Rob Zombie's Halloween (2007) - Review

i disagree. i thought the first part, exploring young Mikey's daily life, was the best, and reminiscent of the other Zombie movies. pity it descends into silly slasher territory, which was original in 1978 but is far too played out by now. and no cliché is missed by zombie - at times it borders on parody rather than reverence. it feels uncomfortable, as though Zombie didn't really want to do this part of the movie, but he had to, because it had already been done 30 years ago. he feels much more at home with characterization and psychological terror, as in the early part of the movie.

having never seen any of the other halloween movies, i was impressed. but i liked Devil's Rejects better.

by the way, is this still supposed to be in 1978? if so, there are some anachronisms, like mikey's KISS t-shirt - KISS weren't around in 1963 (when the movie would begin, with mikey at age 10).

I saw the uncensored version of this in film festival...
This movie is insain Great when all the details were shown.

But what comes to the released DVD version... It is just shit...

I don't know how you can be complaining about how this movie destroyed Michael Meyers. Halloweens 4-8 already destroyed him. This movie completely blows those crapfests out of the water. The problem is, you go into this expecting it to be a typical Halloween film. Duh. It's a Rob Zombie movie, first and foremost. He's not one to go with convention. If your expectations are more geared towards, "I'm going into the next movie by the guy who directed The Devil's Rejects," you're going to appreciate it a lot more than if you're just expecting more Michael hacking and slashing. I'd much rather see Zombie's somewhat more psychological take on Meyers than that voodoo curse bull.

What's weird about this one... The workprint that was leaked on the internet was actually better than the movie in theaters, not just because the alternate scenes were better than the ones in the finished film, but the pacing was also significantly better. The alternate ending was far better than having to watch Laurie crawl through the walls of the house for what feels like an eternity. I hope this is the version that will be released on the "uncensored" DVD, it's definitely the version of the film that people should see.

This movie was aweful! Worse than aweful. I`ve read the comments here and 'yes I understood the movie', yes I get where RZ was trying to go with it, but come on. Micheal Myers was a force of 'pure evil'. I don`t want to sympathize with a serial killer, which is what RZ turned him into, a stereotypical serial killer with a bad childhood. (how cliche) There was no suspence, it was created as an empty excuse to use disgusting conversations, drop the F-bomb as often as possible and create a white trash, foul, demeaning excuse to show a bunch of teens having sex, talking about sex, getting raped, and just plain sad excuse for making a porno.
I`m 38 and have been watching horror/slasher films for years. I love horror movies, I always have. I am a HUGE fan of Horror/Suspence/Thriller/Slasher. This movie blew it. Shame on you Rob Zombie for creating such a piece of crap.

WOW great movie...... PLease just give zombie the go ahead for halloween two...... I'd love to see him remake them all. Lil michael I just wanted to give him a hug and take him trick of treating. Perfect cast..... I like how he grew his hair to cover his face.... that's what michael would have done... Oh yea and that critic must be pretty old cause he sounds really stuck in the ways of his time..... "Oh no the camera's moving too much" Like when he killed that cop in the hallway.... that was a great effect old man so get with the times, they did that aswell in hostel which was great....... Oh and the sound effects......that was fresh like when he's beatin' that kid with the bat and everything goes silent and all you hear is his sister moaning.... Rob wanted you to know why he killed him... Get with it old man! Please someone contact me if you hear anything about a halloween two remake!!!!

Amen to everything you said in your review, especially the part where you talk about how looking into his past ceases to make Michael scary. I totally agree. Zombie should have left this classic alone. Hey Rob, thanks for ruining it.

i dissagree with people who said the movie was boring or the shots were messed up. i mean who cares about the shots its a great film.This film shows how michael myers childhood was. I think rob wanted to focused on michael and not his sister un like in the original.I think the original was ok, michael's mask was abit dull and as a kid he looked too innocent to kill anybody.This is one of the best halloween. I think the actors and actresses has done well. keep rockin rob zombie!!!

Rob Zombie doesn't understand Michael as a character. He just doesn't have a grasp on it. He made a glorified music video, and shit all over a great character. Whoops.

I thought it was okay. I love the original series and this one wasnt like it at all. Some parts they tried remaking from the first one, but i still love the first one the most.

I have seen the film 4 times now and going again tonight. After expressing my thoughts on how great of a film Zombie's version was, I am now going to show the two flaws I believe the film had..

