** No Spoiler Section ** Overall I have some mixed feelings. Some things I liked and others I didn't. This is the first Rob Zombie movie that I've seen so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I thought he did a good job overall. Nice mood, good camera positions (important for this movie), good looking sets, good pace, good music, etc. What I mostly didn't like was the story. Everyone is probably going into the movie with different expectations and it was different for me. There were a couple of things that weren't really explained well enough. I wanted to see more of the history of Myers as a child and the movie gives that, I just didn't like the childhood they gave him. Overall it just didn't seem as powerful as I wanted it to be. Not really a spoiler, but what's Rob's fixation with teenage girls being complete whores? One of the families is having breakfast and the father comments that a store is going out of business, and the teenage girl comments that the owner was a pervert. She then proceeds to pick up two halves of a bagel and run them against her chest making crude comments and ending with her finger going through the hole of the bagel. And this was all done for her Mom who ended up laughing at all of it. Who talks like that to their Mom? Too many times it seemed that just completely crude and crass comments from young women were just forced into the conversation. I don't think Rob is able to write any kind of dialogue for young women so he just makes them say what he wants to hear. ** Spoilers after this Point ** I was bummed when I watched the history of Myers... In the book and the original movies he was supposed to be this person who won't or can't die. In this movie he's human. The original history of Micahel Myers is that he's possessed by a curse that starts hundreds of years ago. In this movie he's just a kid from a complete white trash family who goes over the edge because his life sucks so much. How on earth could you make a Halloween movie and strip Michael of his supposedly immortal condition? That's what made him scary. It's the timeless ghost story that all kids hear when they grow up. Instead this movie is just about a serial killer. And what was the deal with his little sister? What did he want from her? What was he going to do with her? He didn't harm her when he killed his family. They made a point to show that. And when he confronted her when she was older it appeared he wasn't going to harm her there as well. So what was his motivation? Just to be with her? After he kills all of her friends? Made no sense to me.
I was going to see it the other day but it wasn't out yet. Well what rob zombie said was that he wanted to do a retelling and not a remake of Halloween. There planning this for the next friday the 13th movie as well but the guy who did the new chainsaws is doing it. Anyway you probably won't like his other movies. I was a fan of devil rejects, but others thought a house of a 1,000 coprses is better. His style mostly is horror movies that are doing in a sorta southern trashy setting. Like tarintino, he likes doing throwbacks to movies of the 70's, but in his case of the horror gener.
Sadly, this wasn't like his other moves, aside from the "we'll shake the camera a lot because we think people like it, even though they don't" directing. It also wasn't like the original Halloween either. Hell, I kept expecting Michael to pick up a chainsaw (the actor would have been better cast as Leatherface). I'm not sure what he was thinking with the half-assed plot. The movies screws over the mythos, and the ending screws over the audience. Can't complain too much since I had a free ticket. The best part was the trailer for Saw IV.
Here's what I posted elsewhere last Friday when it first came out. BTW, hell of an opening weekend gross! Shattered the previous Labor Day opening act! ----- Just came back from seeing it. Overall, I liked it. One can easily forget what a big difference seeing a movie on the big screen with its sound system can do to enhance a film, as well as the audience being into it enough not to spoil the movie, but rather add to the fun. SPOILERS The final version is much better than the workprint I saw. About 85% of the workprint is in the final movie, but the final 15% added in really spruced things up. For example in the workprint, Laurie's father's death scene can be seen coming a mile away. "Oh shoot, you scared me!" *Myers continues walking up to him* *Knife slash* In the final version, the dad is smoking, turns and BLAM! The fool sitting behind me jumped and kicked my seat, lol. The pacing was just tightened up and totaled -- it makes a huge difference. Hearing the theme rocking the theatre is worth $8 alone. When Michael first puts on the mask (as a kid and as an adult) it almost gives you chills, if you're a Halloween fan. The new ending was OK, but disappointing. Then again, since Rob did say this was it for him, the ending makes sense. I guess it's somewhat refreshing to see a horror film end without a door being left open to a sequel. There are some iffy parts, but if you can look past them, there are some really popcorn fun moments. You could hear the audience going, collectively, "OH SHIT" or "OH FUCK" as Michael Myers leave a whirlwind of destruction in his path. The loud sound effects and faster pacing really makes this final cut a lot better than the workprint version.... and for me at least, the film genuinely became exciting at times, and frightening as well. Overall, I think Zombie pulled it off. It's obviously not perfect, but I thought it to be pretty good. If this is the final Halloween, I'd be satisfied. At least we're not ending the franchise on that abomination Resurrection POS. At least this one was enjoyable. Go see a night showing. It isn't a masterpiece like the '78 original, but it ain't bad either. Some moments are great. Others so-so. All in all, a worthy re-imagining. I'll buy the DVD in 4 months. workprint version 5/10 final theatrical release 8/10 (as far as modern horror films go) original 1978 version 10/10 Maybe I'm being too generous, or maybe the fanatic in me is coming out a little too much, but I had a lot of fun with the film... and that's what it's all about..
Yeah I realize now that there are major differences between the workprint and final versions. I actually liked the movie more the second time I watched it. I'll try to get the final release...
