Review - Halloween

Some people hate the very idea of a remake, regardless of the quality of the direction or the story. Rob Zombie’s Halloween isn’t likely to change their minds. The movie itself isn’t terrible. Actually, it’s a pretty decent slasher flick. Unfortunately, it completely destroys the legacy that John Carpenter created when he crafted the original film in 1978. That is this movie’s biggest weakness.
The original Halloween was an inspiration to filmmakers. Whether it was due to the iconic theme music, the inspired opening credits or the unprecedented use of the first-person camera, Carpenter’s film is still firmly embedded in any cinephile’s mind as one of the most exceptional feats of camerawork and direction in film history.
I happen to like remakes, as long as they bring something new to the story, unlike Van Sant’s 1998 shot-for-shot remake of another horror classic, Psycho. Zombie doesn’t shy away from bringing new material to the story of Michael Myers. Unfortunately, everything that he adds is utter crap.
The biggest part of Myer’s appeal is the mystery. Carpenter portrays him as a lurking evil, driven by some unknown motivation. He appears on the edge of the screen and consequently on the fringes of our imagination. Zombie chooses to remove the mystique and turn Myers into just another unpopular, abused, little fat kid who turns into a killer. He removes, literally, everything that makes Michael Myers who he is.
On its own, outside of the glorious Halloween tradition, Zombie’s film is actually worthy of some merit. Zombie’s visual acuity and unique horror style is even further refined than his previous movies; he manages some truly frightening images. Furthermore, he does an excellent job of fleshing out some of the relationships between characters that Carpenter’s movie didn’t have time for, most notably that of Michael and Dr. Loomis.
Zombie also seems to have quite the talent for eliciting performances from his actors and actresses. Every character in the film is fully realized and each performance has enough substance to support the dark subject matter. The only flaw in regards to character development is the absolutely terrible dialogue. Any prowess Zombie may possess with a camera, he lacks as a writer. The studio should have known there were major problems when Dr. Loomis sums up the intentions of one of the most memorable and maniacal characters in all of cinematic history by saying “I don’t know what he’s going to do; but it’s not going to be good.”