Halloween (2007)

October 19, 2022 7:14 AM

Nearly two decades after being committed to a mental institution for killing his stepfather and older sister, Michael Myers (Tyler Mane) breaks out, intent on returning to the town of Haddonfield, Ill. He arrives in his hometown on Halloween with the indomitable purpose of hunting down his younger sister, Laurie (Scout Taylor-Compton). The only thing standing between Michael and a Halloween night of bloody carnage is psychologist Dr. Samuel Loomis (Malcolm McDowell).

Also starring: Daeg Faerch, Sheri Moon Zombie, Danielle Harris, Brad Dourif, William Forsythe, Kristina Klebe, Hanna Hall, Danny Trejo, Daryl Sabara, Dee Wallace, Skyler Gisondo, Ken Foree ,Lew Temple, Clint Howard, Richard Lynch, Udo Kier.

Written & directed by Rob Zombie.

27% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

JustWatch listing.

posted by DirtyOldTown (8 comments total)

Widely panned at the time, this movie and its sequel are getting a moment as a subset of reviewers is recommending the films as a palate cleanser to the ambitious but muddled trilogy just-concluded by David Gordon Green.

At the time, I was impressed by the scenes of Michael as a young psychopath. even though I did not truly feel them necessary. Neither did I react favorably to Zombie's reworking of Myers as a grounded serial killer rather than a mythical evil force.

But, there are enough people chirping about how these look better on rewatch that I'm going to give this one a rewatch as well as check out the sequel, which I never saw before.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:19 AM on October 19, 2022

I watched this for the first time last year when visiting my mom in the US and I didn't like it. As DOT said in the 1978 original FanFare, what makes Michael Myers so genuinely frightening is the tabula rasa of himself. We don't know why, we just know he kills. Creating a reason why is just unnecessary, IMHO. Not everything/everyone needs an origin story, but I am in the minority.
posted by Kitteh at 10:13 AM on October 19, 2022

misread the tagline in the cover image as "Evil has a dentist" which someone needs to get on that, stat!
posted by supermedusa at 10:50 AM on October 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

misread the tagline in the cover image as "Evil has a dentist" which someone needs to get on that, stat!

I'm pretty sure that's Marathon Man.

Although Steve Martin plays a fairly evil dentist in Little Shop of Horrors.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:52 PM on October 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

I really felt like Zombie's heart was more in the abusive, unstable upbringing scenes which felt gratuitous and (necessarily) uncomfortable; overall just an unpleasant and unnecessary remake.
posted by Pope Guilty at 2:44 PM on October 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

There is a grim pitiless quality to the first section that is not my bag, generally, but is extremely well-executed. That first scene with the shitty stepdad is shrill and grimy and starts us off on the wrong foot. But the basic premise--that Michael is some kind of fucked up example of what happens when nature and nurture both go horribly away--that tracks. There's a bleak, accusatory quality to Zombie making a "fun" slasher character into the grotty psychopath he would be in real life. I also liked that Dr. Loomis seemed like a doctor and not a madman.

The problem is that when the movie switches over to the section that remakes the original, that grim realistic quality ends up feeling hollow, and Rob Zombie's kind of uncouth horniness and cold viciousness looks even worse.

There is some really good horror filmmaking in here, and while I cannot fully endorse it, on rewatch, I am upgrading my rating from "inexcusable piece of crap" to "kinda interesting misfire that has its moments."

This gets a lot of hate for how grim it is, but honestly those are the best parts.

I think if the entire film had been prequel, it would have been better.

I am definitely going to watch his part II now, because I can see how, unbound from the shackles of remaking things, he may have a path to do something better.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:45 PM on October 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

Someone uploaded this to YouTube.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:10 PM on October 19, 2022

Apparently I saw this in 2007 but I didn't remember it at all and watched it again last night.

The beginning was relentlessly mean and sordid, the sort of filmmaking where none of the characters are likeable and it's easiest to read it all as the author thinking they're making a big statement about How The World Is™.
I might have been more forgiving of that kind of thing when I was younger, but anymore I find it boring, artless, and tedious. The world is considerably more nuanced, with more room for empathy and humor, than all that.

Once we got past the (unpleasant, unnecessary) beginning, the film had its moments.

I doubt I'll watch this one again, at least not on purpose. (Perhaps I'll forget again that I've seen it, and watch it in 2041.)
posted by johnofjack at 1:06 PM on December 7, 2024