There are Pros and Cons to consider with a remake as ambitious as Zombie's undertaking of John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN; you have really only two characters to portray in depth, while the "teens" in this Teen Slasher are still only an entrée. With his portrayal of the "original mad slasher," Michael Myers and his lifelong mentor/analyst/father figure, Doctor Loomis, this director has gone above and beyond the call of duty. However, the suspense and terror that were present in Carpenter's original are unsatisfyingly missing--but perhaps that's meant to be, as they could clearly only be copied, and never matched by another film maker.
What we have, though, in young Rob Zombie's approach and final production, is so very much more--we get THE WHOLE MICHAEL MYERS STORY, and to a great extent, for the very first time. There are early scenes in which the Myers family is shown bare-bones, flaws-and-abuse-and-a-stripper-for-a-Mom-and-all, and they are difficult to watch; but of course, we never thought Mike came from a typical home, did we? And the great Ronny McDowell does a great turn as Doctor Sam Loomis. Two elements that were always missing from Donald Pleasance's now-legendary performance are back-story and lack of understanding, but McDowell shows a true confusion and personal realization of what Evil (with a capital E) might really mean...a bravura performance, and probably the best of the film.
There are very passable portrayals from the rest of the cast, and the female actresses have very nice bodies for baring (this is VERY important for a big-budget Horror film, any fan can tell ya), and Zombie does the duty of bringing many good characters and actors to his version of this hard little tale.
Overall, you've got to hand it to this boy: the "new" HALLOWEEN is a very, very good Horror film, hands down. And though he loses some of the real scares, there are images and ideas in this new picture that will remain with the viewer for a while. One only wishes that those first really frightening images and ideas from long-ago 1977 could still be newly-realized, again.
What we have, though, in young Rob Zombie's approach and final production, is so very much more--we get THE WHOLE MICHAEL MYERS STORY, and to a great extent, for the very first time. There are early scenes in which the Myers family is shown bare-bones, flaws-and-abuse-and-a-stripper-for-a-Mom-and-all, and they are difficult to watch; but of course, we never thought Mike came from a typical home, did we? And the great Ronny McDowell does a great turn as Doctor Sam Loomis. Two elements that were always missing from Donald Pleasance's now-legendary performance are back-story and lack of understanding, but McDowell shows a true confusion and personal realization of what Evil (with a capital E) might really mean...a bravura performance, and probably the best of the film.
There are very passable portrayals from the rest of the cast, and the female actresses have very nice bodies for baring (this is VERY important for a big-budget Horror film, any fan can tell ya), and Zombie does the duty of bringing many good characters and actors to his version of this hard little tale.
Overall, you've got to hand it to this boy: the "new" HALLOWEEN is a very, very good Horror film, hands down. And though he loses some of the real scares, there are images and ideas in this new picture that will remain with the viewer for a while. One only wishes that those first really frightening images and ideas from long-ago 1977 could still be newly-realized, again.