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Halloween

Rob Zombie takes a stab at a horror classic with a twisted new vision

By Geoff Berkshire

August 31, 2007

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Seventeen years after young Michael Myers (Daeg Faerch) goes on a killing spree, the masked madman (played as an adult by Tyler Mane) escapes from a mental institution on Halloween. Myers stalks his younger sister Laurie (Scout Taylor-Compton) as his psychologist Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) races to stop the bloodbath.

Big question: John Carpenter’s 1978 original “Halloween” is considered a classic of contemporary horror films. Why mess with success?

Catch it: This is no pointless shot-for-shot remake (like Gus Van Sant’s “Psycho”) or overly stylized update (à la “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”). Writer/director Rob Zombie strays from Carpenter’s blueprint and brings something new to the Myers mythology: a glimpse inside the black hole that is this killer’s soul. The greatly expanded examination of Myers’ childhood in the film’s first half makes it clear that this is Michael’s story. And the film is all the more disturbing for it.

Skip it: If you’re looking for the suspense present in Carpenter’s film. With the emphasis placed on the killer more than his victims, Myers seems to average a murder every five minutes. And those death scenes are as raw as a trip to an actual crime scene.

Bottom line: Purists and puritans alike will surely cry foul, but Zombie’s brutal vision doesn’t simply re-imagine a slasher landmark, it reinvigorates a franchise that was in worse shape than most of Myers’ victims.

Bonus: “Halloween” features two former child actresses attempting to leave their little girl images behind by going topless on camera. Danielle Harris, who plays Laurie’s friend Annie, was the young heroine of “Halloween 4” and “Halloween 5,” and Hanna Hall, who plays Michael’s sister Judith, is best known as young Jenny in “Forrest Gump.”

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