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From Amazon.co.uk
More of a supercharged revamp than a remake, Rob Zombie's take on John Carpenter's Halloween expands the back story of masked killer Michael Myers in an attempt to examine the motivation for his first deadly attack, as well as some reasons for his longevity as a horror icon. Zombie's Myers is a blank-eyed teen (played by Daeg Faerch) whose burgeoning mental problems are left unchecked in a horrific home environment; harassed by schoolmates, a randy sister, and his mother's deadbeat boyfriend (William Forsythe, terrific as usual), Myers' homicidal explosion seems inevitable, and intervention by Dr. Sam Loomis (Malcolm McDowell, who offers a fast-talking, hippiefied version of the Donald Pleasance character) does little to impede his development into a mute, unstoppable killing machine (Tyler Mane) bent on finishing off the only survivor of his family's massacre--his sister, now grown into teenaged Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton). Opening up the psychological motivation of a cipher like Michael Myers is an interesting approach, but Zombie's script possesses neither a depth of character nor dialogue to offer more than a clichéd thumbnail character sketch. Zombie's Halloween isn't terribly suspenseful, either; he has a keen eye for visuals and the details of chaotic environments, but his scares are nothing more than brutal showcases for his special effects team. The end result barely surpasses the original film's numerous sequels, though the Who's Who of cult and character actors in the cast (including Zombie regulars Sid Haig, Bill Moseley and Ken Foree, as well as Brad Dourif, Udo Kier, Clint Howard, Richard Lynch, Danny Trejo, Dee Wallace, and Danielle Harris) adds a touch of late-night monster movie charm. However, the film's best performance belongs to the director's spouse, Sheri Moon Zombie, who brings unexpected pathos to the role of Myers' downtrodden mother.-- Paul Gaita
Product Description
Rob Zombie's brutal homage to John Carpenter's slasher classic. After committing a series of gruesome murders in his home town of Haddenfield, ten-year-old Michael Myers (Daeg Farch) is sent to the Smith's Grove Sanitarium where he is treated by child behaviourist Dr. Samuel Loomis (Malcolm McDowell), the only person who truly understands Michael's evil nature. 17 years later, Michael (now played by Tyler Mane) escapes from the asylum on Halloween night and returns to Haddonfield where he goes on another killing spree, as he attempts to resolve events in his troubled past.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By Andyno_9
Format:DVD
for any fans of the original halloween, watching this is going to be a shock to the system. it can be interpreted two ways: if you liked the original because of the haunting atmosphere, the emphasis on 'less is more' in the gore stakes, the fantastic camera angles, the way myers melts from foreground to background to claim another victim, and most importantly the ambiguous motivation for his actions then you're probably not going to like this film. if you are after a decently filmed, another messed up young man goes nuts scenario with excessive violence then you'll like this film. im in the former category. what rob zombie has done is to take myers from being a malevolent force in the background to being the main character, and to do this he has created a back story for the young michael that his dad is dead, his mother is a stripper and his step dad is abusive, his sister is loose, he gets bullied at school etc. for me this basically ruins myters mystique which is why he's so frightening, and it also makes us care less about the characters he's maiming. make up your own mind.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Ernie
Format:DVD
I have to admit to being sceptical about Rob Zombie remaking John Carpenter's 1978 original film, but of the recent crop of horror remakes 'Halloween' is easily the best of the bunch and not only that Zombie has created a remake which arguably is even better than the original.
Zombie has taken the bare storyline of the original film and expanded what was a basic suspenseful slasher movie into a far more rounded story which is essentially split into three parts. The first part shows a young Michael Myers growing up in an abusive and dysfunctional family where the only love he gets is from his hard working and busy mother. Singled out, taunted and bullied at school Myers cracks and kills a fellow pupil, then returns home and kills part of his family. Sent to secure institution, the second part of the film charts Myers emotional withdrawal and the efforts of Dr. Samuel Loomis to create some form of connection and halt Myers decent into insanity. The third part of the film follows Myers escape and return to his hometown of Haddonfield to track down his baby sister which ultimately results in a massacre.
