Halloween - Unrated Director's Cut (Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition)

When you're doing a remake of a movie that was done right the first time, you have to differentiate it, take the same premise and go down some different paths than the first one took. The 2007 Halloween remake does this, and it helps make it one of the best horror remakes ever done.

The most obvious deviation from the original line of films is that Michael Myers now has an origin. A large part of what made the original work was the very lack of a reason behind the character's malevolence: Michael was a perfectly normal little kid who, for no discernible reason, picks up a kitchen knife one October 31 and butchers his sister, beginning a years-long cycle as a mute, endlessly killing, boogeyman. This time there's nothing normal about Michael to begin with. He was born with psychotic tendencies and then grew up in an envirornment of abuse and torment; either of these factors - the nature or the nurture - could have resulted in a murderer, but coming together they create what Sam Loomis (played by Malcolm McDowell in the role Donald Pleasance originally made famous) calls a 'perfect storm', that creates the monsterous killing machine Myers becomes. It was a big risk to change the core of the character from an eerily blank slate to the more human monster we have in this version, but it worked great, and Myers (played by Tyler Mane as an adult and Daeg Faerch as a ten year-old) is menacing enough to leave just that little glimmer that Maybe there's even more at play behind that white mask than the aforementioned factors.

The other big change is the time frame. The 1978 original opens with Myers as a child but that takes up only a few minutes - 95% of the movie occurs on the Halloween day and night fifteen years later when Michael returns to his hometown of Haddonfield. Here, the movie starts some time before the night Michael becomes a killer and continues through the years that follow, including his incarceration at a mental hospital and his eventual, devastating escape and return to Haddonfield. We see the evolution of the monster in full, and by the time he's back home on Halloween night Myers is a tremendous, truly frightening force.

Everything from the acting to the direction and the special effects, musical score, etc. is extremely high caliber and in addition to being scary and, at times, surprisingly moving, it's also one of the sexiest horror movies in ages thanks to a cast of great looking actresses including Danielle Harris, Scout Taylor-Compton, Kristina Klebe, Hanna Hall and Sheri Moon Zombie. Also of interest on the acting front are appearances by Bill Mosely and Danny Trejo (both from director Rob Zombie's Firefly films - "The House Of 1,000 Corpses" and "The Devil's Rejects") and Brad Dourif (the voice of Chucky from the "Child's Play" movies).

The 2007 Halloween doesn't take the place of the original series, nor does it set out to; it extablishes itself as a great, Different take on the original concept and characters, and manages to match anything from the original series. A horror essential.

Ok I was not around when the original Halloween was released but watched it many many times over the course of my child hood and love it to this day. When Rob Zombie said he was remaking it I flipped becuase I am a huge fan of his since White Zombie and loved all his other movies. This movie not only did John Carpenters justice I think Zombie actually out did it. I try to see as many of the horror remakes I can because I am a big fan of Horror classics and the genre in general. Most of the remakes have been lame or over gorified. This one is by far the best remake I have ever seen and still managed to creep me out when I saw it in theaters. There are only a few remakes I would consider good but this one was Amazing. For any fan of horror movies in general this is a must have.

ok i thought it would be pretty exciting to see where he'd take it & was excited that i heard we would see scenes from inside the mental hospital he pretty much grew up in. I must say i was greatly disappointed & lost almost all hope for an awesome movie when i heard tons of people from his other films inclueding his wife were in this film to i thought oh it's the same damn thing he's goin to ruin it. but i ended up goin on opening night out of being curious & loved it, his wife did a pretty good job to if you ask me. showed more acting skills than she did in the other 2 films i must say. although i still love the first i don't think you should compar them but more as look as them as a different veiw & i love rob's veiw of this film as well as the original

I have to say, I'm pretty forgiving when it comes to films, especially horror films. I cannot say that I've ever sat through a film that literally made my head want to explode from severe pain. This is until I sat through Rob Zombie's Halloween.

I swear, I wanted to shut it off after the first ten minutes. What made me watch it all the way through.. I don't know. Chalk it up to too much curiosity, I guess. It was mind numbing! The dialog.. The acting.. The story.. I was shaking my head in disbelief. I couldn't believe how bad this movie was. Like some surreal nightmare. The worst pile of garbage ever to hit celluloid.

And this is coming from a big fan of Rob Zombie. I practically considered him my creative idol for a while. Man, what the hell was I thinking?! Mr. Zombie claimed he wanted to bring back Michael Myers to true form and make him terrifying again. He did the EXACT opposite. He made Michael into a JOKE! A walking, talking cliche. Laughable. Not scary or even remotely terrifying. Just one big joke!

And this all for a three picture deal. That was Zombie's only reason for remaking Halloween. To further his film making career, which should be laid to rest. I've lost so much respect for Rob, it's not even funny. As far as I'm concerned, he spit in John Carpenter's face with this failed attempt of a remake.

Bottom line.. You have to be completely brain dead to enjoy this movie. I'm sorry for be insulting but I can't for the life of me imagine how anyone could've possibly enjoyed this movie. It is utter trash. From beginning to end if you can make it that far without your brain completely shutting down.

Worst film ever made. PERIOD! Negative 5 stars.

-Joe

If Rob could have made the beginning (the white trash segment) have a darker feel (or less of a white trash feel) like the rest of the movie...I would give it 5 stars. I did love the violence and the blood though!