Halloween (2007)

Remake of "Halloween" (1978)

Michael Myers is a messed up little kid.  He lives in a family that abuses him constantly and the kids at school make fun of him.  On Halloween one year, he snaps.  He kills his step-father, sister, and his sister's boyfriend.  He spared the life of his other sister, who was only an infant.  After this, Michael was put into a mental institution and he was treated by Dr. Loomis.  Loomis spent years trying to reach Michael, but nothing worked.  15 years later, Michael escapes and he heads for his hometown of Haddonfield.  He is trying to find his sister and in the mean time, he kills anyone that gets in his way.

The original "Halloween" is one of my favorite movies of all time.  When Rob Zombie announced that he was doing the remake, I sort of got excited.  I thought he might be able to do a good remake.  He did not.

My biggest problem with this film is that there is no one that you really care about.  There is no one to relate to.  Michael Myers is a serial killer and he is the main character.  This doesn't work.  Who cares if he kills a bunch of people if you don't give a crap about them.  Zombie tries to make Michael's sister, Laurie, the character you can relate to, but she is terribly written.  I wanted nothing more than for her to die.  She was so annoying.

Zombie also has continuity problems with the character of Michael Myers.  Early in the film, Myers kills Danny Trejo.  Trejo took care of Myers for years while in the institution.  Trejo really wanted the best for Michael.  So when Myers kills Trejo, it is a shock.  This murder occurs so it can show the viewer that Michael has no soul.  He is a killing machine that can not be reasoned with.  Now I can buy that, until the scene where Michael captures Laurie and shows her a picture of them together 15 years earlier.  In this scene, Michael is sympathetic and he seems to want to establish a relationship with Laurie.  Why would a killing machine want this?  You can't have both personalities.  It is one or the other.  It didn't work.

The only thing that I liked about the movie was the mask.  Although Michael looked neat, he was too tall and clumsy.  In the original, Michael is swift and fluid in the way he moves.  Not in this one...  He seemed more like Leatherface in the Myers suit.

Rob Zombie's "Halloween" is not a great movie.  While watching the movie, all I would think about is how I would rather be watching the original.  John Carpenter's version is far superior than this.

C-