Halloween Picks: The Rob Zombie Halloween Films

Now I know that I have been debating whether or not I wanted to do this final entry for my series on the Halloween Collection Box set since when the remake first came out is when I was starting in movie reviewing and because of this and my association and friendship with many in the Horror community I was sent to an early screening of the film in 2007 and my review was posted.

I admit that I am a loyalist to the original and Eric’s roommate at the time was with us and she openly mentioned my state of mind at the time.

Needless to say I was pretty upset at the time. Now I admit that the film has slightly grown me.

I have become friends with many in the cast and I have shot many interviews with them.

Now as for the complete collection of the Halloween franchise this is where I have to complain. There are in fact two different cuts of both of the Rob Zombie Halloween films with the director’s cut as well as the theatrical cut of both films and in the box set there are just the directors cuts of the films.

Personally I prefer the theatrical cut of the 2007 film and the director’s cut of the 2009 sequel.  

Halloween 2007 has become typical Rob Zombie Fare with the use of Horror actors in small roles as well as a classic rock soundtrack.

I agree with many about the low class aspect of the opening of the film and I have to agree as my personal preference with the film isn't knowing Michael’s origin. I felt that the movie made Michael Myers into the primary victim and protagonist and all other characters as the antagonist in particularly Dr Loomis.

Now I feel that Rob Zombie has some sort of obsession with Charles Manson as he makes references to him in all of his films and he stated in interviews that he based the character on Vincent Bugliosi who was the prosecutor of the Manson family at the time of the murders and had written many books based on the trial with movie deals before the book was even published and after cashing in on the trial became a media personality.

Dr. Loomis takes this direction in the films in the first film he is viewed as after leaving as Michael’s doctor he writes a book about the murders however he does pursue his former patient like his 1978 counterpart. In Halloween II Loomis is portrayed as a narcissistic ego maniac who cashes in once again on the murders of the previous film and denies that Myers is still alive.

Laurie Strode is shown differently in these films as well as she isn't the mousy virgin as in the original film where in this film she is shown rubbing Bagels over herself in front of her mother and dry humping her best friend before realizing that the children that she is babysitting are watching.  Laurie is also depicted as a more modern teenager going as far to act annoyed at the children and wearing more rock and roll fashions.

In the sequel that takes place soon after the previous film Laurie is depicted as far more of a wreck suffering from PTSD and seeing a shrink. Her behavior is also far more self-destructive as her relationship with Annie has deteriorated and become more antagonistic with her one time BFF.

These films also mark the return of Danielle Harris to the franchise after her departure from the series in Halloween 6’s pre-production. Originally Zombie didn’t want to cast Harris due to the fact that she was in Halloween 4 and 5 but fans wanted her to be in the film and unlike her 1978 counterpart she did survive to be in the second film.

Danielle Harris also goes through a major change in between both films as in the first film she is more focused on sex with her boyfriend than any impending Danger where Laurie is more the responsible one  and in the sequel she has reversed roles with Scout and is now the maternal character.

The remakes also focus much needed attention on Sheriff Brackett who is barely explored in the previous eras of the franchise as he departs early in part 2. Brackett is played in these films by Chucky himself Brad Douriff and has a far more disliking of Dr. Loomis.

Tyler Mane is a friend of mine as he and I have hung out at a couple of conventions as well as his wife and I actually liked his performance as Michael Myers. Tyler is a former professional wrestler and is best known for the role of Sabretooth in the 2000 X-Men Movie and he briefly took on the role of Rufus in The Devil’s Rejects and has also become a quite accomplished filmmaker in his own right.

He did bring a new dimension to the famous killer and in the second film did much without the mask which is a first for the franchise.

As I mentioned earlier there are two cuts of both films. The Director’s cut of the 2007 film features the main difference is the scene where Michael escapes and in theatrical cut Michael is scheduled to be transferred and the guards that are transferring him include many Devil’s Rejects Alumni Bill Moseley and Leslie Easterbrook who are dispatched after Michael breaks free of his chains.

The Director’s cut features a scene that I took issue with in place of this scene where Lou Temple and Courtney Gains are the guards and choose to sexually assault a new inmate in front of Michael who then attacks and kills the guards. The issue that I had with this scene is again Michael becomes a protagonist in the film.

