Halloween (remake) (2007) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

U.S. 2007
Director: Rob Zombie
Cast: Daeg Faerch, Sheri Moon Zombie, Tyler Mane, Malcolm McDowell, Scout Taylor-Compton, William Forsythe
Rating: R
Release Date: August 31st 2007
Running Time: 2 hours 1 minutes

The Movie Review

Halloween film still 1


HALLOWEEN (remake)
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From 1978 to 2007, a quite long span of years...I'm referring to the movie Halloween that the first was originally released in 1978 and then several others released one after another until this year we have another one. Halloween is now directed by Rob Zombie, the same director that directed House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's rejects, and who is also a friend of Jon Carpenter, the man behind the original Halloween.

As a reviewer, it is part of my duty (if not to say habit) to compare one movie to another movie and particularly a remake to the original. But this habit if taken to the extreme level would make me less appreciate the remakes for what they really are and for what they really offer to the audience. So If I see a good remake, I would not hesitant to give it credits.

As for Rob Zombie's version of Halloween is the one that deserve the credits. Undeniably has similarity to the 1978 one, but as a horror movie, Halloween 2007 still able to deliver terror and tense in the right pace! Plus, it gives psychological explanation behind all the murders that is to say deeper emotional involvement than the original movie.

Michael Myers or Mike Myers is a cute 10-year-old kid but also a product of a broken family and a misfit in the society. Mike (Daeg Faerch) in his age is still a normal boy who needs love from his family but they seem to ignore him and added that his mother's boyfriend doesn't make this family more conducive. Mike also doesn't have any buddies. Mike is mocked by his friends at school for having a stripper as his mom. Ironically it's only Mike's mom Deborah (Sheri Moon Zombie) who really cares for him. Imagine just how full of anger little Mikey is.

On one historically horrifying day, on Halloween day, Mike's little vein of anger pops out and do some dauntingly lethal actions for a kid his age. He's soon taken to the Smith's Grove Sanitarium with Dr. Sam Loomis (Malcolm Mc Dowell) to monitor Mike's psychological progress. After fifteen years on the sanitarium, the adult Michael Myers (Tyler Mane) escapes and tries to find his sister Laurie (Scott Taylor-Compton) back in Haddonfield, Illinois.

Rob Zombie as a new director proofs that he is about to be one of the distinguished horror movie directors in modern cinema. Rob has his original distinction in directing a movie, it knows how to amuse the horror aficionados. He builds up the tension through deep silence, or deep silence filled only with horrifying ambience and solid acting from his actors that sometimes combined with great music. The bottom line is, he knows the "Timing".

Rob Zombie also brings back his favorite actors such as Danny Trejo, Sid Haig, William Forsythe and of course Rob's own wife Sherri Moon. All cast populating Halloween performs normally, in a sense that they don't act over-the-top or on the contrary, bad. They make a solid teamwork and give the kind of performance that is needed by a horror thriller movie. Rob delivers other aspects nicely as well, the gritty color, the dialogue. It all gives another touch to the already familiar Michael Myers.

Of course nothing is perfect, the downside of this movie is that the scary scenes are just too dark and it still depends on tacky boo scares. Or probably the dark color is good to conceal the unneeded-to-be-that-clearly gory scenes. Still though this film is on the brink of the 80s cheap horror flicks. However..

It is known that some good horror movies are presenting the terror not only by just slashing people, but they also let us know what kind of an antagonist the audience is dealing with. It involves our emotion, and emotion that filled with tense for a couple of hours in the theater of in front of your TV is a good investment of time for horror fans.

© iwan pranowo of Movielogy.com