Release Date: August 31, 2007 Studio: Dimension Films MPAA Rating: R Genre: Horror •
Thriller Director: Rob Zombie Writers: Rob Zombie, John Carpenter, Debra Hill Cast: Tyler Mane, Daeg Faerch, Sheri Moon Zombie, Scout Taylor-Compton, Malcolm McDowell Synopsis: After being committed for 17 years, Michael Myers, now a grown man and still very dangerous, is mistakenly released from the mental institution (where he was committed as a 10 year old) and he immediately returns to Haddonfield, where he wants to find his baby sister, Laurie. Anyone who crosses his path is in mortal danger.
*It should be noted that "mistakenly released" ain't how I'd describe it* The Review: You're Critic for the Evening: Michael Dayspring
So let me get this straight...Malcom McDowell killed Kirk in Star Trek Generations and now he's trying to kill a guy wearing a Shatner mask....Sigmund Freud's gonna have a field day with this one.
So it's August 31st....and it's time for a Halloween movie? Is someone over at The Weinstein Company just throwing darts at a board to pick these release dates? I mean sure Grindhouse was the perfect Easter Holiday flick and all but I'm seriously starting to think the Weinstein's have a mole (look for Fred Savage) from some other studio trying to trash them from the inside..Probably the same butt plug that leaked (enjoy that mental picture) the work print. I love what those Weinstein boys have done to turn Hollywood on its ear the last couple of decades and I really hate seeing this sort of thing happen to them especially when they have strong movies to work with...*sigh* ok rant over lets get back to the business at hand here.
Like many others I really didn't see the need for a remake of Halloween. With such a classic and many a sequel (good and bad) it just felt like "If it ain't broke don't fix it" or "If it ain't already too broken to fix leave it be" HA HA tricks on us then because Rob pulled out some solid work on this one and not only made an ass kicking remake he built a serial killer from the ground up!
Instead of an evil machine like slasher Zombie has given him a soul, sure it's a twisted black abyss of a soul but a soul nonetheless. Pretty sneaky way to go about it for a horror film as well; we get a solid build up of little Mikey Myers turning from troubled and twist kid to his becoming the unstoppable ghost faced killer (not from the WU TANG) we've all come to fear. He might be insane and truly evil but part of him is looking for a connection, for protection from what is gnawing away at him.
When he begins his childhood rampage it's for the protection of this mother and his baby sister from the evils that surround them; namely a grotesque step father (William Forsythe) and his whoring sister (Hanna Hall) and her fugly boyfriend.
Nearly two decades and 40,000 hours on the couch later Mikey busts out of the crazy house in search of tiny bite size candies, Shatners face, his old friend Mr. Stabby, and his long lost little sister. The carnage that ensues gets us back into more familiar Halloween territory and lets Tyler Mane bring the noise as the most brutal killing machine to hit the big screen in a long time. I'll be honest I didn't think Tyler had the skillz to pay the billz on this one, he just didn't seem like a good fit for Michael outside of just being large but I gotta say he pulls it off and manages to add a very kid like nature to Michael which is what the role needed to tie into the first half of the film.
I could go on and on about the players in this flick, loads of regular Zombie clan regulars pop in to say "howdy" and it's all well and good but the real ass kickin star of this has to be Scout Taylor-Compton; If the role of Michael wasn't tough enough for Rob to fill: Laurie Strode was the tough female role on the block before Ripley (Alien) came to town. Scout pulls out a very real performance in a film that really hinged on her being able to do just that.
It seems Rob is getting comfy in that directors chair and with each film he's really managed to build up his skills and keep his Zombie style along the way. Considering the Weinstein/Dimension signed him on for two more flicks I think we can expect even more interesting things from Rob in the years to come. I think my only real gripe with Halloween is the very sudden and abrupt ending.
Overall: Halloween might have come way too early but at least you'll enjoy the ride. Rating:
