Rob Zombie's Halloween (2007) Movie Review

Halloween: Reawakening The Monster and Shaking up Mythology

This review may contain spoilers

“He’s more machine now than man; twisted and evil.”
-- Obi Wan Kenobi from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

“These eyes do not see what you and I see. Behind these eyes one finds only blackness, the absence of light, these are of a psychopath.”
-- Dr. Samuel Loomis from Halloween (2007)

Mythology is very important to me. It is the chain of desire that keeps me bound and hungry for the iconography of pop culture and the delusions of a better tomorrow. When I was younger, mythology was not to be messed with by my rigid self. As I have gotten older, I have learned that it is okay to go back and mess with things—nothing is written in stone. When George Lucas went back to do the Star Wars prequels, my loyalty to mythology slowly came undone. He did not rape my childhood, but he did make me relax on any hardcore grip I had on his mythology or any other for that matter. Still, I am not sure if I really needed to see how and why Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader. The imagination can produce some wild variations on that myth. Prequels are a risky business—some work and others do not. Rob Zombie has taken an enormous risk with his remake of John Carpenter’s 1978 classic film, Halloween. I am sure this film will cause a lot of unrest in the horror film community. I have read so many varied reactions to the film. Some love it, some hate it and some have mixed views. I was surprised by how much I liked this film-- I can hear the knives being sharpened in the background. Rob Zombie has made this version very much his own, but he shows respect for the original. I liked how the original version of The Thing From Another World is playing on the television on both Halloween nights in Zombie's film as in the original film.It is nice wink to John Carpenter who made a brilliant remake of The Thing in 1982 I do not think Zombie’s version is better, but I think it is a fine film in its own right. I think it should be the blue print how to approach remakes from this point forward. Halloween is a major triumph for Rob Zombie.

The film’s greatest asset is the depiction of Michael Myers the whole film. Michael Myers, like other horror film icons such as Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees and countless others have become more and more cartoonish with each film sequel. Scary Movie IV did Saw’s Jigsaw in for good, but Saw III still made me cringe in places. Zombie has reawakened the monster inside Michael Myers. He is to be feared in this film. There is a feeling of dread that never leaves the film. Myers is a truly scary monster. The risk of portraying Michael Myers as a human being pays off for Rob Zombie. I did not expect this at all. There is the danger in showing us how Michael Myers became the monster he is; we might show some empathy for this pathetic kid who looks like a demented Tanner from The Bad News Bears films. By showing us a very human Michael Myers, Rob Zombie has recreated a very cruel beast. The true horror of humanity is our legacy of brutality-- the evil that we are capable of doing to one another. That is why Zombie’s Myers is so scary-- a human being did this! Another version of this film with a different director might have verged on comedy-- Michael Myers meets Harold and Kumar at the Haddonfield White Castle. While the original film focuses on the events of the present in the film, in this version we witness the young Michael Myers (Daeg Faerch) in all his sadistic glory. Michael did not stand a chance. When William Forsythe is your Mom’s boyfriend, all bets are off. Ronnie White is not the best role model for any child, but Michael has bigger problems than this sorry excuse of human waste. Michael is picked on by the school bullies. They tease him about his stripper mother, Deborah Myers, played by Sheri Moon. Moon’s Deborah is very interesting; she truly loves her son. She has to go into school every time he gets into trouble. She does care, but is oblivious to her son’s sadistic behavior. She cannot seem to bring herself to the realization that her son is a little monster. On Halloween night, she promises that the next day things will be different for all of them. Part of me hoped that this would truly happen, but Rob Zombie is very respectful to the film’s mythology. When Deborah leaves for work, his sister is supposed to take him trick or treating. This does not happen. Instead, she and her boyfriend go upstairs to have sex. And the rest is history, Michael brutally murders Ronnie White, his sister and her boyfriend. Would things have been different had she taken him trick or treating?

