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Film Review: Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN - Dave's Thoughts
By Dave Dreher
Sep 3, 2007, 19:28
After months of
speculation and bitching the horror world has finally come to grips
with the fact that Rob Zombie has dared to remake horror royalty. His
re-imagining of HALLOWEEN has sparked more debate then any other horror
remake that I have witnessed.
Yes even the Dawn of the Dead redo.
You need to know that I have had to
watch this film 3 times to be able to sit down here tonight and give
you my thoughts. I find this film very polarizing. There are parts of
it that I feel are nothing short of brilliant and parts that make me
want to yak up my milk duds and large Pepsi. I have to tell you
though, the good parts win out for me.
This one is a keeper for several reasons. Let me explain.
Rob Zombie is one kick ass film
maker. Not much of a writer but one hell of a film maker. This film
has managed to rebuild in two hours what previous films have taken a
generation to destroy. Micheal Myers is terrifying once again. Tyler
Mane turns in what just may be THE BEST portrayal of our favorite
silent masked killer.
The film looks great. I love the
look and feel that Zombie brings to life. The gritty, sleazy picture
that he paints is both disturbing and sad. The problem is he actually
has his characters speak. The dialog is bad. Real bad. It is "fuck"
this and "shit" that and "motherfuck" the other thing. This might be
how people talk in the Rob Zombie universe but in mid America Illinois
folks just don't talk like that much.
So, the look and feel of the film is great but the writing is nothing short of horrendous. How about the acting you ask?
First off, I was totally impressed
with Sheri Moon Zombie. When announced that she was going to be in the
film I was like "what the hell, you have got to be kidding" but she
turns in one of the better performances in this film. I already talked
about Tylerr Mane and Malcolm McDowell is believable and strong in his
turn as Dr. Loomis. The kid that plays young Michael Myers is very
good. Daeg Faerch is his name and I think we'll be hearing a lot more
about him in the coming years.
In spending a lot of time thinking
about this film the last few days I have come to the conclusion that
this is Michael Myers for a new generation. This is Michael Myers for
those folks that shop at Hot Topic and pierce things.
John Carpenter created my generations
version of the bogeyman this generation has the Rob Zombie version and
they seem to like it.
I'm not going to go into a blow by
blow of the film at this point. Jonathon Stryker has posted a
wonderful review that breaks thing down for you in an amazing fashion,
you can view that by clicking here.
I can't bitch about this film to much
as when you look at it as just a horror film and not a remake of a
classic the fact of the matter is that it's a well directed, adequately
acted, highly stylized slasher film that delivers on the gore. Pretty
much what horror fans have been asking for. A lot of critics and fans
just can't get away from the fact that Zombie would have the balls to
touch HALLOWEEN and to them I say, get over it. View the film for what
it is and not what you think it is. If you look at it in the right
light you'll see a completely different film.
So, don't let all these so called
critics scare you away form this one. Go and judge for yourself, you
might be pleasantly surprised at what you get.
I'm just wondering if we could talk them into releasing it as a silent
film and let each theater hire somebody to sit at a piano and play the
trademark theme the whole running time of the film while we all gaze at
the pretty pictures that Rob Zombie has made and try to ignore that
fact that the actors mouths keep moving.
Final word on this one:
Directing: Strong and effective
Acting: Solid
Gore Factor: Over the top
Writing: Please, give me a break. The only writing that took place on this project was when the Weinsteins signed the checks.
Overall Rating: 3 out of 5.
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