The new Halloween

[Fatacula]

I just saw the "Halloween" remake, really didn't like it much at all. Thought it spent way to much time trying to develop Meyers character and there was just something about the film, had no suspense what so ever. The original is just better, but it was a good try.

Oh and MarioRPG just so you know, when you get to "Halloween 3" there is no psycho knife wielding killer, just rubber masks and lots of bugs!!

[Zbu Manowar]

Originally Posted by Fatacula

I just saw the "Halloween" remake, really didn't like it much at all. Thought it spent way to much time trying to develop Meyers character and there was just something about the film, had no suspense what so ever. The original is just better, but it was a good try.

Oh and MarioRPG just so you know, when you get to "Halloween 3" there is no psycho knife wielding killer, just rubber masks and lots of bugs!!

The problem with the film is that it was trying to be Halloween in Rob Zombie's mind. The terrifying thing about Myers was that there was no real reason why he went berserk at a young age. He was just a normal kid who then cruelly butchered his own sister. That alone is enough. The hinting of Evil just covers what is pretty much senseless murder that can strike anywhere.

Zombie fucked this up by turning it into his representation of film which includes trailer trash relationships (which conflict with the clean cut Myers parents we see at the very beginning of the original film) and a lot of rationalizations for this behavior. But the true horror comes from the lack of it. Zombie simply is not John Carpenter and his 'reimaging' would make a fairly good (if derivative) horror film, but he does not have the subtlety that was needed. He's still in the Friday the 13th mode of horror instead of the true and deeply unsettling horror which is sad since his Devil's Rejects was very good on that part. Perhaps Zombie is best left a fan of the films as his style is just too different to fully recreate a film like this.

[Fatacula]

Very well put Zub Manowar, that really sums it up. Zomboid also raises a good point!

[Jeff The Ninja]

Originally Posted by Zbu Manowar

He's still in the Friday the 13th mode of horror instead of the true and deeply unsettling horror which is sad since his Devil's Rejects was very good on that part. Perhaps Zombie is best left a fan of the films as his style is just too different to fully recreate a film like this.

That is true, except its not the Friday the 13th mindset he is in. Its the 1970's exploitation film mindset. Look at the Devils Rejects and House of 1000 corpses. I found more similarities between those films and The original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (which in my opinion, was kind of a Exploitation film in the way the violence and presentation was handled) and other low budget movies from that same era.

If Zombie were left to do his own films, not remakes or other things, with his own original ideas, we would undoubtedly see a lot more quality work coming out from him. The problem with halloween it seems (havent seen it yet) is that it isnt a halloween movie, its just a movie that seems to have the the name tacked on top of it.

[Zbu Manowar]

Originally Posted by Jeff The Ninja

That is true, except its not the Friday the 13th mindset he is in. Its the 1970's exploitation film mindset. Look at the Devils Rejects and House of 1000 corpses. I found more similarities between those films and The original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (which in my opinion, was kind of a Exploitation film in the way the violence and presentation was handled) and other low budget movies from that same era.

To a point, yes. But we have to remember that Halloween itself was considered an exploitation flick and, by the nature of the ones I've seen, not exactly a hardcore one. If anything Zombie's focus was too extreme in thinking that Halloween was exactly the same as Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Not all exploitation films were made the same way (despite the label 'exploitation') and Zombie should have known better. Being a horror fan, he should know that Halloween was more focused on the terror aspect with the gore being a backer to it for impact, not the sole impact of the movie itself.

If Zombie were left to do his own films, not remakes or other things, with his own original ideas, we would undoubtedly see a lot more quality work coming out from him. The problem with halloween it seems (havent seen it yet) is that it isnt a halloween movie, its just a movie that seems to have the the name tacked on top of it.

Indeed. He may love doing remakes in the future, but with Devil's Rejects he was able to show that he's fully capable of doing his own works with great effect. I almost wish that Grindhouse had become a bigger hit so he could actually do his own version of those style of films in his own vein. I'd love for him to actually make a movie with the same pastiche feel of 'Werewolf Women of the SS.'