Both Films have an increased emphasis on Michael's mother which naturally is played by Rob Zombie's Wife Sherri Moon Zombie, Shown as a stripper in the first film Deborah Myers is still shown to be the loving mother to her son despite the murders but unable to cope with the evil that her son she commits suicide. 

She is featured again in the sequel as a ghost with a more sinister side as she talks to Michael giving him instructions and orders to make them a "Family" again. Michael is able to talk to her in the image of himself as a child. 

The Sequel definitely features a different cut than the theatrical with a different ending where Laurie fully embraces her family heritage and has to be taken down by the cops.

Given the fact that Zombie is a Musician I am not surprised by the use of music in these flicks. I admit that I have often wondered what the significance of the song Love Hurts which is featured significantly in both films is.

The use of the Soundtrack in the Remake is my favorite for the film.

I still recommend checking out the films and they do bring their own contributions to the franchise and I look forward to more entries in the future.

Halloween Picks: H20 and the Resurrection of Michael Myers

In the previous entry in this blog series I reviewed Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers and what I mentioned was this was the beginning of the Miramax era in the Halloween Franchise and all the rights there in. 

When I was in my senior year of High School in 1998 it was announced that Jamie Lee Curtis was returning to the franchise that made her career in Halloween: H20. Now.Now I have to admit that the first time that I saw this flick was an interesting time for me and with the night and the events that happened to me had ramifications for many years and when I think of this film I am made to think of these events.

The truth is that H20 isn’t one of my favorites. As a longtime fan of the franchise I was bothered by the fact that 4, 5, and 6 were erased from existence.

Now for those of you that are asking what I mean by this is that the Weinstein’s and Dimension films decided that this film is essentially Halloween 3. They even went as far to call it the concluding chapter in the Halloween series and with the return of Jamie Lee Curtis as well as the casting of Josh Harnett, and Michelle Williams who was hot at the time due to her role on Dawson’s Creek there was much hype on this flick and on opening day the theatre was packed to capacity.

The reason for this was in fact Jamie Lee Curtis who admitted that she was not a fan of Halloween 2 and only did the film out of loyalty to John Carpenter and Debra Hill.

Open about the fact that she didn’t see any of the sequels Jamie Lee Curtis thought of a story where her character after 20 years is once again confronted by her brother and must face him and kill him in the end.

This will become an issue later.

The plot of the film is that Michael Myers appears at nurse Chambers’ house where Dr. Loomis lived be his before his death shortly before the film where he learns of Laurie’s whereabouts and sets out for California.

Laurie Strode has relocated to California and under the assumed name of Carrie Tate she lives as the head Mistress of a posh private school that her 17 year old son John also attends.

John has grown accustomed to his mother’s PTSD as Laurie has become a function alcoholic and prescription drug addict who has multiple meltdowns every year on Halloween.  Laurie’s overprotectiveness of John causes many issues for mother and son.

Michael arrives and what we get is a film that in a Hollywood style pitch is Psycho meets Scream…and it is a sequel to Halloween.

7 Dead Bodies

0 Breasts

1 Beast

Ice Skate to the face

2 Knives to the back

2 Throat Slashings

1 Hanging

1 Moter Vehicle Chase

Legs Roll

Heads Roll

Look for Future Hollywood Players Josh Harnett as Laurie’s son John and Joseph Gordon Levitt as Jimmy the first victim in the flick.

Nice Refrence to Psycho in the scene where Jamie Lee's mother Psycho star Janet Leigh goes to her car which is the scame car from Psycho. 

This actually was a chapter that I almost considered passing up on the bluray box set but I am glad that I didn’t.

There were features on this disc in the collection that explained many issues that I had with the film.

Now one of the issues that I was just confused is the multiple masks that were in the film which all that managed to accomplish was the fact that I began to think that there were multiple Michael Myers in the film and as it turned out I was not that far off.

The reason that I admitted that this film was not one of my favorites was the way Michael Myers was both portrayed and killed in the film.

In the Ending of Halloween H20 Laurie Strode in a final encounter with Michael Myers manages to subdue her brother but before she can make the final kill she is stopped by LL Cool J and soon the police and EMTs arrive and while Michael is being loaded into the coroner’s van Laurie realizes that this is how he is going to make his escape and after stealing a gun form a nearby officer she orders that Michael be loaded into the van and takes off with her brother in the back.

