Before I begin to tear apart Zombie's
HALLOWEEN remake, let me start by saying that, in general, I like the
movie. In fact, I like it exponentially more every time I see it.
The problem, of course, is that I can't help but look at it through
the vein of someone 100% devoted to Carpenter's original.
Zombie follows the same essential plot
line that Carpenter did. Michael Meyers kills his sister on
Halloween night and 15 years later returns to kill again. Zombie has
the luxury of building on the family motif from the beginning.
(That Michael Meyers was Laurie's sister is not part of the Carpenter
original until the sequel).
Zombie takes the opportunity to provide
some backstory to Michael and much like George Lucas and Vader, this
is where the problems start for me. Halloween worked on many levels
mostly because it was Middle class America gone wrong for no reason. He was just "evil." Zombie's film, however explains that Mike has an affinity for
torturing animals and is the product of a poor stripper with horrible
taste in men. It eliminates that which made Michael different from
horror films leading up to the original: Michael was from a normal
family, not poor white trash. Being white trash isolates him from the rest of his community. He might as well have been from
Transylvania or outer space. As a result, the idea of evil rising from among us isn't really there. This isn't to say that the “Michael
as a kid killer” stuff doesn't work on some levels. His handling
of the bully while the theme builds is one such moment that kind of rocks.
The part of the movie where Zombie's
changes really do work involve young Michael and Dr. Loomis. I love
that they went so far into the therapy that it shows the devotion of
Loomis to Michael, both in his therapy and eventually, his desire to keep him
locked up.
For the end of the movie, we
essentially get a 2nd/3rd act that is a remake of
Carpenter's film. It's violent, brutal and I dug Tyler Mane as a
more imposing Michael. I thought Danny Trejo and his role was
touching and allowed Zombie to show just how “gone” Michael is.
One misstep, and this is a big one, is the casting, characterization
of Laurie Strode. Scout Taylor-Compton completely doesn't “get”
the role that launched Jamie Lee Curtis to fame. Where Curtis was
shy, introverted and helped to create one of the key “rules” of
slasher film, Taylor-Compton is hyper active and in dire need of some Riddilin. In this one, I just wish that Taylor-Compton would
get it from Michael. I did love that Zombie brought Danielle Harris back. She
was awesome in Halloween IV – V.
All in all, it's a way above average
slasher film. It just doesn't quite hold up to the weight of the
original. Michael was the first of the wave of movie killers as pop
culture icons, so its always great to see him wielf the butcher knife.
I'd love to comment on Zombies
HALLOWEEN II, but I'm still not sure what that's about.
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