Rob Zombie’s Halloween (2007) is not John Carpenter’s Halloween (1878). It takes someone with real vision to remake a film and have it be as interesting and unique as the first, if not more. Zombie has proven that he not only has the vision, but the talent to execute it.
One fault of the horror genre is that, with the creators so intent on delivering a visceral scare or immediate physical reaction, most fail to recognize how haunting it can be when you know a character and their life intimately before it is terribly altered.
Watching Michael Myers’ (Daeg Faerch / Tyler Mane) mother, Deborah Myers (Sheri Moon Zombie) deal with her son after he murders four people on Halloween night is painful—you are watching a mother was well as a victim. Jamie Lee Curtis’ heroine of the original, Laurie (Scout Taylor-Compton) is not reduced to just another victim. With the set-up of her relationships, you find yourself relating to her on a very personal level. She’s someone we know, who has friends and a personal life.
Zombie includes the famous score by John Carpenter, as well as Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper,” as well as choosing other tracks to further the tone of the film as creepy and darkly humorous. Missing from the film is the long tracking shot at the beginning, as well as some other key camera moves that define Carpenter’s style. Instead, the camera work grabs you and forces you into the action, the death scenes in particular. Nauseating, not because they are graphic, but because framed behind trees or caught in a flurry of movement, the quick glimpse of blood coupled with the clear sounds of bones breaking and flesh being beaten is much worse than any of the torture-porn gracing theatres today.
Myers’ is human, more disturbing than the 1978 “Boogeyman.” If Zombie’s intention is to give much more than a quick “jump out of your seat” scare, than he certainly succeeds, bring a new face of evil to the horror genre.
Copyright Anna Cruze
2007
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