Writer/director Rob Zombie's attempt in re-making the genre breaking John Carpenter classic Halloween proves that sometimes the classics should indeed be left alone.
Also a prequel, Zombie's Halloween establishes a back story for everyone's favourite slasher, Michael Myers. The movie begins with a typical morning in the Myers household, where his incredibly disfunctional family made up of his stripper mother (Sheri Moon Zobie), her abusive boyfriend (William Forsythe), and slut older sister (Hanna Hall) violently squabble over breakfast as young baby girl Myers cries in the background. Young Michael (Daeg Faerch) is spending this time in his room dissecting his pet mouse (killing small animals a favourite past time of his). He is then consequently threatened by his mother's boyfriend, and then attends school only to become the target of bullies. This all becomes too much for him to contain, as his increasingly fragile and deranged mind is unleashed culminating in a killing spree on Halloween night, with his older sister one of the victims. Found guilty of first degree murder, Michael is sent to a mental institution and placed under the care of child psychologist Dr. Sam Loomis (Malcolm McDowell). However, Michael does not respond to his treatment, and instead retreats deep within himself whilst hiding behind a succession of masks made in his cell. 15 years later, Michael (now played by Tyler Mane) escapes from his confides and begins a blood spilt journey back to his hometown, where he tries to locate his baby sister Laurie (Scout Taylor-Compton).
Much like its monster, Halloween plods along with no emotion. A lack of sympathy is established for its victims, and pacing is a big problem with an almost 2 hour run time way too long for a slasher film. It is not until the final scenes that it begins to pick up steam, but by then it is too late.
The majority of the film is an almost shot for shot re-tread of the original (even the theme music is the same). Only when Zombie puts his own spin to the Halloween legacy does the film thrive, with the best moments seen during the therapy sessions between Dr. Loomis and young Michael. This firmly establishes the fact that this film would have been much better as a prequel than a re-make.
There are a number of inspired casting choices. The mammoth Tyler Mane is by far the most imposing Michael of the series, and is very convincing as an unmovable, remorseless killing machine, and while Malcolm McDowell can't match Donald Pleasance's performance in the original, he sure does give all he can as Dr. Loomis. Yet the masterstroke belongs in the casting of Daeg Faerch, whose sandy blonde hair and blue eyes might be further from what one might imagine a young Michael Myers to look like, but effective never the less. Yet a horror movie is only as good as its lead hero (or in most cases heroine), and this film stumbles quite badly in the casting of Scout Taylor-Compton, who garners no sympathy, nor fanfare. The film is scattered with appearances by horror legends Brad Dourif, Dee Wallace, Bill Moseley, Ken Foree, Udo Kier, and Zombie regular Sid Haig.
If anything, Halloween can be seen as a clear example of how a modern filmmaker has taken advantage of the censors (and society in general) lax attitude towards nudity and violence on film, with Zombie's use of the latter annoyingly distracting and over done. Also, the inclusion of a never ending string of profanities in the films opening scenes feels amateurish and over the top, even though it is certain that Zombie was aiming for the opposite effect. There are numerous occasions when Zombie just takes it too far, with a full fledged rape seen a clear example of a filmmaker over stepping his bounds. Seriously, what is it with today's horror filmmakers and their use of rape as a plot device in these movies?
Boring, degrading, misogynistic, and above all unnecessary, Halloween- if anything - only confirms just how good the original is.