The clever part of the original 'Halloween' was the start of the film and moment the killers clown mask was removed to reveal it was a child, in the remake Zombie spends the first portion of the film showing Myers as a child, and the clever part is that he never shows face of the adult Myers, so when the adult Myers is on his killing spree all you visualise behind the mask is a blonde haired, androgynous looking and emotionally vulnerable child, which makes the killing seem even more powerful.... Read more ›
Zombie has taken the bare storyline of the original film and expanded what was a basic suspenseful slasher movie into a far more rounded story which is essentially split into three parts. The first part shows a young Michael Myers growing up in an abusive and dysfunctional family where the only love he gets is from his hard working and busy mother. Singled out, taunted and bullied at school Myers cracks and kills a fellow pupil, then returns home and kills part of his family. Sent to secure institution, the second part of the film charts Myers emotional withdrawal and the efforts of Dr. Samuel Loomis to create some form of connection and halt Myers decent into insanity. The third part of the film follows Myers escape and return to his hometown of Haddonfield to track down his baby sister which ultimately results in a massacre.
The clever part of the original 'Halloween' was the start of the film and moment the killers clown mask was removed to reveal it was a child, in the remake Zombie spends the first portion of the film showing Myers as a child, and the clever part is that he never shows face of the adult Myers, so when the adult Myers is on his killing spree all you visualise behind the mask is a blonde haired, androgynous looking and emotionally vulnerable child, which makes the killing seem even more powerful.... Read more ›
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Matt Kenway
Format:DVD
I actually thought this film was (maybe) half-decent and wrote a reasonably complimentary review...that is, until I watched the original 1978 Halloween again the other night!
I cannot think of any remake that misses the point so completely as Rob Zombie does here. The power of the original Halloween film lies in several factors:
1) The sheer blankness of the killer, about whom we literally know almost nothing from the start of the film to it's end. His motives, his inner life, his personality, remain ominously hidden.
2) The dread that builds up from hinting at horrors to come, which is helped on by us barely glimpsing the killer until he begins his rampage towards the end of the film.
3) Most importantly - John Carpenter's masterfully eerie direction, which lends a deeply unsettling air even to a shot of an empty surburban street.
So what does Rob Zombie do? He completely strips away all the mystery and dread right from the very first scene, by tirelessly trying to fill in the blanks in Michael Myers' life! We don't want them filled in, for heaven's sake, that's the whole point!
It pains me to say this (because this was obviously a labour of love) but RZ really couldn't have missed the point any more if he'd tried.
Having said all that, this film is still better than any of the sequels (with the possible exception of Halloween H2O). It's certainly better than a lot of slasher films on the market, although at over 2 hours it is far too long to be truly effective even on that score.
Expect nothing and you won't be too disappointed! Probably...
I cannot think of any remake that misses the point so completely as Rob Zombie does here. The power of the original Halloween film lies in several factors:
1) The sheer blankness of the killer, about whom we literally know almost nothing from the start of the film to it's end. His motives, his inner life, his personality, remain ominously hidden.
2) The dread that builds up from hinting at horrors to come, which is helped on by us barely glimpsing the killer until he begins his rampage towards the end of the film.
3) Most importantly - John Carpenter's masterfully eerie direction, which lends a deeply unsettling air even to a shot of an empty surburban street.
So what does Rob Zombie do? He completely strips away all the mystery and dread right from the very first scene, by tirelessly trying to fill in the blanks in Michael Myers' life! We don't want them filled in, for heaven's sake, that's the whole point!
It pains me to say this (because this was obviously a labour of love) but RZ really couldn't have missed the point any more if he'd tried.
Having said all that, this film is still better than any of the sequels (with the possible exception of Halloween H2O). It's certainly better than a lot of slasher films on the market, although at over 2 hours it is far too long to be truly effective even on that score.
Expect nothing and you won't be too disappointed! Probably...
By StormSworder
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This era of horror films will surely go down in history as an age of film-makers relying on re-treads of tried and trusted movies. That said, this has its moments. The last half an hour or so, when Myers really lets rip, is especially dark and gripping. It's also an interesting concept to see deeper into Myers' past as a bullied child and as a patient of Dr Loomis.
