Product Description

The original slasher film about Michael Myers, the psychotic killer who dons a mask and terrorizes his hometown, is re-imagined by edgy director Rob Zombie.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3484 in DVD
• Brand: GENIUS PRODUCTS INC
• Released on: 2007-12-18
• Rating: Unrated
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Director's Cut, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 109 minutes

Amazon.com
More of a supercharged revamp than a remake, Rob Zombie's take on John Carpenter's Halloween expands the back story of masked killer Michael Myers in an attempt to examine the motivation for his first deadly attack, as well as some reasons for his longevity as a horror icon. Zombie's Myers is a blank-eyed teen (played by Daeg Faerch) whose burgeoning mental problems are left unchecked in a horrific home environment; harassed by schoolmates, a randy sister, and his mother's deadbeat boyfriend (William Forsythe, terrific as usual), Myers' homicidal explosion seems inevitable, and intervention by Dr. Sam Loomis (Malcolm McDowell, who offers a fast-talking, hippiefied version of the Donald Pleasance character) does little to impede his development into a mute, unstoppable killing machine (Tyler Mane) bent on finishing off the only survivor of his family's massacre--his sister, now grown into teenaged Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton). Opening up the psychological motivation of a cipher like Michael Myers is an interesting approach, but Zombie's script possesses neither a depth of character nor dialogue to offer more than a clichéd thumbnail character sketch, and devoting over a hour of the unrated cut's 120-minute-plus running time to this history feels bloated and self-indulgent (especially when compared to the lean efficiency of the Carpenter original). Zombie's Halloween isn't terribly suspenseful, either; he has a keen eye for visuals and the details of chaotic environments, but his scares are nothing more than brutal showcases for his special effects team. The end result barely surpasses the original film's numerous sequels, though the Who's Who of cult and character actors in the cast (including Zombie regulars Sid Haig, Bill Moseley and Ken Foree, as well as Brad Dourif, Udo Kier, Clint Howard, Richard Lynch, Danny Trejo, Dee Wallace, and Danielle Harris) adds a touch of late-night monster movie charm. However, the film's best performance belongs to the director's spouse, Sheri Moon Zombie, who brings unexpected pathos to the role of Myers' downtrodden mother.

The two-disc Unrated Director's Cut offers a full disc's worth of extras that should please Zombie fans; chief among the supplemental features is his commentary, which details the film's shooting history and the numerous edits required to deliver the theatrical version. A making-of featurette offers further details of Zombie's vision for the film, and there are featurettes on his cast choices and the many masks that Myers makes while incarcerated. Seventeen deleted scenes (two of which feature Adrienne Barbeau and Tom Towles) and an alternate ending (all with Zombie's commentary) are also provided, as well as footage from the casting sessions. A blooper reel, which is highlighted by unchecked mischief by McDowell and Dourif, offers the set's sole moment of levity. -- Paul Gaita

Customer Reviews

Considering
The original Halloween is a classic and will in my book always receive a five star rating. Recently there has been a great deal of remakes that were flops and catered to the teeny bopper crowd such as, The Fog, The Omen, Dark Water, etc. However there has been only two remakes that I thought were diserving of our attenion, one being the remake of The Hills Have Eyes, and Halloween.

What I liked about the remake was it gave us something fresh to work with. In the original Halloween we never really knew why Michael was bad, in this remake, the first thirty minutes or so expore the childhood of Michael Myers. People say that the dialog concerning Michael's family was wrong. Trust me, I have seen broken homes and Mr. Zombie gives us exactly what you would expect from a trashy family.

Besides satisfying my curiosity of Michael's childhood, I found this to be similar in many cases to the original, but at the same time the material was quite fresh with new chills and scares. Zombie took a masterpiece and reminded us why it is called a masterpiece. He accomplished a great job capturing a 70's look and theme, and did a great musical score as well. This is possibly the best horror remake that I've ever seen.

