House of 1,000 Corpses & Devil’s Rejects were decent. Reminded me of the first time I saw Texas Chainsaw Massacre as a kid, disgust is an emotion you know, however I never liked torture horror. The Saw films, Captivity, Hostel, nothing there for me, I need a story not just gore. However Rob’s films were different, they had an appeal. They were torture horror but had the ability to keep me on the edge of my seat. Most horror films follow the victims as the killers chase them. Rob flipped this and followed the killers examining their world and was original and an exciting watch. But once was enough, never seen either of his films more than that.
Until I watched his re-imagining of John Carpenter’s classic 1978 film Halloween. Let me say John Carpenter’s original Halloween is one of the greatest horror movies of all time. I wasn’t expecting much of Zombie’s film here. However, what I got was an intense ride that kicked me in the face every few minutes or so! It intensely compliments the original instead of detracting from it. It dives deep into the story of the notorious Myers very rarely coming up for a breath.
In the original Halloween Loomis (Donald Pleasance) touches on a lot of back story of what and who Myers is and why he’s in town trying to kill Jamie Lee Curtis. Rob takes that little bit of back story and creates one of the coolest re-tellings of modern horror history. Young Myers played disturbingly wonderful by Daeg Faerch is a troubled young boy. He has a deep mental illness (putting it lightly) that shows itself already at age 10. He proceeds to slaughter his whole family when he can’t take it anymore. The fallout is a rollercoaster ride with his left behind mother (played by Sherrie Moon Zombie, Rob’s wife) dealing with tragedy and truths she never wanted to acknowledge. Very emotional and surprisingly moving, it added a human element to the characters almost all horror films lack.
We watch Myers stay over the next twenty or so years at the mental institution he has been committed. This is where we meet Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) and watch them interact in a very personal doctor/patient relationship. Loomis truly cares for the boy as we watch him get darker and take an unhealthy obsession of hiding himself behind a series of homemade masks.
This is where we pick up the original film, Myers escapes and returns to find his baby sister. At first almost for a loss of companion, he is searching for something, love that he never had from the last family member left in the world. However when he is rejected by her his killing rampage takes on massive proportions for the small unknowing town. Loomis arrives to warn of the carnage that is coming. The audience is left with sympathy for Myers but not so much so that we can’t wait to see his demise.
See this movie, the 2 Disc dvd is a great edition to any collection, for I can say for the first time, I will watch Rob Zombie’s Halloween over an over again. It seems as if Rob has been preparing for this movie his whole life, and pulled it off with brilliance. Excellent film with lots of the extras on the discs!!!
http://www.halloween-themovie.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment