Even a new knife can go blunt rather quickly
and unfortunately Rob Zombie’s remake/prequel/reimaging of the
classic Halloween
is sharp for only about an hour before it starts to ware.
That doesn't mean such in instrument can't still do the trick though...
And this one still 'cuts it'.
None of us wanted it - not when the original holds up so darn well –
but thankfully rocker turned filmmaker Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects)
didn’t just ‘Van Sant’ John Carpenter’s classic slasher film - he
extended it, deepened it, shook it up. For the first hour anyway.
You
see, Part One of the film is a prequel (the back-story we were never
shown in the original, or any of the umpteen sequels, strangely enough)
of movie icon Myer’s pre-asylum years.
We watch as the blonde
haired-moppet goes from slaughtering rats in his bedroom to ultimately
taking out the whole family – sans baby Laurie and his mother (Sheri
Moon Zombie) and earning himself a spot in the local mental hospital,
under the watchful eye of local psychologist, Dr Samuel Loomis (Malcolm
McDowell).
The second half of the film – which kicks in once the
now grown-up Myers escapes the slammer - is the original film
revisited/redone/reworked.
That's when things become a little tired.
If
only Zombie had kept his film in the past he literally would've been
giving us something we hadn’t seen before. Or maybe the first part of
the film is just so stylish, intriguing and well performed that
anything else was going to see proceedings dip?
Whatever the case the
second half doesn’t grab as much as the first. Its almost as if it were
forced onto the filmmaker by the studio – keen to include at
least an hour of what we know as Halloween – because
it seems very much tacked-on and redundant.
Having said that, this Halloween
semi-redo could’ve been much, much worse and for the most part, it’s a
success.
It is well performed with Zombie’s casting choices inspired.
McDowell makes a good Loomis; Scout Taylor-Compton makes for
a nice little plucky heroine; and Daeg Faerch is terrific as young
Michael; plus its great to see genre veterans like Brad Dourif, Danny
Trejo, Danielle Harris and Dee Wallace used effectively in supporting
roles) and aside from the bits that seem “all too familiar”, mostly
engaging. Its quite simply a remake that’s a cut above the rest. Just a
pity it got lazy in the third act.
Here’s hoping they’re not even considering remaking A Nightmare on Elm Street
though, hey?
3 out
of 5
Halloween Australian release: 22nd November,
2007
Cast:
Malcolm McDowell, Scout-Taylor Compton, Sheri Moon Zombie, Tyler Mane,
Daeg Faerch, Danielle Harris, Dee Wallace, Brad Dourif, Danny Trejo Director: Rob Zombie
Website:Click
here.
