Halloween-2007

Director Rob Zombie

Starring Malcolm McDowell, Scout Taylor-Compton, Tyler Mane

Scott’s Review #1,234

Reviewed February 27, 2022

Grade: B

I’ve seen director/musician/entertainer Rob Zombie tear down the house as the headlining second stage act at the metal festival Ozzfest in the 2000s. He’s a striking individual with ferocious energy and a creative persona.

He’s also quite brave to undertake such an undertaking as remaking the legendary slasher film Halloween from 1978.

The results of his 2007 effort, titled Halloween, are a mixed effort, but props to him for having the guts to try.

As with other horror films he has directed and his music, there is brutality and rawness mixed with nastiness and a grim outlook. He wisely focuses on the character of Michael Myers, but fills in too much backstory for my liking.

Part of the appeal of the crazed killer is his mysteriousness.

Both Daeg Faerch and Tyler Mane play Michael.

The story is a bit of a remake.

The new aspect focuses on events that begin on Halloween when ten-year-old Michael inexplicably butchers a school bully, his sister, her boyfriend, and his abusive stepfather.

He is sent to a mental hospital for the next fifteen years, becoming despondent and fixated on making papier-mache masks.

The second part is more familiar territory.

Nearly two decades later, he breaks out, intent on returning to the town of Haddonfield, Illinois. He arrives in his hometown on Halloween to hunt down his younger sister, Laurie (Scout Taylor-Compton).

The only thing standing between Michael and a night of bloody carnage is psychologist Dr. Samuel Loomis (Malcolm McDowell).

I stress the near-impossible task Zombie faced in remaking, or even reviving, a film as iconic as John Carpenter’s 1978 masterpiece. Without even pen to paper, there would immediately be those who would mock and trivialize any attempt.

Zombie both wrote and directed the film.

He immediately provides a reason for Michael’s dirty deeds. Close with his mother, played by Zombie’s real-life wife, Sheri Moon Zombie, who does a fantastic job, Deborah is a struggling stripper married to an abusive man. So Michael’s earlier butchery can be somewhat understood by audiences.

My preference is how Michael’s parents were portrayed in the original in their one brief scene. They appear to be an upstanding middle-class couple with a nice house and family. This makes Michael’s psychotic rampage all the more vague and confusing.

A fabulous scene at the mental hospital showcases an ominous moment. It’s Halloween Eve, and Doctor Loomis visits the despondent Michael in the outdoor yard.

The audience knows he will escape, but not when or how things will erupt and who will be slashed; we know the bloodletting will soon commence.

The rest of the film is standard fare and a letdown compared to the ambitious first half, though there is far more violence and gore than one could imagine. The film feels haunting and brutal, with Zombie’s uncompromising approach kicking the killings up ten notches.

It’s like the original Halloween on steroids.

The casting highlights start and stop with the exceptional Malcolm McDowell as the tortured Loomis. The famous actor, forever known as Alex in A Clockwork Orange (1971), carries the film with his expression-filled, crystal blue eyes and tremendous acting ability.

Another winning choice is Brad Dourif as Sheriff Lee Brackett. Classic film fans will remember the actor as a person with a mental health condition in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 1975, for which he was Oscar-nominated.

Scout Taylor-Compton does a decent job as Laurie Strode, but can anyone compare to Jamie Lee Curtis? I snicker at the thought. The rest of the actors portraying the teen friends are okay, but not memorable.

Followed by Halloween II in 2009, Halloween (2007) received enough attention at the time to give fans a flurry of excitement, but with the later recreation and reprisal by Jamie Lee Curtis and others from the original, the Zombie offerings won’t be remembered well.

It’s dirty, bloody, and raw but never terrifying. Zombie adds story points, some that work and some that don’t, but I give the man much respect for dusting off a film as brilliant as Halloween (1978).