Halloween Remake...A Fresh Look...
I don't know why everyone is bashing this film, but I am a die-hard fan of the Halloween movies and the horror genre, and I thought this movie was a nice remake to the best and original Carpenter film. It's certainly more entertaining than the crappy sequels that previously came out, and this film sets a more serious and modern harsh reality of what it could be like if this happened today. Carpenter's original film took place in 1978, so I found it to be a nice homage for Zombie to begin the origins of young Michael Myers in 1978. For the first time, we actually get to see what kind of family and childhood that Michael grew up in, which explains so much to his psychotic condition. As a child, Michael's facsination with torturing and killing innocent animals presents an accurate profile for such a future serial killer. This film actually has some explanations behind it, which is vacant in all other Halloween films. Zombie's direction is rough and gritty, but certainly adds to the atmosphere and chilling story -- my heart was pounding when young Michael was slaying his sister and her boyfriend. As for Zombie using the same cast as his other films, it's really no different than what Carpenter did either (How many Carpenter films was Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Atkins, Charles Cyphers, Donald Pleasence, Nancy Loomis, and Adrienne Barbeau were in? I can count at least 3). I've seen the original film about a thousand times, and Zombie's remake can never replace Carpenter's classic, but this film is worth the effort and respect. I'm looking forward to the Unrated DVD version, which will have a lot of scenes restored that was cut from the theatrical release.

LACKING IN EVERY RESPECT...
We arrived at the theater early to get good seats. Rob Zombie's new rendition of the classic "Halloween" had been hyped for weeks on the Internet, television, and in magazines so it was all we could think about. My wife and I (being devoted fans of the 1978 classic) wanted to be first in line to see just how close the publicity was to the actual delivery. Is "re-imaging" the perfect modern horror film a good idea? We had mixed feelings on that but nonetheless remained unbiased and anxious to see what Rob Zombie had in store for us. Sure, his past films didn't exactly amount to anything worthwhile but maybe he worked that out of his system, and this was Halloween. He at least had a good storyline to draw from. We sat discussing the many avenues the film could take, watching the small group of other moviegoers take their seat for the matinee showing. The glow from the projection booth kicked on, the crowd fell silent, the lights dimmed.

Expecting something intriguing for the opening credits and remembering how stylistic John Carpenter had been with his slow tracking shot of the flickering jack-o`-lantern with credits rolling to the right, I couldn't wait to see how this new remake started. Excitement quickly gave way to disappointment. The film simply kicks off with a simple shot of the Myers house being thrown in the audience face complete with the onset of Rob Zombie's blaring, classic rock soundtrack. I couldn't help but sigh out loud with a sense of pessimistic foreshadowing ...would this opening scene set the pace for the rest of the film? I sincerely hoped not.

Next, and in typical Rob Zombie fashion, we are introduced to the loud, obnoxious, vulgar, screaming, white-trash characters in the film. It was about this point I abandoned all hope of this even coming close to the original and realized this was going to be just another typical Rob Zombie shoutfest, complete with excessive gore, shock value gimmicks, unsteady camera movements, endless close-ups and stereotypical characters including another shameless plug for his wife. The only difference is this time he had the Halloween name to deceive and lure an audience with.

Lacking any subtle sickness of the original film the movie chugs along as scattered as a shotgun blast. Rob Zombie attempts to add some backstory to the Michael Myers character but in doing so eliminates any mystery surrounding his presence, making him just another knife-wielding killer who pops up to slash and kill...slash and kill...slash and kill...

Even the veteran actor Malcolm McDowell, in his role of Dr. Loomis, can't save this run-of-the-mill Zombie zero. The character who was so powerfully played by Donald Pleasance in 1978 is now lacking in recklessness determination and intensity. He is reduced to a soft spoken, school psychiatrist who actually befriends Michael as a child and then just gets lost in the mix as another faceless character/victim.

Although this movie doesn't follow the same predictable suit as its countless sequels, it seems Mr. Zombie is almost incapable of creating suspense. Genuinely frightening moments are substituted for unnecessary (and comedic) amounts of carnage, blood, and gore. The movie feels rushed, paying no attention to mood or atmosphere. The camera continues to erratically bounce around as Michael Myers keeps popping up so fast I lost track of certain scene settings. Asking myself, "Wait...what house are we in now...wasn't he just down the street two seconds ago?" Characters continue to talk but speak their lines on top of each other and with such speed I actually started laughing at one point.

As the film concluded and the credits began to roll people began to exit the theatre. I couldn't help but notice the looks of disappointment on the audience faces as they were leaving.

In a nation of full of trendy PG-13 rated horror films I can respect what Rob Zombie is doing to make a no-I-won't-tone-it-down statement but his in-your-face style of directing doesn't (to say the least) transfer over to this genre very well. It seems he is just more interested in getting a reaction out of people then creating a good film, which is very sad considering the potential this project had.

Bottom line: If you are a fan of the original "Halloween" you will be insulted by this remake. Rob Zombie's self-important vision of a classic might play well with today's younger and more gullible teenage audience but for longtime Halloween addicts (and everyone else for that matter) this film is sure to disappoint.