Halloween

DVD review (region 1 & 2)
Directed by Rob Zombie
Starring Malcolm McDowell, Sheri Moon Zombie, Tyler Mane, Scout Taylor-Compton, Brad Dourif, Danielle Harris, William Forsythe
Release date Out now (region 1); 28 April 2008 (region 2)

After murdering his stepfather and sister, young Michael Myers is locked away in a mental asylum. Years later he escapes and goes on a murderous rampage in his hometown…

“For good or for bad it’s a different movie,” Rob Zombie says on one of the DVD’s featurettes. On its theatrical release last year, critics were in virtual agreement that the shock rocker’s remake of the seminal slasher was most definitely “for bad.” Yet perhaps inevitably, now the furore has died down a little, Halloween 2007 doesn’t look quite such a write-off. Sure, it’s a long way from being classed alongside John Carpenter’s masterpiece. But if you can blank out memories of the original for 90 minutes, then it’s certainly better than the majority of the Halloween sequels.

Zombie is faithful to many of the ideas of the original, but instead of slavishly aping it, he devotes a third of the movie to giving some background to Myers’ home life and his time in the asylum. While attempting to humanise Myers is at odds with the entire point of the original’s enigmatic killer, it does at least generate some effective, well-executed shock moments such as Michael wreaking cruel revenge on a school bully with the aid of a handy log or the protracted butchering of his stepfather.

What lets the first half of the film down is the dialogue, which follows the same shouty, foul-mouthed pattern of House of 1,000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects. While it was perhaps fitting in those two modern exploitation pictures, it’s a pity Zombie couldn’t have fashioned something a little more interesting or subtle here.

The movie picks up with the entrance of a wonderfully over-the-top Malcolm McDowell as Doctor Loomis. The veteran actor/expert ham transforms Loomis into a sleazy, wildly entertaining character who is actually more unsettling than Myers himself!

There are excellent performances elsewhere too, including Scout Taylor-Compton, whose easy-going charm slips naturally into scream queen mode, and Danielle Harris (who in her childhood years appeared in Halloween 5 & 6) as her school pal/slasher fodder. It all helps to make Halloween a far more enjoyable experience than you might expect.

The DVD comes with some decent extras including a revealing commentary by Zombie (though he doesn’t address criticisms of the movie), various ‘Making of’ featurettes (where everyone stresses how they tried to keep the movie “real”) and a blooper reel. While bloopers are usually something to be avoided at all costs, the improvs by a clearly barking McDowell (“He’s schizophrenic, he’s a f*****g nutter and he’s going to do damage!”) are hilarious. Matt McAllister