REVIEW: Halloween

Dr. Sam Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) shields a terrified Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton) from the unstoppable Michael Myers


Halloween is carving up lemons instead of pumpkins
New spin lacks the subtle perfection of the original

Rating: C+

In this now 9th installment/remake/re-start of the “Halloween” franchise, director Rob Zombie (original heavy metal band singer turned unoriginal horror film director), brings us back to the “sleepy” little town of Haddonfield, Illinois where, apparently, Michael Myers still isn’t done with his motive-free rampage on all those advocates of free-love and babysitting. This time, however, Mr. Zombie delivers something fresh and new to the supernatural-slasher film genre, an origin story. As with most recent reinventions of a franchise (Batman Begins, Casino Royale) directors have chosen to give the audience a glimpse of “where it all began” for the films title characters, and in this case it works really well…for the first half of the movie. Then the films becomes a by the number remake of John Carpenter’s masterpiece, except in places where the film lacks in creative storytelling it makes up for it with breasts and blood.

It tells the story of a trouble pre-teen from an abusive and unhealthy, “white-trash” home, who shows the early warning signs of a deep seeded emotional disorder which is clearly the result of his unstable home life, which is both uncomfortable to watch and at times awkwardly amusing. However, before Michaels' mother can take the appropriate action to see to it that her son doesn’t become a giant-indestructible-babysitter-killing machine, young Mikey slaughters his entire family save his infant sister, and his mother (who happens to be earning her keep on the stripping pole this haunted Halloween).

Then as Michael begins psychiatric treatment under the caring and watchful eye of Dr. Sam Loomis, a wonderfully cast Malcolm McDowell, this deviation from classic slasher-flicks shows promise. The story begins to look more like a character study into the mind of a silent psychopath, than a mindless romp from one house to another with an ever increasing body count and an invincible antagonist meandering his way from victim to victim with no sense of urgency. However, once the inevitable escape from the mental institution ensues and the kids start having sex, therefore sealing their fate, the film devolves back into the exact same story we saw 30 years ago by John Carpenter, although not as interesting. Michael Myers starts killing post-coital teens while searching for his baby sister and, in the process, continuity becomes a thing of myth as Michael Myers appears out of nowhere and the police conveniently show up at the right place at the right time when no one seemed to pick up the phone. Then finally last third of the film suffers from third-act-itus. It’s long and unlike its source material, having few climatic scares that “pop” at the audience, this film ends up with one long drawn-out climax that gets down-right boring. The film might end with a “bang” and a scream, but it is less of a satisfying finale and more of a wake up call to let us know we can finally leave.

The two aspects of the film that seem to stand out the most are the performance of Malcolm McDowell and Tyler Mane, the silent and stoic Michael Myers. McDowell never seems to disappoint, be it his notorious Alex De Large from “A Clockwork Orange” or his cameo as “A British Person” from an episode of “South Park.” He never has time to wait for a scene to get stale. He always appears to be acting in the moment with a sense of urgency and has no problem tossing away comic gems that lesser actors would milk dry. This film is no exception as his Dr. Loomis (a role made famous by the late Donald Pleasance) wants so much to help Michael Myers and sees the violent, murderous rampage as a failing in himself. Tyler Mane also delivers an understanding of subtlety as he lets his mountainous 6’8” frame do almost all the taking for him. However, when he does need to move it’s with a swiftness and grace unexpected from a man his size, while still displaying the strength of a monster.

Being one of the better slasher-films to come through the Cineplex in a while, “Halloween” effectively gives the franchise a fresh start. However, it inevitably falls flat and ends with such a sense of ambiguity that, 9 more films and 30 years from now we might be doing this all over again.