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blood-free fights, it should come as no surprise that this is decidedly not the case in Zombie’s rendition. Instead, the film seems fascinated with the visceral potential of blood, as well as the terror the sight of it can evoke. That said, it is far tamer in terms of gore than I had imagined going in. Perhaps in the wake of the recent box office backlash against “torture porn,” the movie’s violence was edited down, but to cynically assume as much would be doing Zombie a disservice. It is far more likely a conscious decision on his part than an act of censorship. Zombie makes use of the claustrophobia central to the original far more than any additional bloodshed to heighten the levels of terror and suspense.
Perhaps the biggest question when remaking a film is “What can I bring to it that wasn’t already there?” and, at least ideologically, Halloween seems to be a fairly straightforward remake. Carpenter’s original is the seminal slasher film, setting up genre conventions that still resonate today. Volumes of critical theory have been written about the film and, while I’ll spare you any dissertations, Carpenter’s innovations in audience identification and sly commentary on social anxiety about teenage sexuality have made it a landmark film in the genre. At the outset, Halloween doesn’t do much to challenge or change these elements; his female victims are still punished violently for their sexuality. While the film may update the scares and Myer’s mask, it otherwise rigidly conforms to genre expectations. That is, until the very end.
Carpenter’s film was one of the first to encourage audiences to identify with the slasher, only to switch that viewpoint halfway through to what would ultimately become the film’s heroine, whose task it was to destroy the slasher (along with our “impure” desires). Zombie’s version follows this formula reverently, but makes one small but significant change. In the final shots, Zombie implicates that, despite the supposed delineations between good and evil, both the slasher and heroine are very much the same. Both are audience surrogates used to enjoy violence, and it’s hypocritical – even downright pathological – to revel in bloodshed one minute only to condemn it the next. Indeed, no one is immune from the social and psychological implications of violence in Zombie’s version, no matter what the driving force behind it.
Zombie was adamant that his Halloween not be a continuation or a strict remake, preferring to pick and choose which elements from the 1978 film he would stress – and which he would ditch. While purists might deride the writer/director for not slavishly sticking to the original, Halloween is one remake Hollywood got right, as Zombie did an impressive job rebooting a franchise that has long suffered from overexposure and far too many shoddy sequels. Zombie’s version may not be able to replace Carpenter’s, but it certainly deserves to stand alongside it.
Movie Grade: A-
Synopsis:
From acclaimed musician and filmmaker, Rob Zombie (The Devil's Rejects, House of 1000 Corpses) comes ...
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