I’m a child of the 80s. I’m the kid everyone thought was weird. It’s not my fault that my mom thought it was a good idea to take myself (6 at the time) and my sister (8 at the time) to go see Psycho III. The funny story here is short and sweet. There was this theatre known as “The Valley”. It was an old place that would remind you of an Adult Movie House. It was gross (they recently reopened like 2 years ago after being bought and 3 million being put into it – looks awesome! They do Rocky Horror Live – a rarity!), but hey – it was neat too. We arrive and she pays for the tickets. The teller says:
“Are you sure you want your young children to see this movie? It’s pretty scary.” She replies, “It’s ok. They saw Friday the 13th Last Week.”
True story! I remember it vividly, the look on his face of shock and surprise. We were born on slasher movies. My mom was of the opinion that if we saw them early we wouldn’t wig out later thinking everything we saw on screen was real or something.
The original Halloween is a staple of any horror fan. It is the be all and end all of horror movie perfection. When I heard of a remake of the original I was, like most, thinking: “Oh hell no!” and then I found out it was a Rob Zombie movie. Then my mind went a whole other direction thinking it was going to be a flaming pile of dung someone leaves on your stoop Halloween night. I don’t like Rob Zombie. House of a 1000 Corpses was sheer crap. I weeded out my disdain for rocker turned director and plopped down my cash to see the movie. I took my mom with me – it was only fitting.
I’ll try to not spoil the movie for you – I don’t like spoilers – ultimate in lameosity. The movie can not be called a remake as much as a retelling. It was tough pinpointing down the time period. The original Halloween was the 70s, but this one had the 70s tone, but yet a lot of current stuff. That annoyed me but I soon got over it.
Remember Michael’s Niece? She was played by Danielle Harris – she’s here – in a lead which shows a bit of a homage to the series which I appreciated. The rest of the cast was top notch. The kid that played Michael in his youth was incredibly CREEPY and he reminded me of the kid from Children of the Corn and the new Omen.
The original flick begins with Michael taking our his sister and leaves it at that until he escapes from the Asylum. Here we have more back story. Michael isn’t from a nice home. In fact his dad is dead, his mom is a stripper and his sister is a slut. His mom is with a do nothing, verbally abusive, laid of work due to injury drunkard who makes passes at his sister. Michael is crapped on at school and he deals with his “issues” by torturing and slaughtering small animals. He’ll get pets then kill them.
His school, like most, will see the problem and encourage help. This is where the good old Doctor comes in. He’s introduced as a child psychologist and tries to help young Michael citing that these sociopath tendencies are a bridge to more serious issues. Michael runs off and gets his first taste of human prey and it pretty much dust balls from there folks.
We see him in the asylum getting older and his mom visiting him with Michael becoming less and less talkative. Things spiral out of control until we see Michael as a giant, hulking man.
The movie sets things up great. The camera work is awesome and the violence is just enough. Not too over the top gore, but good stuff. Acting was superb and the story was excellent. There are always things you can see that need changing but that’s a no-brainer when you’re dealing with a masterpiece that is Halloween.
Michael Myers is set up to be an honest-to-god serial killer instead of a supernatural mad man. I like that. I think that if they could have done what we can do now that this is the movie that would have been made. That is the sincerest compliment I could give.
You be the judge. It’s one of those things that old-schoolers will either love or hate. Not much middle ground with these things. My mom didn’t like it. She doesn’t like the new Battlestar Galactica or Bionic Woman either – both I love a lot. If you don’t want to let go of the $8.50 to see it then red box it later for a cool buck! I know I’ll be adding it to my DVD collection.
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