Rob Zombie's Halloween

The New Version of a 1978 Horror Film

Lucky M Diaz
Lucky M Diaz, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Oct 2, 2007 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."
Have you been considering going to see the new version of Halloween, but knowing that Rob Zombie directed it is postponing your plans? Or are you avoiding the trip to the Movie theater because you hate to think that your favorite, disturbed director, Rob Zombie, has sold out by remaking a popular 1978 Horror film? Well, if you enjoy gore, violence, gratuitous nudity and disturbing images that will haunt your dreams for nights to come, go check it out. Otherwise, don't bother because you'll probably end up leaving the theater early and disappointed.

Rob Zombie's version of the Horror flick dives further into the history of the silent serial killer, Michael Myers, by introducing us to the troubled child and his family just before he begins his violent killing spree. The movie has added plot details that the original Halloween left out. These added details make the character of Michael Myers seem more human and even more disturbed than the masked, hulking figure that was first portrayed in John Carpenter's Halloween. Typical of Rob Zombie films, Halloween is filled with the evil clown motif(Michael's first mask is that of a clown), a white-bred trash family with a stripper mother and drunk step-father, mindless and graphic violence, disturbing sounds and imagery, and sex. However, I was quite impressed to find that after the added plot details of Michael Myers' childhood, Rob Zombie got back on track. When Michael escapes from the sanitarium, the movie follows the original Halloween plot of a crazed psychopath chasing after his sister on Halloween night, while his psychologist tries to stop him.

If you are a fan of the original Halloween because of Jamie Lee Curtis and her blood curdling screams, or the suspense that John Carpenter added through camera angles; chances are that you will leave Rob Zombie's version of the film feeling cheated. The new version of Halloween has less suspense and more gore. However, if you are a Rob Zombie fan or just enjoy being disturbed, you might just pay to see it again on the big screen with surround sound. If you are a fan of the director, don't worry . . . Zombie did not sell out, he just finally got with the act. I was surprised to see that Rob Zombie's added plot details actually kept me interested enough to stay through the whole movie. I think this is probably Rob Zombie at his best in directing films, but the new version of Halloween is not any better than the original.

Published by Lucky M Diaz

Lucky M. Diaz is a freelance webwriter and an expressionist who writes informative articles, reviews, poetry, prose, and short stories. She is Bilingual(Spanish/English), is a Licensed Insurance Producer in...  View profile

  • John Carpenter directed the original Halloween.
  • Rob Zombie's new version of Halloween contains added plot details about Michael Myers' childhood.
Jaime Lee Curtis starred as Michael Myers' baby sister in the original Halloween.

15 Comments

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  • SFolega2/27/2008

    Great article, but I hate these films haha! I'm not a horror movie fan to be honest!!

  • StPatricksDayIsComing2/26/2008

    I wasn't a fan of this particular zombie flick. House of 1000 corpses was whacky... I enjoyed it... but his version of Halloween didn't quite do it for me. I'm sure tons of Zombie fans enjoyed this one though. You wrote a great review on it too! : ) Kudos : )

  • PHILLIP2/10/2008

    I'll say this for Rob Zombie. He is a heck of a director/cinematographer!

  • Kami Roberts2/1/2008

    PS -- What I enjoyed about the movie the most (besides the gore and humor) is the sympathy factor. You actually wind up feeling really bad for Michael.

  • Kami Roberts2/1/2008

    I bought my husband the Unrated Director's cut of this film for Christmas (had to special order b/c of the release date). We're both huge Halloween fans (the original and the first sequel. . .the newer versions were just teen slasher rejects, and Season of the Witch was just stupid). We thought Zombie's version was fantastic, but the ending just sucked, baaaad. He wrote alternate endings, and none of them were that great, either. He said he didn't want any fans to ever hope for a sequel, and he wanted the sister character to be more developed, that's why he did it that way.

  • Robert Dougherty1/21/2008

    Good going

  • Rebecca Foster12/30/2007

    I've heard mixed reviews about this movie. The people who liked it REALLY liked it.

  • Steven West12/18/2007

    I have not seen the new movie. I own the DVD of the original Halloween.I liked the first movie because of the suspense, music, and tone. Very good review.

  • Kady Burney12/18/2007

    I wanted to see this, but I love the old Halloween so much!!! You are a good article writer!!!!

  • Sparkle77212/15/2007

    Good review. I was interested in seeing this movie, but not enough to go to the movie theater. Another gory movie by Rob Zombie is the Devils Rejects. Good for gore fans! I thought he did pretty well with that movie. I have to admit, there is something a little off about the guy. But, he may produce some even better movies in the near future.

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