The main problem is the complete misunderstanding of what made Myers scary in the original version of Halloween. In the seventies movie there was a perfectly ordinary child in a perfectly respectable family who for unknown reasons stabs his sister to death and then, years later, returns to his old neighbourhood to create havoc. What made it unnerving was that it could be your neighbourhood and the people living in it were the kinds of people who could be your neighbours. In the new version, however, Myers is a victim of circumstances who to be honest is by far the most likeable character in a cast of brutes, rapists, irritating teenagers and other repugnant individuals. We shouldn't be feeling for the killer. We should be scared for the safety of the unsuspecting townsfolk. Also, the new Dr Loomis isn't a patch on the original. Compared to Donald Pleasance's brooding obsessive, the new version is just a bloke with a mad professor haircut.
As I said, the last half an hour is good slasher film material (albeit in the style of Halloween sequals and Friday the 13th rather than the original 70s film). But a lot of people might have switched off after the first half an hour of repetative f-words and the unwatchably obnoxious Myers family.
The main problem is the complete misunderstanding of what made Myers scary in the original version of Halloween. In the seventies movie there was a perfectly ordinary child in a perfectly respectable family who for unknown reasons stabs his sister to death and then, years later, returns to his old neighbourhood to create havoc. What made it unnerving was that it could be your neighbourhood and the people living in it were the kinds of people who could be your neighbours. In the new version, however, Myers is a victim of circumstances who to be honest is by far the most likeable character in a cast of brutes, rapists, irritating teenagers and other repugnant individuals. We shouldn't be feeling for the killer. We should be scared for the safety of the unsuspecting townsfolk. Also, the new Dr Loomis isn't a patch on the original. Compared to Donald Pleasance's brooding obsessive, the new version is just a bloke with a mad professor haircut.
As I said, the last half an hour is good slasher film material (albeit in the style of Halloween sequals and Friday the 13th rather than the original 70s film). But a lot of people might have switched off after the first half an hour of repetative f-words and the unwatchably obnoxious Myers family.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gooood Buyyyyy
Great Buy and the disc was like new and it was a good price I paid for it to to
Published 1 month ago by Jack Crichton
4.0 out of 5 stars
rob zombie does not disapoint
very good film in excellent condition, dispatched quickly, enjoyed watching it. would recommend to a friend. halloween 2 is pretty awesome too.
Published 3 months ago by a.c. franklin
5.0 out of 5 stars
A worthy re-imagining
Rob Zombie has taken a classic franchise and breathed fresh air into it's stale, cold corpse. This films gives the viewers a look into young Michael Myers' life and the harsh... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Darren
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing!!!!!!
What a great remake of the classic halloween im a massive fan of the franchise and rob zombie has done a great job on this fair play to him but JC's original will always be the... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Gareth Evans
5.0 out of 5 stars
halloween;uncut /directors cut edition /dvd
this its one of the best horror movies i have.the movie its excellent,my huband and me both like this movie,have goods actors and goods special effects we really enjoy its a great... Read more
Published 5 months ago by maria
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome beyond measure !!
Yay , when I first got this , and put it on , I hated it with the kitchen scene in the Myers house of dysfunction ! Read more
Published 8 months ago by davidinator
3.0 out of 5 stars
He's back!
I must admit on first viewing this I was somewhat dissapointed for three reasons, for me the main reason was the overlong beginning leading to why Michael became the way he ended... Read more
Published 9 months ago by wayne
2.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best remakes!!
The picture shows that it's a 2 disc edition, but I received a single disc edition. No special features. That's why I'm dissapointed! Read more
Published 9 months ago by Elizabeth Ward
5.0 out of 5 stars
"..BRUTAL AND BRILLIANT.."
Rob zombie is a master of horror, he proves himself again with a powerfull remake of halloween. gritty, intense, and nasty in every way, michael myers is a stone cold murderer!!! Read more
Published 14 months ago by S. Drury
5.0 out of 5 stars
halloween
this is a great remake of a classic film by rob zombie . i was very surprised how good it was for a remake the 2nd 1 to this is not good tho so i just recommend this 1 . Read more
Published 16 months ago by m
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