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By JEFF MAKI
Writer/director Rob Zombie has injected his own telling of the back story of psychopathic killer, Michael Myers while keeping the essence of the original Halloween. The result is a terrifying take on the legend, but after hearing so much about how Zombie was going to focus on the characters, character development is ultimately a problem in the end. Luckily the film is so violent, disturbing and entertaining that it doesn't fully take away from the finished work.
Despite all the protest and even disbelief from fans of the original, I had no problem with the idea of this remake. The original Halloween by John Carpenter opened the door for the slasher genre and the many years of blood-soaked screens that followed. But looking at the work alone, the film is not a masterpiece. I'm sure I'll take heat for these comments, but open your eyes. The script had little plot, B-movie acting and, though it has obviously stood the test of time, is not all that horrifying today. The best thing Zombie has done is made Michael Myers scary again. Instead of having a guy wearing a William Shatner mask, stalking and killing people, we now know some of what drives this personification of evil.
The film begins with Michael (Daeg Faerch) as a little boy in Haddonfield, Illinois. We quickly are introduced to his Texas Chainsaw Massacre-type family: his mother (who happens to be a stripper), Deborah Myers (Sheri Moon Zombie), a woman stuck in a situation that she knows is going to turn out for the worst; his foul-mouthed, drunken, white trash stepfather, Ronnie White (William Forsythe), who calls little Michael a fag and is mentally abusive to his family any chance he gets; and his sister, Judith Myers (Hanna Hall), who'd rather fuck her boyfriend then take little Michael trick-or-treating. Faerch commands the screen as a disturbed, demented and confused little boy. Is he sick? Does his family drive him insane? This is left up to our imagination. The acting in the back story is phenomenal, particularly by Sheri Moon. We know what is about to unfold and can't help but feel sorrow for a good soul trapped inside it all.
All this leads up to young Michael snapping and killing three people on Halloween night in some of the more brutal death scenes to grace the big screen; this is miles ahead of the original telling when Michael simply stabs his sister while wearing the clown costume. But I had a hard time justifying why Michael snapped like he did. Sure, some bad things happened to him and his life was hard, but not to the extent that a person could snap like this. But I guess that just falls into the whole personification of evil tag, given to him by Dr. Loomis.
Shortly after, Michael is being held at Smith's Grove hospital, where he meets Dr. Samuel Loomis (Malcolm McDowell). McDowell's performance is everything it is hyped up to be, as he adds personality and a general sense of human nature to the original character player by Donald Pleasance. This is one aspect that Zombie nails down. There are a few great scenes when Loomis is interacting with young Michael and giving his all to tap into the mind of his disturbed patient, but to no avail. You now actually care about the character of Dr. Loomis—he's just not some guy running around screaming, “He's evil!” in this half of the film.
Years later, Michael is grown to about 6-foot-8, resembling Leatherface from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remakes, and makes his big escape from Smith's Grove—another area in which Zombie immensely improves upon the original. There's a lot more here than Michael just driving a way in a station wagon. Myers then sets he sights on his baby sister back in Haddonfield just like in the original.
It's from here on that Rob Zombie's vision seems cautious. Contrary to other reviews and talk, the second half of the movie is not a carbon copy of the original; in fact, there are several new scenes and even more grizzly murders. But since Michael is the main character and focus in this film, we get little time to know Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton) or her friends, Annie Brackett (Danielle Harris) and Lynda (Kristina Klebe). And the thing that drives me crazy and was a problem with the original also is why does Michael want to kill his little sister so badly? Or does he? What does he want with her? This is still not explained. What plot there was from the original movie is compacted into the last 45 minutes of the new version, and it feels choppy at times. Another 30 minutes of character development here and we would actually care about Laurie and her friends. Instead, it's just Michael Myers stalking, stabbing and brutally killing without any explanation or purpose. Elements from the original are included here and even some specific scenes, but overall it is very different. The strong development of Dr. Loomis is lost in the second half, and he turns into the very character that Zombie was trying to avoid. Michael turns into Jason from Friday the 13th and kills anything in his path while refusing to die himself. Ironic, really, since Jason was very much a rip-off of Michael Myers. Much of the death sequences are so shaky and dark on the screen that it's hard to determine what's going on. While in the beginning of the film, you know little of what's happening, the second half is predictable, and might have you thinking, what's the point? I'll stop here so I don't ruin the ending of the film.
Zombie did the original Halloween a great justice by adding a strong back story that could have been developed even more. This is two films in one, and to me, the end result suffers somewhat by studios accommodating the A.D.D. generation. It's a good bet the the DVD release will have an extra 15-30 minutes of footage, as it is evident the movie is missing this valuable time. I'm not at all disappointed in this re-imagining because it restored Michael Myers as iconic horror figure he should be. I am relieved but also somewhat frustrated. I wish Rob Zombie had followed through on all of his ideas because early on it appeared we were heading for something special. What we get is a bloody excellent take on a horror classic, and the door open for a sequel.
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