After I watched Rob Zombie’s vision of
Halloween I have some advice for him from one of his biggest fans (me in case you didn't guess). . .
. . . Stick to what you are obviously so good at – making movies about white trash serial killers. Zombie can really flesh out a menacingly believable trailer park type psychopath. (Who could argue that the Firefly family is one of the most sick and twisted murderous clans around?) What doesn’t work for me in this film is then trying to jump to the tune of the legendary Halloween films after creating this character that you almost feel sorry for. Don’t get me wrong – I loved the character of young Michael Myers (Daeg Faerch) but to me this didn’t belong in the film. It takes too much away from the mysterious boogeyman appeal that Halloween films have always portrayed in my mind.
The choppiness of the story really bothered me too. So many little things just thrown in for the sake of explanation –for example how they show why Michael supposedly wears the famous white mask. It seems to me after watching the initial part of the film he would be more apt to go around killing in a child’s clown Halloween mask. And it really makes no sense to me how he got the mask back later in the film. I won’t give away how just in case some of you haven’t seen it.
Also I felt Halloween kind of wobbled back and forth between the ideas that Michael was some sort of supernaturally evil force or that he was just a sad abused little boy gone horribly wrong. It felt like whatever suited the scene was how they directed the character. It was missing a lot in the way of cohesiveness in my opinion.
Malcolm McDowell did not work for me in the role of the Michael Myers obsessed Dr. Loomis character. Bringing up my next “this made no sense to me” point of the film – if Loomis was so obsessed with Michael and thought him so dangerous why would he leave him as his doctor – as I remember from the original Loomis was actually forced to stop treating Michael. Beyond that just looks wise and the way the character was written all around didn’t really work for me.
Another thing that bothered me in the film was the fact that they had all these great actors who I felt were just under utilized. Brad Dourif (of Deadwood fame), William Forsythe (he was awesome in the little bit he played of the abusive step-dad type), Udo Kier (who doesn’t love Udo in a horror film?), Bill Moseley, Danny Trejo, Sid Haig, Ken Foree, Dee Wallace – just to name a few that I would have loved to see more of. It made me sad that they were just wasted.
One touch I enjoyed was that Sheriff Brackett’s (Brad Dourif) daughter, Annie (Danielle Harris) was actually the same actress who played the Jamie character from Halloween 4 and 5. That made me smile a little on the inside. Just too bad the rest of the film didn’t leave me with such a warm and fuzzy feeling.
Sheri Moon Zombie was another highlight of Halloween for me. I really enjoyed her portrayal of a white trash stripper Mom who deep down really did love her kids.
At the end of the day my recommendation is that I would skip this in the theatres, wait till it comes out on DVD and even then it wouldn’t be one of my first choices. Matter of fact I am not sure that I could sit through it again myself. I find myself wondering though if there isn't a lot of footage lying on the cutting room floor that might have made this a better film. Of course, it still shouldn’t be Halloween in my opinion but like I said earlier maybe it could have been some other white trash type psycho killing machine movie . . .
Halloween (2007) Movie Cast and Credits
Directed by
Rob Zombie
Writing credits
Rob Zombie (2007 screenplay)
John Carpenter (1978 screenplay)
Debra Hill (1978 screenplay)
Cast (in credits order)
Malcolm McDowell ... Dr. Samuel Loomis
Brad Dourif ... Sheriff Lee Brackett
Tyler Mane ... Michael Myers
Daeg Faerch ... Michael Myers, age 10
Sheri Moon ... Deborah Myers (as Sheri Moon Zombie)
William Forsythe ... Ronnie White
Richard Lynch ... Principal Chambers
Udo Kier ... Morgan Walker
Clint Howard ... Doctor Koplenson
Danny Trejo ... Ismael Cruz
Lew Temple ... Noel Kluggs
Tom Towles ... Larry Redgrave
Bill Moseley ... Zach 'Z-Man' Garrett
Leslie Easterbrook ... Patty Frost
Steve Boyles ... Stan Payne
Scout Taylor-Compton ... Laurie Strode
Danielle Harris ... Annie Brackett
Skyler Gisondo ... Tommy Doyal
Jenny Gregg Stewart ... Lindsey Wallace
Hanna Hall ... Judith Myers
Kristina Klebe ... Lynda
Adam Weisman ... Steve
Sydnie Pitzer ... Baby Boo
Myla Pitzer ... Baby Boo
Stella Altman ... Baby Boo
Dee Wallace ... Cynthia Strode
Daniel Roebuck ... Lou Martini
Max Van Ville ... Paul
Nick Mennell ... Bob Simms
Pat Skipper ... Mason Strode
Daryl Sabara ... Wesley Rhoades
Richmond Arquette ... Deputy Charles
Ken Foree ... Big Joe Grizzley
Paul Kampf ... Officer Lowery
Nikki Taylor Melton ... Princess #1
Deven Streeton ... Princess #2
Sybil Danning ... Nurse Wynn
Micky Dolenz ... Derek Allen
Mel Fair ... Taylor Madison
Sid Haig ... Chester Chesterfield
Adrienne Barbeau ... Barbara Florentine
Ezra Buzzington ... Grant Clark
John DeMita ... Voice Performer (voice)
Courtney Gains ... Kendall Jacks
Barbara Iley ... Voice Performer (voice)
Daamen J. Krall ... Voice Performer (voice)
Jeremy Maxwell ... Voice Performer (voice)
David Michie ... Voice Performer (voice)
Paige Pollack ... Voice Performer (voice)
David Randolph ... Voice Performer (voice)
Noreen Reardon ... Voice Performer (voice)
Nancy Truman ... Voice Performer (voice)
Andreana Weiner ... Voice Performer (voice)
More Halloween (2007) Movie Reviews
Movie Review of Halloween (2007) at FilmsyHalloween (2007) Movie Review and Information Page at The Internet Movie Database
