Monday, June 20, 2011

Remake: Halloween

This is the age of remakes. From musicals to action movies to horror films there's most likely going to be a remake in the next 2 years (before the world ends and all). Remakes can be horrible, they can resurrect a series and give the original another shot at the box office, or they can reinvent the series altogether by using the same concepts while adding to them greatly.  Speaking of the latter, I finally got around to watching Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween and its sequel. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed John Carpenter's original Halloween  (1978) with Jamie Lee Curtis (she rocks my horror world; her and Sigourney Weaver are among the top horror ladies in my book).  

 Zombie outdid himself and basically re-imagined this series based along the lines of the original. You see some of Michael's back story in the original which is then elaborated on in the remake. From a young boy Michael was abused mentally and physically by family members and bullies. The amount that he suffered he then passes on to his victims it seems like. After 17 or so years in isolation basically, the anger builds up.  He grows into his 'boogeyman' mask. The dvd shows some deleted scenes and to my knowledge there was a killing that wasn't addressed in the movie but is addressed using a picture in a deleted scene. So it shouldn't have been deleted. 

The sequel is very freaky with a dash of disturbing and terrifying, reminded me of The Cell with Jennifer Lopez, if you've ever seen that.  I couldn't tell who was dead or when, I had to back it up. It's a little bit mind boggling to say the least.  

**Spoiler Alert** Don't continue if you haven't seen it because this is a scene in the movie that I will be describing to make my point...if there is a point.

Still of Tyler Mane and Kristina Klebe in Halloween

In the sequel...I was so excited after watching the scene when the two perverted guys (I think they are cops) are taking Michael away in the van to the morgue because he's dead. It's a horror movie and we all know he's going to get up and crash the van and whatnot. But is that what happens directly? Hell no, it's brilliant though, I love it. It was one of my favorite scenes. They are driving down a back highway, flat farmland all around them and they are conversing and being perverted. The passenger looks up and goes "cow!" and the van smashes into the cow. They are a mess. The driver seems to be dead or at least unconscious and the passenger is screaming for help covered in glass and blood running down his face. Of course this is a good time for Michael to wake up. It's a good lead in without being too predictable.

**/Spoiler Alert**

The two movies as a whole were horrific in a good way. I mean, the guy doesn't talk for one thing, says nothing, just points like a cavemen but he listens and he remembers anything you say and will choke you with your own words, literally. And is he so angry that he can take like 5 bullets and not die? When did he get super powers? That's scary as hell. Everyone has a weakness, right? You would think. But this isn't a movie about good and evil really. He's not evil per se, he was biding his time to get revenge and nothing or no one will stop him from this task. The character is determined, I'll give him that. This guy is a tank. Usually when I watch horror movies I try and think of ways to escape or not get into a certain situation, but even as a little kid Michael got to you while you were asleep (because he watched horror movies). That probably contributed. He knew your weakness or got you when you were the most vulnerable (usually naked after sex). Sometimes he waits patiently until one leaves and picks you off one by one but he's a big dude so he doesn't have to wait. As seen in a scene in the first Halloween when the two teenagers are making out he just grabs the boy on top...he was done waiting I guess.You just don't know what to expect.

Moral of the story...It's ALWAYS the quiet ones.

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