Halloween (2007)
Halloween (2007) — There really is a lot to hate about this movie, but watching it back-to-back with the original I liked it better than I remember liking it. While I would hesitate to call it a better movie than the original, I was somewhat more entertained by it. Most of my problems with it involve disregarding the existing iconography of the Halloween series. I hate that Michael Myers is a giant and I hate that we get insight into why he is such a psychopath. That completely destroys everything that was frightening about Michael Myers. On the other hand it makes for kind of an interesting story in its own right. I think if Rob Zombie had made his own “masked killer stalking teenagers” movie it would jump up a lot in my estimation. There would be no weight of expectation. Sure, it would be somewhat of a rip-off of Halloween, but so are most “masked killer stalking teenagers” movies (except Black Christmas, which came four years prior). Rob Zombie’s preoccupation with white trash is a hindrance to the movie. His previous movies were set in the backwoods of Bumfuck, Nowhere so it’s not a big leap to have rednecks around but this movie is set in suburban Illinois. The dialogue of this movie is insipid, but it’s insipid in a way that people actually talk. I get the feeling that was the intent, but it’s not a good thing. I don’t go to movies to hear people talk the way brain dead teenagers at the mall really talk. I want clever dialogue dammit. I saw the movie in theaters and later bought the Director’s Cut Blu-ray which has one giant problem. The scene with Bill Moseley and Leslie Easterbrook where Michael escapes from several armed guards is replaced with an abhorrent and disgusting rape scene. There’s movie horror and then there’s the genuinely horrific and being able to distinguish between the two is something that someone should understand when making a slasher movie. There are some things about the movie I really like, maybe even more than the original. I like that Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) has been reinterpreted to be a giant prick, trying to cash in and make a buck off of his relationship with a psychopath. I like that Michael isn’t necessarily trying to kill Laurie. I like supporting roles by experienced horror actors like Sid Haig, Dee Wallace Stone, Danny Trejo, Ken Foree, Udo Kier, and Brad Dourif as well as character actors like William Forsythe. There is definitely a lot to hate about this movie but there’s enough to like too so that it’s worth checking out for the gore-hound crowd.
Persistence of Vision 