Halloween

Review By: Rick Mele
RickMele@TheCinemaSource.com

These days, it seems like we can’t go a week without another announcement about the latest remake, reboot, or reimagining coming out of Hollywood. No matter what you call it, this increasing trend is causing many moviegoers (myself included) to groan about the conspicuous lack of originality.

I must admit I was a little skeptical at first when I heard musician-turned-filmmaker Rob Zombie would be helming a remake of Halloween, John Carpenter’s seminal horror classic. After spawning over six sequels, were audiences really ready for more Michael Myers?

Even though most people are familiar with the plot from the original, a brief description: One Halloween night, 10-year-old Michael Myers (Daeg Faerch) commits a series of brutal murders, killing his stepfather, older sister, and her boyfriend. After being locked up for 15 years under the care of Dr. Sam Loomis (played by Malcolm McDowell of A Clockwork Orange, The Company, and HBO’s “Entourage”), Myers escapes and returns to reek havoc on the little Illinois town he grew up in. Among his targets are Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton of the now-defunct “Gilmore Girls” and “Charmed”), a young teenager with a curious connection to Myers’ past.

Daeg Faerch, whose young Michael Myers provides the backbone of the film, challenges Harvey Stephens, the original Damien in horror classic The Omen, for the title of creepiest child actor. Beneath his blank visage lies the implication of a vast and demented interior world. Sheri Moon Zombie isn’t there merely as window dressing; she delivers an understated performance as the pained “mother of Satan.” Malcolm McDowell’s Dr. Loomis is a bit over-the-top, but I think that’s largely the point. Portraying Michael’s surrogate father figures as largely impotent and slightly cartoonish becomes a major theme for Zombie. And Scout Taylor-Compton is good but not great as the film’s heroine, looking distractingly like a younger, chubbier Lindsay Lohan. We’ll have to wait and see if her career takes off the same way Jamie Lee Curtis’ did.

I haven’t seen either of Zombie’s previous films House of 1000 Corpses or The Devil’s Rejects, but he’s a surprisingly proficient writer/director. While Zombie’s reputation for brutal violence precedes him, it’s actually Halloween’s domestic scenes that are the most realistic. Whether it’s a domestic squabble (minor or major) or merely a group of high-school girls discussing party plans, Zombie’s scenes of domestic life pop with an easy authenticity. It’s not necessarily what you’d expect from a guy whose shares his stage name with a movie monster, but he shows off his range here as both a writer and director. The underlying commentary on suburbia is an important theme in both Zombie’s version as well as Carpenter’s, but while you might expect Zombie’s Halloween to sacrifice story for the sake of increased carnage, he actually takes a very nuanced and methodical approach to portraying the brutal serial killer. Indeed, he actually goes to great lengths to expand on Michael Myers’ back story.

Whereas Carpenter’s version featured almost ...