interresting a great watch for me. So I'd like to see what he could do with Halloween.
I think you should definitely check it out; I enjoyed it. I've never seen any of his other stuff, but now I'm curious to see it.
I heard about Hellraiser and Nightmare. Hellraiser is (I think) supposed to be done by Clive Barker, so I'll give that a shot. But Nightmare on Elmstreet sans Robert Englund? No way. I ain't watching it.
I love Rob Zombie and his films and I do not see Carpenter's Halloween as the holy grail, I just didn't like Zombie's Halloween much at all. I know it's a total "reimagining", but I didn't like how he basically just explained Myers off as a product of a shitty home life like every other killer out there. I wanted to like it so bad, but I just did not.
Johnny-- I can see your point; I do think the thought of an ordinary (and much younger) little boy suddenly becoming evil's vessel was much scarier.
Glad to hear that you enjoyed this one!
[I did as well - there seems to be very few of us]
I am looking forward to what he will do with the sequel. . .
As for the Hellraiser re-make - that is being directed by the French director who directed Martyrs [which is supposed to be awesome] When I met Barker, back in October, he stated that he is 100% behind this director - so that puts me a little bit at ease.
As for Nightmare - I am TOTALLY against that re-make!
You liked this movie just fine?! Maybe I won't read this blog after all!!
LoL kidding of course. ;)
I hate this movie with a passion. I do think Carpenter's Halloween is the holy grail though, so perhaps I have a slight bias.
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Bonebraker>>Hellraiser is one of my all time faves. I'm a bit skeptical but if Clive the man is for it then I may check it out. As for the Nightmare remake? I think the only thing I that could make me want to check it out is if they had someone like Doug Jones as Freddy. And that is a HUGE maybe. Robert England will always and forever be Freddy just like Gene Wilder will always be Willy Wonka...wow..try comparing THOSE too for a while!
Brad>>Careful man, she has boobs and she's not afraid to smother! ;D
Seriously though, I'm noticing people either love this or hate it. I have yet to see a middle ground.I find that interesting. Oh, and Welcome to the blog! Comment often! Comment always! Or just read. We're not picky. I read your article on the Oscars btw. You got a fun blog! :)
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