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QUICK TAKE:
Horror: After escaping from an asylum for the criminally insane, a homicidal giant returns to his hometown where he started his killing spree, as a 10-year-old, by killing some of his family.
PLOT:
Michael Myers (DAEG FAERCH) is a troubled, 10-year-old kid. Growing up in a white trash family in Haddonfield, Illinois, he must put up with put-downs by his older sister, Judith (HANNA HALL), and verbal abuse by their stepfather, Ronnie (WILLIAM FORSYTHE), who isn't above cussing out their mother, Deborah (SHERI MOON), a stripper at a local club.
When it appears the boy has been taking out his frustrations by killing animals, child psychologist Dr. Samuel Loomis (MALCOLM McDOWELL) is called in, but it's too late. Upset that he isn't taken out trick or treating, he kills Ronnie, Judith and her boyfriend, and then calmly waits for the police to arrive while holding his unharmed infant sister in his lap. Convicted and then committed for his crimes, Michael seems blasé about his murderous acts, a point that greatly disturbs Loomis.
The years pass, however, and with no progress delving into Michael's psyche, Loomis gives up on Michael (TYLER MANE) who's now grown into a hulking but mute man who spends his time fashioning various masks, a need stemming from his childhood to cover up his previously self-proclaimed ugliness. After killing much of the security detail at the sanatorium, Michael escapes and returns to his hometown where he hopes to find his baby sister.
She's now grown up into high school senior Laurie Strode (SCOUT TAYLOR-COMPTON) who isn't dating anyone, but lives variously through her best friends, Annie (DANIELLE HARRIS) and Lynda (KRISTINA KLEBE) who mock Michael when they see him hanging out in the neighborhood, not realizing who he is or what he's capable of doing.
As Loomis follows Michael's trail and tries to warn Annie's dad, Sheriff Lee Brackett (BRAD DOURIF), about the pending danger, Laurie and her friends go about their usual activities, unaware of what's about to unfold on their sleepy suburban street on Halloween night.
OUR TAKE: 3 out of 10
Everybody loves to be scared. That is, as long as the frights are controlled, such as occurs on big roller coasters, staged haunted houses, and, of course, horror movies. Then there's the biggest scare-fest of the year, All Hollows Eve, a.k.a. Halloween. While not scary in the visceral sense, it's certainly macabre, with kids dressing up like ghouls, goblins and such, with the reward being candy and other treats.
But in 1978, all of that changed with the release of John Carpenter's "Halloween," a low-budget, but highly effective thriller. While I loathe that it ultimately spawned a gazillion sequels and imitators all featuring the ubiquitous bogeyman horror staple, the fact that few, if any of them did it as well or as smartly leaves it as one of the classics of the genre.
Rather than Carpenter's now comparatively subdued and some may even say subtle take on the horror in the suburbs material, writer/director Rob Zombie ("The Devil's Rejects," "House of 1000 Corpses") uses the sledgehammer approach in re-imagining the tale of Mike Myers (no, not that one, a.k.a. Austin Powers).
With a huge chuck of time devoted to what turned the ten-year-old into a homicidal maniac (in most horror pics, that's a brief prologue, while in better films there's actual depth and meaning to what's presented), Zombie delivers the blood and gore with abandon and glee both in that prologue-based first act, and then later once the film finally returns to more familiar territory.
Yet, the scares are pretty scarce this time around. While the intensity has certainly been upped (thanks to the high-impact cinematography that makes you feel some of the fighting), and things eventually pick up once the killer finally finds his girl (Scout Taylor-Compton taking over the Jamie Lee Curtis role from the first film), this is yet another example of blood over brains filmmaking.
Simply put, and like so many other failed horror flicks, Zombie confuses visceral mayhem for frightening material. That's in lieu of letting the viewer's mind and imagination do much of the work in generating the scares. The latter tactic always works better in creating memorable films or, at minimum, scenes within them, mainly because the viewer has essentially helped create them, rather than being a passive spectator to all of the mayhem.
In fact, about the only creepy thing is a new but fairly faithful rendition of Carpenter's simple yet signature piano score that still gets the goose bumps going, but only due to memories of hearing the same in the original and far better film.
Professional wrestler Tyler Mane certainly makes for an imposing killer (due to his hulking, nearly seven-foot frame looming head and shoulders above his predecessors), but being masked most of the time prevents any sort of connection with the killer (compared, say, to Hannibal Lector). Malcolm McDowell takes over the part first donned by Donald Pleasence, but only makes one think how much scarier he was in "Clockwork Orange" than anything that's presented here.
A host of B and C list performers inhabit smaller roles and cameo bits, which may be fun for film buffs, and also holds true for elements and songs that Zombie lifts from the original pic. For those who hold Carpenter's film in high regard, however, all of that will only serve as a reminder of how much better that film was than this unnecessary remake, especially considering that it contained far less blood and gore. "Halloween" rates as a 3 out of 10.
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