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Halloween (2007)

Time Out rating

Average user rating

20 reviews

Synopsis

Michael Myers is at it again—not in a sequel but in a remake of John Carpenter's 1978 original. Rob Zombie, a cut above the hacks who did Halloweens II through VIII, is directing.

Movie review

From Time Out London

After seven sequels, John Carpenter’s seminal 1978 slasher flick gets a straight-ish remake courtesy of Rob Zombie. Rather than the knowing, high-gloss mode favoured by some revamps of vintage titles, Zombie takes things seriously, with nasty results. The brief prologue of Carpenter’s original – in which the juvenile Michael Myers slaughters his family – is expanded to a half-hour anatomy of budding psychopathy, set around the time of the original and presented with surprising realism. The story proper, in which Myers (Tyler Mane) escapes and returns home to slaughter a bunch of kids on Halloween, is played similarly straight. Numerous elements from Carpenter’s film are resurrected – the mask, score, suburban locale, certain shots and slayings – but that film’s suspense and playfulness give way to relentless dread and unusually credible, black-blooded brutality. It’s inanely-scripted exploitation, sure, but this ‘Halloween’ doesn’t trivialise; it even returns with sympathy to one victim minutes after the attack that has left her bleeding on the floor.

Author: Ben Walters

Time Out London Issue 1936: September 26-October 2 2007

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User reviews of this film

Lil Bill said...

Posted on May 06 2011 06:21 The only good thing about this movie was boobies. But then again, why waste $5 on that while you can go on cinemax and see it. I think Rob Zombie would do better directing in the porn industry. And that's not a compliment. This movie doesn't even deserve one star.

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GravesendJoe said...

Posted on May 05 2010 16:59 Malcolm MacDowell needed a lion's set of choppers to chew through some of the half-assed dialogue he's lumbered with here. At one point, reproaching a pair of hapless asylum suits he believes are culpable for killer Myers' earlier escape, MacDowell's Loomis stops at the door and, rather hilariously, warns them: "He is mad who trusts in the tameness of the wolf." Here as elsewhere the script bungles cringingly where the original Halloween offered an air of eloquent fatalism.
Comparisons are inevitable. Unlike John Carpenter and Debra Hill, Zombie and co seem uncertain as to what they want to achieve. Why does it make sense to encourage us the audience into an empathetic relationship with Myers? Where Carpenter's late 70s effort neatly avoided any attempts at explaining Myers' psychology, much of the emphasis here is on his suffering (abused at home/bullied at school) as well as there being ample time dedicated to his early incarceration. Added to which, the familial arrangement lacks credibility. Would his sweet-natured and apparently loyal mother (Ms Zombie, Sherry Moon) endure or make her children endure with such a terribly abusive spouse?
The vacuity of much of the characterisation means also that most of the main players don't even register. And then there's Zombie's approach to directing, which favours that ugly, Michael Bay-style imagery, thrown together with fever-pitch freneticism, accompanied by maximum audio. But that's Bay for you.
The chimes of American horror cinema's death knell grow louder with each crime perpetrated by his brand of aesthetic thuggery...

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Grant said...

Posted on Mar 23 2010 11:15 The 1978 original and this 2007 version are polar opposites but share (more-or-less) the same plot, characters and locale. I must stress that I have no problem with remakes, they are a perfectly valid form of cinema. That's not to say that many of them are particularly good but if it weren't for Universal we wouldn't have had Hammer and so on. The main problem with Zombie's effort is that it just isn't scary, it's savage and bloody and filmed in a hand-held and raggedy style. I'm quite a wuss when it comes to Horror but I didn't feel the need to look through the cracks of my fingers at all. The director creates a back-story for ol' Mikey but are we therefore meant to sympathise with the character? The 3 girls (Laurie et al) are annoying and tedious in the extreme as they squeak, shreik and cuss their way through the film. Carpenter famously made a film devoid of gore but still managed to make people jump, give me Carpenter over this perfunctory retelling any day of the week. Not terrible but not very good either: strictly for Zombies only.

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neil said...

Posted on Sep 21 2008 09:10 I like rob zombie. he reminds me of the bloke that directed dog soldiers, the descent and doomsday (is it ian marshall or summat?}, not in style, though they do share the same genre, but in the way they throw themselves into the film with a juvinille abandon that is at once inspired in imagery and concept whilst often betraying a certaion 'brash' inexperience - loosing focus, scenes becomming muddled (in the memory), type thing. Whilst I doubt that Zombie is the natural genius of 'fuck-you-filmmaking' that Quentin Tarantino is for examp[le, i have no doubt as to the extent of his talent and vision and eagerly await each of his productions as they're released. At this rate, his next (4th?) film should be very good, and the film after that should be approaching brilliant. So whoever it is that believes in them (Zombie and Marshall et al) and keeps giving them money to make more films, please continue to do so. They're good, refreshing and most everything else is...well, shit. Wouldn't you agree?

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Lee said...

Posted on Jan 31 2008 22:23 Truly one of the worst films I've even seen. Some of the worst dialogue I've ever heard and completely lacking in suspense and scares. In fact, the movie is boring from start to finish.

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Hugh Stevens said...

Posted on Oct 31 2007 19:17 So scary i LITERALLY SHAT MY PANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Which only turned Dollimore on; don't talk to me about pure evil!

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megan said...

Posted on Oct 28 2007 14:57 its was ok ur typical horror film really!!!

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lauren said...

Posted on Oct 18 2007 21:47 kinda good but the original 1 is better dan dis i cud tel u its absoloutley rubbish way over the top

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fiona jackson-gray said...

Posted on Oct 14 2007 15:36 My sister is in Halloween Night which is the shitter version of this! how cool is that!?

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matt said...

Posted on Oct 10 2007 20:12 Decent enough remake with Rob Zombie's on spin on it but don't expect anything new from this slasher horror

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Alex n jess.... said...

Posted on Oct 07 2007 20:55 i hope its not as rubbish as u all sya were goin 2 c it on tues :-) xxxxx

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Iain SMith said...

Posted on Oct 05 2007 19:50 Very good reake and mch better tham the original

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lisa said...

Posted on Oct 05 2007 16:53 completly over the top, i had 2 walk out of the cinema, you have to be ick in the head to watch something like this. good horro bt no stoy to it at all

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Susan said...

Posted on Oct 05 2007 12:12 Worst film ever!!! Totally gruesome and over the top-no build up of suspense either. Get it out of the cinemas quick before anyone else wastes their money

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kirsty said...

Posted on Oct 02 2007 13:39 Completely rubbish ! acting is terrible and i didnt flinch once

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