Harefooted Halloween: Halloween (2007)

What I Liked: Nice detailed production design.  They went for the grit and they deliver.  Michael’s mask isn’t as pristine as it sometimes is and he only gets filthier the further the film progresses.  Not everything is dirty though.  The mental hospital, streets of Haddonfield and most homes are appropriately cleaner.  And I love the tons of Halloween decorations and jack-o-lanterns everywhere leading to a souped up fall feel.

I’m impressed with Tyler Mane’s (Troy) performance as Michael Myers because he moves just the right way.  If you’ve seen any of the sequels in the original run then you know this is something that’s difficult to nail.  While Mane is a hulking beast that towers over everyone he’s quicker than most other versions which makes him more of a threat than normal.  Writer/director Rob Zombie (House of 1,000 Corpses) wanted to portray a more down to earth version of this character by building up the backstory and having him act almost like a feral man and more often than not he succeeds (although there are certain issues which we’ll get to).  I really think this is one of the best Michael performances ever done.

It’s interesting to get a taste of the mental hospital period of Michael’s life.  We’ve never seen this before and it’s surprisingly effective at giving both he and Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell (Bombshell)) some sympathy points.  Michael is there for his own good but it’s a sad existence to be locked up and studied.  And Dr. Loomis wants to help Michael but after years and years of therapy he hasn’t been able to reach him.

Rob Zombie didn’t mess with John Carpenter’s music from the original whenever it’s used.  He knew it was perfect as is and didn’t need any embellishing.  The rest of the soundtrack is largely forgettable though with an overuse of those loud stings typically reserved for jump scares.

The nods to the previous installments were kinda neat to spot.  Michael drowns a guy by dunking his head in water like in Halloween II, Danielle Harris (The Last Boy Scout) who starred in Halloween 4 and 5 plays one of Laurie Strode’s friends, there’s a sports car in the background at one point that looks like the one from Halloween 5, Michael terrorizes someone in a bathroom like in H20 and I’m sure there are plenty of others.

What I Didn’t Like: Oh boy, the first ten or fifteen minutes are excruciating.  They show the abusive and toxic home life of adolescent Michael Myers (Daeg Faerch (American Horror Story)) which wouldn’t have been as bad if everyone wasn’t yelling hurtful and inflammatory shit at each other non-stop.

Similarly to my previous point, almost all of the characters are insufferable.  Any scenes that don’t involve adult Michael Myers doin’ his thang are pretty fucking rough which is maybe about a third of the film.  Everyone is so crass, disrespectful, obnoxious and thoughtless.  Hanging out with anyone besides Michael, even the protagonists who you’re supposed to like, is a chore and a half.

The action is shot and edited too franticly for my tastes.  This approach of using many closeups and cuts was very popular at the time making it hard to understand exactly what’s happening.  I mean it’s not Batman Begins bad but it pains me a little whenever I come across a victim of this particular style choice.

At a certain point the movie comes to a what feels like a natural ending but for some reason goes on for another ten or fifteen minutes.  This extra time is more of Michael chasing his prey around which is alright but it certainly comes across as unnecessary.

Overall Impressions: This piece is such an extreme mixed bag.  On one hand it’s actually one of those movies where you can pause it at any time and it’s a 50/50 chance that you’ll land on a really cool looking image.  Plus Mane’s performance as Michael is very well done and the mental hospital stuff is worthwhile.  However, on the other hand some of the additional backstory crap with Michael’s abusive home life not only takes away too much mystery of the character but it’s also just unpleasant to sit through miserable assholes shouting the stupidest and worst things they can come up with at each other.  What’s even more frustrating is Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton (The Runaways)) and her friends and the people at school and the hospital all act basically the same way.  The only time we get a merciful reprieve is when Michael kills one of these irritating dumbbells.

I really wanna like this picture more but I can’t defend a good portion of it.  What’s especially disappointing is Rob Zombie was coming off his best film, The Devil’s Rejects, so he was in prime filmmaking shape.  Look, it’s not the worst horror remake from that period but it’s not the best either.  Any die hard Halloween fan is definitely gonna want to check this one out eventually.  If you’re more of a casual fan you can skip it.