No Michael, Not This Time

Director Rob Zombie may be one of the most knowledgeable and crazed horror fans of all time, but his efforts in film have stood as an example of how affection does not always equal execution.

To date, Zombie has written and directed three films, all of which belong to the horror genre. The most recent piece of his is the remake/prequel of the John Carpenter landmark slasher, Halloween. Zombie, who had spoken out against the spate of big budget Hollywood remakes of classic '70s and '80s horror gems, decided somewhere along the way that he wanted to take a non-literal stab at the Michael Myers legacy.

In order to make the movie his own, Zombie added into the pot a look at the killer's childhood, depicting domestic abuse, motherly prostitution and a bracing shot of parental alcoholism. The interpretation of psychological torment that the young character endures serves as the first third of the film leading up to the remake aspect of the picture. The prequel segment alone supplies a decent portrayal of what could have created such a mass murdering monster as Michael Myers, but like Zombie's other films it lacks consistency with the movie as a whole.

Zombie has a tendency to create strands of scenes that can never tie into each other just right. It's as if he comes up with a terrific idea for one scene, but can't connect the dots to the overall feel of the film. This reins true in the transition between prequel and remake as the pace of the film flies through the roof and "the murders are packed so tightly it's like watching a blender on high speed" (Andrea Gronvall-CHICAGO READER). Aesthetically, the film is all the great horror slasher films thrown into one, creating a true homage to the original Halloween. However, it appears that Zombie will always have difficulty fashioning something more than the sum of his enthusiasms.

Blogger Review of Halloween Remake
http://www.deep-focus.com/dfweblog/2007/09/halloween_2007.html

LiveJournal- Rob Zombie Fan Site Featuring Positive Feedback on the Film
http://community.livejournal.com/rob_zombie_fans/