No, It's not a masterpiece like the original. Gone is the pitch perfect ominous supernatural dread. Gone is the focus on the stalwart Laurie Strode. In it's place is debatably the most interesting portrayal of a child killer in years. Before scoffing imagine Zombie's haunted hay ride without it's impossible to live up to title,
HALLOWEEN, you will see the tale of a harassed child who snaps completely and a mother who desperately clings to the hope that her son is not lost forever to mental illness. Zombie's white trash environment was widely criticized for being a cheap tack on catalyst for lil' Mikey's madness. I don't read it that way. His siblings share a similar upbringing without a hint of the same affliction. In fact, young Michael has no memory of his actions and explicitly wants to return home and be with the family he still imagines alive. No, the roots of his behavior do not involve druid style mumbo jumbo, but he is taken over by a nameless something that still fits snugly inside the definition of
EVIL. DAEG FAERCH's heartbreaking portrayal is original in the annals of horror, with his soft features and sensitive disposition towards his mother ("I like your hair curly. It's pretty.") He is the antithesis of the robotic, cut in stone child demons that are usually displayed in movies like
THE OMEN or
THE VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED. When Michael reaches adulthood the second half of the film concerns the events we are more familiar with, but the shells in this game are switched around enough that you never really know what's going to happen. Laurie bringing Lindsey
BACK home to the Wallace's to check on Annie? Brilliant. Credit should also be given for the more brutal and realistic violence. Usually In slasher movies victims go down quickly and easily. A simple machete to the face and they'll even pose for you so can place them in a make shift shrine. These victims convulse, shake, squirm and crawl away just like real ones and the result is visceral and disturbing. In my book, Zombie's meta take easily achieves the gonzo schlocky pandemonium of a real honest to goodness horror film, the kind of which there are far too few. I agree the ham fisted editing does weaken the theatrical version, but the director's work-print closes with a much more touching and enduring finale involving a voice over from Mike and Dr.Loomis's first session together. As the audio rolls we hear Faerch's pip-squeak voice intone "Hi, I'm Micheal Myers…" Was his performance enough to convince me of that fact? To quote from the original film: "As a matter of fact…it was."
- "Love hurts" Zombie may never live it down but it's a counterintuitive choice that genuinely lingers
- Bully gets his comeuppance in the woods. If you say you didn't enjoy this scene as much as I did you are a liar
- Tiny Mike in giant mask
- Lil' Mike takes care of the nurse followed by an ear maddening siren blare
- Many people THINK about blowing their brains out when watching home movies. Mommy Moon doesn't just think about it, she DOES it!
Related
Before I even begin to comment on RZ's Halloween, I have to tell you that your site has become one of my favorite "mustsees" every single day. I'm totally serious. You've created a Kindertrauma ADDICT. Hardcore. So much so that I posted your website in a MySpace group I belong to [Childfree & Loving It] and I think you are going to see some other new faces around here. The feedback has been very positive. =)
I adored RZ's Halloween b/c it explained why/how MM became MM. The taunting from both classmates and family. The deep psychological damage that heartless kind of harassment sets free. I think RZ outdid himself w/this film which is my favorite RZ film to date.
Thanks again for such a kickass website and BTW, Trilogy of Terror was my number one childhood trauma film w/o a doubt. The knife under the bathroom door — CLASSIC.
Thanks Stepher!
I think HALLOWEEN is my favorite RZ film too! It gets better each time you see it! I don't get why it was ripped to shreds by so many critics. Truth be told my dvd library is filled with movies that were treated the same way upon release. From cult flicks like MY BLOODY VALENTINE to now classics like J.C's THE THING and BLADE RUNNER. Heck, even THE WIZARD OF OZ got the cold shoulder when it came out! I predict we will see all the nay-sayers standing in line right along with us a decade from now buying the 10th anniversary edition! And TRILOGY OF TERROR? Right there with you on that one!
Mmmm, we are going to have to agree to disagree here. I really disliked this movie, although I found the first third to be awesome in a Showgirls Train Wreck kind of way (Love Hurts was so awesome in all the wrong ways for me).
I will say, I did go into this movie with a fairly open mind. I really wanted to like it and I didn't buy my tickets with my sarcasm ready to roll. I just had a hard time figuring out what was so dang scary (or interesting).
One of the major things I realized was that I liked Michael before because he just was. He was evil and that was that. I see that you feel they retained that, and to some degree I guess you are right, but for me it felt like Serial Killers 101 or something.
On a board I used to frequent, there was much heated debate about this movie… you either love it or hate it. It ended up getting kind of nasty (myself included) because some people can't take your opinion for what it is… an opinion. Anyway, we all made nice by the end of it. But something that caught me was that half of us thought movies like Prom Night (which was the one cited most during this argument) actually captured something far more realistic than RZ's movie, while the rest thought we were insane because Prom Night features older actors and cheesy dialog (you say cheesy, I say fun)… I wish the board was still up, I'd send you a link for reference. It was something, let me tell you! I even called one guy an asshole! But I was mad!
So, RZ let's face it… you are Madonna. Either loved or hated, but NEVER ignored!
I was feeling easygoing the day I saw this in the movies with my nephew, thinking the worst but trying to keep an open mind. As bad as the second half gets, I must confess, that the first half was pretty damn good. It touched all the buttons in me it was supposed to, and not since "Last House on the Left" have I seen a murder (the one in the woods) done so disturbingly. And yeah, I even felt bad when Mike's mom blew her brains out. Who wouldn't? To say that this was all pretty effective would be an understatement.