(Long Island, N.Y.) In 1978, fledgling director John Carpenter released a low-budget, independent horror film titled simply: Halloween. It told the tale of Michael Myers, an escaped mental patient in a spray painted William Shatner mask (true story) who returns to his hometown to engage in a mass killing spree. The movie was a surprise hit, and became one of the highest-grossing independent movies of all time. In addition, it helped give birth to the “Slasher” film genre, and soon scores of imitators were happily chopping up innocent teenagers on movie screens across the nation.
Halloween spawned a long-running franchise (9 installments to date), with John Carpenter only directly involved with the first two films. In the hands of various other directors, Michael Myers has seen varying degrees of success at the box office, yet has always remained a somewhat second-tier villain to the likes of Crystal Lake’s very own Jason Voorhees.
I’ve been a big Rob Zombie fan for years, and the news that the rock star was helming a remake of John Carpenter’s original Halloween was greeted on my part with equal portions of interest and disappointment. Why the split? Well, let’s cover why I was interested first – in addition to being a unique and talented songwriter and artist, Mr. Zombie
has revealed himself to being quite the film director as well (previously directing his band’s music videos). His directorial debut was the fun-yet-amateurish House of 1000 Corpses. A modest hit, it was followed by The Devil’s Rejects, which displayed a huge growth and maturity in Zombie’s skills. As a fan of both films, I awaited his next cinematic undertaking with fevered anticipation. Yet, upon the announcement of Halloween, I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of the aforementioned disappointment. Why? Read on.
One of the latest Hollywood trends (and the most reviled) is the remaking of films. Now, on occasion, remaking a movie can be a good thing. Due to any number of factors- budget limitations, inadequate technology, a good plot idea that didn’t meet its potential- a flawed or outdated film could be expanded upon in some way if revisited. Actually, one of my all-time favorite movies is John Carpenter’s The Thing, itself a vastly-improved re-imagining of 1951’s The Thing from Another World.
However, the recent glut of non-stop remakes that Hollywood is spewing out seems to represent nothing more than a sense of creative bankruptcy and a willingness to ride on the coattails of other people’s work. Instead of coming up with new ideas, the screenwriters of today leech off of the name recognition that established films possess and, at times, churn out almost shot-for-shot recreations of them. If you’re not at least trying to improve on the original or place a different spin on it, there’s no
point.
So, as a fan of Rob Zombie, I was let down that his newest project was merely a (gasp)
remake. Was Rob selling out? I was also confused as far as the reasoning went for ‘rebooting’ the Halloween franchise, since it’s not like the series has been lying dormant and waiting for a revival- the last installment was released in 2002, merely 5 years ago. But trust Rob to lay all my fears to rest, as he
has managed to create an outstanding film that greatly expands upon the original, while respectfully paying homage to it at the same time.
In John Carpenter’s version, Michael Myers was first shown as a boy, with the film opening depicting his brutal murder of his older sister and subsequent imprisonment in a mental hospital. From there, time fast-forwarded to his adulthood. But what led up to the murder? What was Michael like in the hospital? And why did he start wearing his iconic mask? These are the answers the remake provides, and it’s fascinating to watch the
infamous killer as a (not at all) normal boy. Personally, I never realized how showing almost nothing of Michael’s youth in the original worked against him as a character, as far as establishing his personality went (Myers was previously devoid of one).
In this new version, we have 10-year old Michael Myers (Daeg Faerch) growing up in a typical American household in Haddonfield, Illinois- his mother (Sheri Moon Zombie) is a stripper, her live-in boyfriend (William Forsythe) is a drunken, abusive cripple, and his older sister (Hanna Hall) is promiscuous to say the least. Like I said, typical household. Anyway, little Mikey is socially awkward, often hides behind a mask, and digs carving up defenseless little animals. Yeah, the warning signs for trouble are all there, but Michael has one redeeming factor- his love for his mother and younger sister, a baby he affectionately calls “Boo.”
Michael’s pattern of disturbing behavior culminates in him horrifically murdering his sister and her boyfriend on Halloween night. For good measure, he also slays his Mother’s boyfriend…but he was a jerk and kinda had it coming, so that’s okay. Only Michael’s mother and baby sister are spared.
After a long trial, Myers is imprisoned in Smith’s Grove Sanitarium, where he is placed under the care of psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis (Malcolm McDowell). Loomis futilely struggles for years to get through to Michael, who has no memory of the killings and becomes more and more withdrawn and distant by the day. Eventually, he grows into adulthood as a towering mute (played by the 6’8″ Tyler Mane), and his fascination with masks has now become an obsession- his cell is filled with them.
During a routine transfer to a new cell, Myers suddenly lashes out furiously, killing his guards and escaping the hospital. Dr. Loomis immediately knows where his psychopathic patient is heading- back to Haddonfield. Upon arriving, Michael begins stalking young high school student Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton), but the reason why is a mystery. Do Laurie and Michael share some unknown connection? Will Dr. Loomis stop Michael before he kills again? Or will the town of Haddonfield turn into a bloodbath?
The new Halloween is a very different movie than the original. Michael Myers slowly stalked his victims in the Carpenter’s version, but now he’s a locomotive that can’t be stopped. Once Michael grows up, escapes, and gains his signature coveralls and mask, the pace of the film is refreshingly relentless. The remake also did a good job of showing Michael’s human side, but didn’t overdo it to the point that Michael became sympathetic, thus ruining his intimidation factor. It’s a fine line that the movie successfully manages to transverse. In fact, it managed to sustain a feeling of dread throughout its entirety, which few horror films seem to manage anymore.
The acting was solid and realistic. Zombie manages to get very gritty performances out of his actors, which always helps to make things far more believable, even when his characters are thrust into some pretty crazy situations. Also worthy of note are the fun little cameos by Zombie’s usual players, such as Sid Haig, Bill Mosley and Ken Foree.
Unfortunately, there’s precious little character development for anyone in this movie (save Michael), but that’s more a problem with the Slasher genre in general, and one that needs to be fixed. What these films need, to be truly effective, is to get you to actually care for the victims. If you are emotionally invested in a character, their impending death can create great tension. But when you’re just watching cardboard-cutouts without any depth getting slaughtered, you usually cease caring and, even worse, start rooting for the bad guys (I know I sure do!).
Another issue I had: This film’s stated intent was to make Michael more “real,” as opposed to his previous, superhuman portrayal. Yet Myers endures sufficient punishment in this movie to kill 10 normal men, and is able to do the old ‘lift your victim by the throat with one hand’ party trick that all movie
maniacs love to do. In this sense, Myers is as much a superhuman monster as he always was.
In closing, Halloween clearly establishes Rob Zombie as the real deal. He managed to take John Carpenter’s classic and, in some ways, actually outdo it. It’s not original at all, but while Halloween sticks firmly to all the standard selling points of the Slasher genre, it manages to do so to near-perfection. It’s visually arresting, fast, brutal, and (at times) very funny. It adds a great deal to the legacy of the first film, while keeping the basics of the original that needed to be there. If all remakes were like this, I wouldn’t be cursing the very concept like I currently do.
Now hopefully that new Friday the 13th movie I keep hearing rumors about will get made…
