On Film: Halloween

Directed By: Rob Zombie

Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Daeg Faerch, Sheri Moon Zombie, Scout Taylor-Compton

Nothing can seemingly kill Michael Meyers, but this ain’t such a bad thing, especially for fans of horror. Rob Zombie’s resurrection of this John Carpenter tale is not simply a rehash of things already done. Zombie’s Halloween is a revitalization of this film’s original namesake. But is it worth seeing? I would say yes to anyone who loves fright, gore, and a good slasher movie. Is it as good as the first? That’s a question that’s most likely in the eyes of the beholder. To compare with the original Halloween might make this film harder to like.

The Movie

This time we get the back story on evil incarnated: Michael Meyers (Daeg Faerch). He’s a young, stringy haired boy who has it hard at home and at school. His deadbeat stepfather Ronnie (William Forsythe) verbally abuses him and mean ass kids at school pick on Michael about his mom, Deborah Meyers (Sheri Moon Zombie), being a stripper. However, lest we conclude that Michael’s killing bent comes from torture, think again. Zombie introduces the psychotic dimension to Michael’s pathology. Exhibiting classic signs of budding serial killers, Michael kills his pets. Later on, as you can imagine, Michael moves on to bigger and more human prey.

After the brutal killing of his family, except for two members, Michael goes to live at the sanitarium, where Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) tries to rehab Michel. However, Michael descends into silent madness and lives behind the masks he creates in his cell. Fifteen years later, this back story meets up with the classic story we know so well from the original movie. Michael breaks out of the sanitarium and heads back to his hometown where he fiendishly kills anyone in his path and then finds his sister Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton).

I liked the back story of Michael Meyers. Rob Zombie’s portrayal of young Michael seems to speak to a contemporary fascination our society has with serial killers and with why killers kill. The writing feels and sounds like a Rob Zombie film with its usual barrage of curses, with its rough characters showing varying shades of meanness, and with its classic gore (word!). However, Ronnie, portrayed as an ornery, provoking, miserable cuss, feels over the top and sometimes speaks too much. But it makes us hate him probably as much as Michael would.

Sheri Moon Zombie does an amazing job of playing Deborah Meyers. She knows how to play a rough character who has motherly softness, which may surprise us when we think of her as Baby from House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects.  I also thought Daeg Faerch is an amazing young Michael. Faerch played someone with a dissociative disorder quite well. Malcolm McDowell’s voice and demeanor bring an added robustness to Dr. Loomis, although I do love Donald Pleasance’s portrayal best.

While I liked the character development of the first half of this film, I thought the killing was not frightening because the killings lacked suspense and the sense of impending violence. You aren’t on the edge of your seat. However, the gore quality compensates nicely for I even had to turn my head a couple of times as brains got bashed in.

When the story picks up with Michael’s escape, we move back into the classic story line, but with Zombie’s version of it. It is basically the same story, but with some changes along the way. This part of the film made me jump a few times because Zombie seems to pick up some of the original’s scare tactics. You know Michael’s coming, but where will he come from, we wonder. Then bla-blam, he’s done got ya!  Also, Zombie uses a classic scene of dramatic irony from the first movie when Lynda (Kristina Klebe) sees her boyfriend has dressed under a sheet donned with glasses to scare her. Of course, it is Michael Meyers under the sheet, who has killed her boyfriend and is now there to kill her too.

I think this film breaks down a little in pacing because it tries to combine two story lines (a prequel and first episode) together in one epic horror film. Zombie certainly had a definite challenge in doing this. Unfortunately, it’s like trying to patch scrap metal together with tape instead of good welding. This doesn’t kill this movie for me, but it doesn’t help it either. However, classic Zombie style, such as killer musical selection, gore, and edgy dialog, works through this film adding a flare and style that many love.

Overall I think Zombie’s Halloween is ok. Where it lacks the original’s suspense and terrorizing quality, it makes up for in developing a fuller picture of Michael Meyers. Anyone who calls him/herself a horror fan should see this. Anything having Michael Meyers in it should call you to the theatre at least so you can keep this classic horror tale alive for another generation.

6.5/10

-Chuck Knight