|
I'd read so much from Rob
Zombie about his current film. Was it a remake? A prequel? A re-imagining? A
reboot? Whatever it was, it was clear to me that this wasn't a real Halloween
movie. Rob Zombie, as a musician, is fond of releasing remixed versions of his
tunes. That's the best way to describe Rob Zombie's Halloween...a
remix. There's some of John Carpenter's classic here, but there's a lot of
pounding and scratching that definitely wasn't in the original.
The first half of the film is a prequel to the classic tale of "the
night He came home". It gives us some insight into the family life of
young Michael Myers. Sadly, he comes off as a textbook serial killer rather
than something new and refreshing. He begins by killing small animals and works
his way up to humans before doing the deed that lands him in the asylum. The
asylum scenes are some of the best in the entire film and Zombie could've had
a masterpiece on his hands if he'd centered the entire film around these
segments and ended when Myers inevitably escapes.
The movie abruptly changes a little over half way through into a heavy handed
retelling of John Carpenter's classic tale of Myers stalking babysitter
Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton). These scenes are a lot like Zombie's
previous works in that the victims are mainly there as cannon fodder for the
monster. Zombie sticks to his usual formula here in that he sympathizes with
the killer and turns him into the hero of the picture with the victims being
cookie-cutter characters with no development whatsoever.
Sound bad? Maybe. But it's not as bad as it seems if you go into it looking
for a Rob Zombie picture rather than a Halloween movie. Don't get me wrong.
I'd love to see a fresh Halloween flick but, honestly, there hasn't been one
of those since the severely underrated Halloween III: Season of the Witch
which dumped the Myers mythos altogether. If you put aside the title, as a
Rob Zombie movie, this movie is a blast. It's filled with great tunes, brutal
gore, gratuitous nudity, horror cameos galore and a kick ass monster. That's
all I have come to expect from a Rob Zombie flick.
As far as the Halloween series goes, this one would be the third best
in the series beneath the original and part 3. And hey! At least there's no
Busta Rhymes!
Back to Reviews
|
bravenet.com