The casting in the film is spot on for the most part. Yes, it is an absolute joy to see Sybil Danning, Sid Haig, Danny Trejo, Dee Wallace, Brad Dourif, Udo Kier, Richard Lynch, Clint Howard, Leslie Easterbrook, Bill Moseley and so many other familiar faces from the golden age of exploitation films and previous Zombie films. Yet, it is the casting of Malcolm McDowell as Dr. Samuel Loomis that works brilliantly. It is the ultimate compliment to Donald Pleasence. McDowell’s Loomis seems like a sick and perverted joke. Is this for real? Is Alex de Large the best possible doctor for Michael Myers while at Smith’s Grove Mental Hospital? The funny thing is that McDowell brings so much to the part. The recent career injections from Entourage, Gangster No.1 and I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead only add to his take on Loomis. There is a tender bond that develops between them, but I never got the feeling that Zombie was trying to make us feel sorry for Michael. There is a sense of revulsion while we look on as Loomis tries to interact with Michael. This child is a beast; does he not see it? When Deborah comes to visit Michael (which she does weekly), there is that same kind of revulsion, but this is her son. Still, this son has taken so much from her. It is only after Michael stabs a nurse in the cafeteria that Deborah comes to terms with the fact that her son is the personification of evil. She commits suicide and Michael’s younger sister, Laurie, is adopted by the Strode family. The older Michael is played by Tyler Mane and he towers over everyone. The other scenes that throw me off are the scenes between Michael and Danny Trejo’s Ismael Cruz, one of the workers at Smith’s Grove. He is very kind to Michael and it is an odd, but nice touch.

After fifteen years, as in the original film, Michael Myers escapes from Smith’s Grove and returns to Haddonfield, Illinois. The second half of the film is very much like the original film, except Zombie is a sadistic and brutal director. His horror is cruel and mean spirited, as it should be. I expect nothing less from the man who created The Devil’s Rejects-- Zombie’s underappreciated cult masterpiece, a film steeped in 70’s exploitation nostalgia that could rival Tarantino as far as I am concerned. The Devil’s Rejects pulled a Wrath of Khan on all of us. The Devil’s Reject’s is so far ahead on every level of Zombie’s previous film, The House of 1,000 Corpses. While I like Zombie’s first film and his admiration for all things from the Seventies, it cannot hold a candle to the second film. The Devil’s Rejects plays like a hyper/ultra violent cross between Peckinpah’s Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia and The Getaway, fused with The Empire Strikes Back. Halloween is a different beast from that film and anything would feel like a letdown. When Michael Myers returns to Haddonfield, we do feel like we have seen this before, but not in such a brutal way. Zombie takes no prisoners; his Halloween is far more sadistic than that of John Carpenter’s Halloween.

Michael has come back for Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton). He has come back to finish things-- what does he want with his sister, Laurie? I will not compare Compton’s Laurie to the Jamie Lee Curtis portrayal in the original. In this version, Laurie seems more a plot device; we never get a chance to really know her. In the original version, she is the main character. Rob Zombie’s interests is in Michael Myers and Dr. Loomis in this film. The film could have easily been called All about Michael Myers. Everyone else is on the sidelines and only called in when needed.

I feel Rob Zombie has done a very good job bringing his version of Halloween to life. All of his trademarks are on full display from his previous films. His use of music is still on target. I loved hearing Rush’s Tom Sawyer although nothing beats the use of Free Bird during the bloody climax of The Devil’s Rejects. Tyler Bates does a great job of using John Carpenter’s original, iconic theme and the variations work well. The New York Times ran a silly editorial about the demise of the horror film back in June of this year. This was after the dismal box office returns for Hostel: Part II. I felt the article was premature. The genre will be kept alive with filmmakers like Rob Zombie. His enthusiasm and passion for filmmaking are infectious. Better him than Fred Durst behind the camera! Rob Zombie remade Halloween and the sky did not fall. He contributed to the mythology of Michael Myers. In the process he added to the mythology of John Carpenter.

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