Movie #43 - Halloween (2007)

"Evil has a destiny."

Being a massive fan of the original 1978 cult classic, I must admit, this movie did bring back a great deal of memories. The original 1978 film was in fact an independent film created by John Carpenter and starring the unknown phenom at the time - Jamie Lee Curtis.

I commend Rob Zombie in bringing this film back from the depths of VHS obscurity into the mainstream with his remake version. I liked the efforts made to make this movie his own, but I do love the fact that he retained a large portion of the original screenplay, score, and scenes to please both purists and new audience members alike.

I understand the appeal to bring this movie back - 1978 represents a whole generation of people, myself included (born in 1980) who grew up without CGI and grew up on epic films such as Star Wars. A large man walking slowly around a suburb in a mechanics outfit wearing a cheap William Shatner mask just isn't quite scary anymore for today's teenagers - the main demographic of the movie theatre audience.

The first full hour is a treat for us older viewers. The Zombie version goes into a strong background into Michael Myers' psyche and his development into the violent sociopath that he becomes. There are strong performances by Daeg Faerch as Michael Myers at age 10 and you become sympathetic with Deborah Myers (portrayed by Sheri Moon Zombie), as Faerch begins to tailspin into his madness and becomes obsessed with murder and evil.

Once that hour is completed, the movie returns to about 85% of the original screenplay. There are add-ons to the script such as the origin of Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton), a more in-depth character development of Dr. Samuel Loomis (Malcolm MacDowell), and some different death sequences. By that point, the movie became very predictable, which probably angered some movie-goers expecting to see a different film.

What are the takebacks? Getting to the know the Myers boy is perfect for the franchise fan. We really didn't know what set Michael off back in 1978, now we do. Faerch portrays a sick little boy to the tee and he does it convincingly... especially because his face can go from innocent and sweet to murderous and evil in a split second. The casting of Taylor-Compton was disappointing as the Strode character is supposed to represent the heroin in this film... something that Zombie did not accomplish with this actress. I was disappointed with MacDowell's portrayal of Loomis, but only because I am biased towards the late Donald Pleasence. If only he were still alive, I believe re-casting Pleasence in this role would achieve Zombie's goal to reinvigorate the franchise.

In my opinion, he accomplished as such. This is by far a strong attempt to bring back the Halloween franchise from obscurity - I just hope they stop at one remake this time around.