1) What made the original Halloween so effective, aside from the mystery behind who this masked man was, was the fact that the audience connected with Laurie's character (Curtis) because of her innocence and even naive personality at times, the audience actually felt for her and cared whether she lived or died. In Zombie's version, we don't see none of that in Laurie (Compton). She's a foul mouthed blonde who's act of innocence is hardly believeable and comes across as just that; an act. She doesn't stand out from her other friends who are meant to be shallow and slutty.

and 2) I enjoyed how Zombie took the time to give us an in depth look into Michael's childhood and showing us that indeed, The Shape, is human. So when Michael is shot nearly 6 or 7 times it's hardly believeable when they don't seem to even slow him down. How do they explain it? They don't. And really, they don't have to. We can evaluate the theory of 'mind over matter' and explore how Michael is mentally, so foucsed and so determined, that he's able to keep himself from bleeding when injured. I'm sure it's not unheard of. The mind does control the body and so this can be a plausible theory as to why Michael doesn't die. Or does he?

and 3) I'm kind of borderline on, I did enjoy the amount of gore in the film but at the same time I didn't. Before the film had been released Zombie stated that he was going to focus more on mood and tension which I believe he attempted to but kinda got sidetracked. The gore is plenty, and at times it causes the tension to lack. I would have really liked to see how other directors might have approached the film, possibly David Fincher or Christopher Nolan.

Still an excellent film and a worthy remake.

Actually Mr P, maybe YOU dont understand the movie!

I totally agree with Evaize.It was a good film and well worth the watch.One of the best Myer's movies in a long time.What I don't get is,although we were shown how Michael transformed into a brutal killer,we were never really told why he can't be killed?...a point to note,it's probably nothing but when he was in the Asylum as a kid the security guard who befriended him told him to "live in his mind as he can do anything"...you think after 15 years he may have trained himself to not feel pain etc..mind of matter type of thing,what are your thoughts on this?

I've heard many people completley trash this film and I still don't understand why. Compared to the many uneccesary sequels the Halloween franchise has spawned, this is the only film that captures Michael's brutal and merciless force at the same time enabling us to sympathize with him. I do agree that what worked best for Carpenters' version was the fact that Michael was a mystery and his intentions were unknown.

But Zombie's version was a re-imagining of the first night when Michael began his rampage. Carpenter hints at Michael's childhood in his film but does not go in depth with it. Showing that side of Michael, I not only think it was neccesary but also very rewarding in being able to see that Michael at one time was a sensitive, love-seeking boy who had all the potential you and I do. And watching him gradually transform in a monster before our eyes was brilliant. It humanized his nature in a way and the more he released his inner rage we began to see more of that little boy dissapearing. And as adult Michael, he was a complete monster, the first incarnation of terror. The mask looked absolutley amazing and terrifying.

Alot of people have bashed Zombie for using the same actors he's used in his past films, but I see nothing wrong with that. He protrayed Michael's childhood as he saw fit, I personally enjoyed William Forsythe's performance as the crude Ronnie White. I thought the characters were very believable and brought an element to the film as to rationalize Michael's transformation. Another small role which caught my attention was that of Ken Foree's character as Big Joe Grizzley, the bad ass trucker who won't let go of his knife. As far as Dr. Loomis, I personally thought Malcom Macdowell wasn't right for the part, I would have chosen maybe Brian Cox. But in the end, the film was an excellent horror remake, surpassing others such as the latest TCM remakes.

There was no other director who I would have chosen to bring back The Shape. Any hard core Halloween fan is going to enjoy it as long as you don't have any expecations. If your expecting to watch a modern version of the same 1978 film, think again, this is a completley different film while at the same time keeping the key elements which made it's original film such a classic.

Watch it.

I'm sorry, but I refuse to believe the iconic Michael Myers is southern, redneck trailer trash. If this was a Friday the 13th remake, it would be cool because Jason is a mindless killer. Myers is almost intelligent, silently stalking his victims. This was Rob Zombie's "re-suckifying" vision and he butchered the original vision of John Carpenter.

what a waste of cash... I agree with Rafe Telsh. The entire story line could should have been better. Give any Director a classic killer movie charchter and they will flock to the theatre; that is what happens with the Rob Zombie version. A scene of Myers busting open a cieling is about 10 minutes long, "I get it, I get it," he is trying to get her out of the cieling." A true waste of a great classic theme. Don't go see it...just wait for the DVD.

it's just youre opinion here. But i give 4stars here. maybe some people don't understand the movie.

I actually really enjoyed the film when Myers was a youth, but couldn't stand its plodding flow in the adult years.

But hey, Rob Zombie is awesome. Both House AND Reject's were great films because they were such campy crap. Just like his music. I love this guy's work.

And I heard he smells like shit in person.

I THINK IF YOU TRY TO COMPARE IT TO THE ORIGINAL, WHICH I LOVE, YOU'RE GOING TO BE DISAPPOINTED. ON ITS OWN IT WAS VERY GOOD. I LOVED LEARNING ABOUT MICHAEL'S PAST. AT TIMES THE MOVIE'S PACE WAS INCONSISTANT, HOWEVER, THIS MOVIE FOCUSED MORE ON MICHAEL AND LESS ON LAURIE. THE ORIGINAL FOCUSED MORE ON LAURIE, LESS ON MICHAEL. THEY ARE TWO DIFFERENT BUT UNIQUE AND HIGHLY ENTERTAINING FILMS.