The newest reincarnation of the classic horror flick “Halloween” is the brainchild of writer, director and producer Rob Zombie.
If you’re familiar with Zombie’s other works, even just in passing, you’ll know that his signature is gore, and lots of it. This reworking of “Halloween” certainly doesn’t disappoint audiences in that respect, as parts of the movie become a tribute to how many ways the main character, Michael Meyers, can kill someone.
Despite the gore fest, the plot of the movie is an overall interesting one. Zombie explores the psychological factors of the young Myers that eventually turn him into a serial killer. Michael is a disturbed child in his own right, but when his psychological problems mix with the damaging events of school bullies, his mother’s abusive boyfriend and a family dynamic filled with inappropriate sexual interaction, culminate to create a monster. You almost want to feel sorry for this killer.
Zombie also does an excellent job of creating real tension for the audience with his depiction of the 10-year-old Michael brutally killing members of the Myers family. There is something very creepy in the depiction of a child, in his Halloween costume, committing unspeakable brutalities with no perceptible emotion.
Daeg Faerch, who plays the young Myers, does an excellent job of portraying a child who is disturbed without overstepping into the world of an adult killer.
However, when the film switches to Myers as an adult, the interesting psychological journey ends. Michael stops speaking shortly after being admitted to a criminal psychiatric facility, so the rest of the movie can no longer delve into his continued motivations for hiding himself behind a mask and killing. Instead, the audience is treated to a variety of fatal beatings, stabbings, disembowelments, etc.
Myers’ quest to find the remaining member of his family, his baby sister, becomes confusing and muddled. Michael’s killings at age 10 of those who had mistreated him were understandable, but at the same time horrific.
However, when Myers kills a kindly facility worker and maniacally pursues his youngest sister, who was still in diapers when he committed his first murders, the carefully constructed psychological character build-up of the iconic killer seems to falter. Although the plot is a little lacking at the end, the film is overall an entertaining one.
The music is superb, as Zombie wisely chose to keep the theme from the original 1978 film, as well as adding, Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper” in tying two killings together. There are also several witty exchanges between some secondary characters that are meant to make the audience laugh, though you feel a bit guilty doing so, but this unexpected injection of humor is one thing that makes this movie entertaining and not just a run-of-the-mill slasher flick.
Certainly “Halloween” isn’t going to win any cinematic awards, but if you aren’t squeamish, don’t mind a little sex with your violence and are hungry to get into the Halloween spirit, Zombie’s film won’t leave you disappointed.
“Halloween” is rated R for strong brutal bloody violence and terror throughout, sexual content, graphic nudity and language.

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