Editor Reviews:

Description:
The original slasher film about Michael Myers, the psychotic killer who dons a mask and terrorizes his hometown, is re-imagined by edgy director Rob Zombie.

Amazon.com:
More of a supercharged revamp than a remake, Rob Zombie's take on John Carpenter's Halloween expands the back story of masked killer Michael Myers in an attempt to examine the motivation for his first deadly attack, as well as some reasons for his longevity as a horror icon. Zombie's Myers is a blank-eyed teen (played by Daeg Faerch) whose burgeoning mental problems are left unchecked in a horrific home environment; harassed by schoolmates, a randy sister, and his mother's deadbeat boyfriend (William Forsythe, terrific as usual), Myers' homicidal explosion seems inevitable, and intervention by Dr. Sam Loomis (Malcolm McDowell, who offers a fast-talking, hippiefied version of the Donald Pleasance character) does little to impede his development into a mute, unstoppable killing machine (Tyler Mane) bent on finishing off the only survivor of his family's massacre--his sister, now grown into teenaged Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton). Opening up the psychological motivation of a cipher like Michael Myers is an interesting approach, but Zombie's script possesses neither a depth of character nor dialogue to offer more than a clichéd thumbnail character sketch, and devoting over a hour of the unrated cut's 120-minute-plus running time to this history feels bloated and self-indulgent (especially when compared to the lean efficiency of the Carpenter original). Zombie's Halloween isn't terribly suspenseful, either; he has a keen eye for visuals and the details of chaotic environments, but his scares are nothing more than brutal showcases for his special effects team. The end result barely surpasses the original film's numerous sequels, though the Who's Who of cult and character actors in the cast (including Zombie regulars Sid Haig, Bill Moseley and Ken Foree, as well as Brad Dourif, Udo Kier, Clint Howard, Richard Lynch, Danny Trejo, Dee Wallace, and Danielle Harris) adds a touch of late-night monster movie charm. However, the film's best performance belongs to the director's spouse, Sheri Moon Zombie, who brings unexpected pathos to the role of Myers' downtrodden mother.

The two-disc Unrated Director's Cut offers a full disc's worth of extras that should please Zombie fans; chief among the supplemental features is his commentary, which details the film's shooting history and the numerous edits required to deliver the theatrical version. A making-of featurette offers further details of Zombie's vision for the film, and there are featurettes on his cast choices and the many masks that Myers makes while incarcerated. Seventeen deleted scenes (two of which feature Adrienne Barbeau and Tom Towles) and an alternate ending (all with Zombie's commentary) are also provided, as well as footage from the casting sessions. A blooper reel, which is highlighted by unchecked mischief by McDowell and Dourif, offers the set's sole moment of levity. -- Paul Gaita

Rating : - Zombie Holocaust
Director Rob Zombie shows us in his remake of the classic, Halloween, how to grab the money and run.

First of all, you don't want to create anything fresh or original--like the original "Halloween, "Alien," "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," etc. You can always remake a third-rate Asian horror import because all the special effects you need are to slap white make-up on the faces of Asian kids, pile on black mascara and make them bulge their eyes and grit their teeth. Or, you can make the l5th or 20th sequel to a once brilliant original like "Saw". Or, you can just go back to the original classic--in this case "Halloween"--and know that you'll be guaranteed tons of free buzz on the internet. The younger movie buffs who never saw the original will be guaranteed to fill up the seats for this much ballyhooed remake.

In this remake, Zombie has trashed everything that made the original so treasured by its fans. Instead of likeable, suburban characters, who wore attractive clothes and seemed to be fond of each other, he gives us a world of sleazy, repulsive jerks who engender no sympathy from the audience. Michael Myers, terrifying and mysterious, in the original, is now a towering, seven foot gorilla. In fact, the first hour of this travesty is spent studying the evolution of Myers from moon-faced idiot to his adult monsterhood. His step-father is a human monster, disguised as red-neck nutjob, his sister is a skanky, hard-faced idiot and his mother, a stripper, is so weak-minded in her love for her little monster, that you care nothing about their fates.

Just as bad is the casting of the youngsters. Jaime Lee Curtis was completely likable and sympathetic, as the sweet, naive young girl. Although her two girlfriends were more frisky, you still liked them, too. Also, they all wore attractive clothes. In the remake, the girls live in their boring jeans and tennis shoes and sweatshirts. They look no different from the other colorless clones you see at a mall. Show them a skirt or a dress and they'd probably scratch their heads and go, "Duh, what's dat?"

There's a total lack of suspense as Michael Myers becomes the destroyer. You see him too much, for one thing, and his William Shatner white mask becomes boring. When he removes it, you see a good-looking young guy with stringy hair but with neatly manicured fingers. He trashes rooms and murders everyone in his path until finally, you're yawning and glancing at the clock and thinking: how much longer is going to continue. The original used a brilliant musical score, composed by the movie's director, John Carpenter. The music is an integral part to the original's greatness. It was used sparingly or brilliantly and greatly enhanced the sheer fear. In this remake, it's thrown in from the very beginning until you forget you're even listening to it.

The new Laurie spends the entire seond half of the movies shrieking non-stop, screaming and weeping and gibbering. If I was trying to escape from a killer, I think I'd be as quiet as possible and save my breath. In her boring jeans and tennis shoes and sweater and ugly glasses, she's as dull and forgettable as her mall buddies.

Equally irritating is the way the girls try to be playful and talk funny by swallowing their words and going nasal and gooching each other. They're always trying to act scary by fluttering their fingers and disguising their voices to sound scary.

Although the original featured some nudity, Zombie wallows in it--female, that is, although you never see any male nudity. The girls are hard, snarling, tough and repellant. It's not the fault of the performers. They all try hard. It's the way they're directed that drains them of any likablity or audience identification. Even the first scene where we see Laurie and her parents over the breakfast table is ruined when Laurie makes a sexual joke using a finger and a bagel. Why? You want to slap her because she seems to think she's the cutest and sharpest girl in the world.

I remember those old, golden times in a theater where movie-makers would occasionally thrill us with brilliant, original fantasy and horror--with movies like "The Day the Earth Stood Still," "Psycho," "The Thing," "Alien," "Nightmare on Elm Street." Now and then, we do get something original like "Jeepers Creepers".

But mostly, it's sequel after lousy sequel and worst of all, lousy remakes of golden classics. If you've never seen the original, "Halloween," watch it and see why it'll be watched for decades to come--and disasters like its endless sequels and terrible remakes like this one will be relegated to the garbage dumps.