As she predicted Michael soon reawakens in the back of the van and a final confrontation ensues which concludes with Michael pinned under the van as it sets on fire with Laurie standing over him with the Axe.

After Michael tries to make peace with his sister which we all knew was a trick she chops his head off with the Axe ending the movie.

Now what I didn’t know was the conflict that this brought into production.

As it turns out Jamie Lee Curtis was brought into the film due to Miramax and the film that she wanted was this ending.

Well into preproduction this was the intention until Mustafa Akkad became aware of the ending and revealed that there was in his contract that Michael Myers never dies. This needless to say didn’t sit too well with Jamie Lee Curtis.

With Jamie Lee threatening to drop out of the film just before production the creative heads involved with the project scrambles to find a solution and with both the film’s star and the franchise’s head refusing to budge on their positions it seemed that the film would be halted.

Scream writer Kevin Williamson soon reached the solution that Laurie Strode would kill Michael Myers but what the viewers and the characters don’t know is that Michael has switched bodies with an EMT after crushing his voice box and he would return in the next film when all is revealed.

Jamie Lee Curtis as a measure of compromise would sign on for the next film on the condition that her character would die early in the film and the filming continued on as planned.

This therefor brings us to Halloween Resurrection.

Now this is where I am going to get into trouble as I have been in trouble here before because I am actually both a fan and a supporter of the film. Facts that I have received much ridicule and hate from friends and fans alike.

Now I have to admit that I did go into the film with all of my expectations low and didn’t even see the film until it had been in the theatres for a week or two and I finally went to see it in a particularly empty theatre.

I know that many of my Horror reviewing Brethren have highly bashed the film but this flick is on my guilty pleasures list.

Picking up a brief few years after the events of Halloween H20 you now find that Laurie Strode has now learned that she killed a father of three has now been institutionalized where Michael soon finds her.

As per her contract that I was well aware of at the time in the film’s opening Jamie faces off against her brother for the final time before meeting her fate after he outsmarts her and drops her off the roof with her vowing to see him in Hell.

The way Michael defeats her makes reference to a scene in H20 that I had issue with which after listening to the commentaries and DVD features that this was all preplanned.

Now I feel that this is the issue that many will have with the film as that we are seeing our long time protagonist meeting her end in a way that makes the character feel weak which this was Jamie Lee’s idea for the character. I guess the fact that I already know this going into the film is why it didn’t bother me.

The film then returns to Haddonfield where there is a reality show being filmed in the Myers House for Dangertainment on as you most likely guessed the show airs live on Halloween Night.

Produced by Freddie Harris and Nora Winston (Busta Rhymes and Tyra Banks) The show follows the modern trends of reality television at the time and this is in fact a webcast across the internet and the producers assemble a cast of local college students including the trio of Jen, Rudy and Sara.

Sara is cast after a light falls behind her during her audition making her scream and Freddie convinces her to join the cast despite her misgivings. Sara is also involved in an internet friendship with a man named Deckard. Unknown to Sara Deckard is actually a High School Freshman who is attending a Halloween party than night though he still catches the webcast with many of the party goers.

Soon Michael Myers begins to stalk and take out both the cast and crew while Sara IRC Chats with Deckard to know how to escape the house while Freddie and Michael face off in a fiery confrontation.

10 Dead Bodies

2 Breasts

1 Beast

Hanging

Slashing

Multiple Stabbings

Face Ripping

Skull Crushing

Heads Roll

 Another issue that many had with this flick that caused it’s failure was the casting of Busta Rhymes.

I personally don’t see the issue  with the casting now many were talking about his acting however I will admit that I have encountered many producers like the character of Freddie and they are very similar to the character and Rhymes’s performance is just like them.

Now many are hung up on the Hip Hop artist and the typical demographic of the Halloween fans aren’t Hip Hop fans but he isn’t rapping in the film so I personally don’t care if he is a musician. I do like the character.

Yes I am the type of director that will be sitting in my motel room watching Martial Arts films on the evening before a shoot.

Canadian actor and stunt performer Brad Loree plays Michael this time out and also does a good job and I love the Mask by the way.

I also liked the way that the internet is utilized in the film as Deckard is able to tell Sara where to go effectively adding a new dimension to the film with the characters thinking that they are watching a show but soon learning the horrifying fact that what they are watching is real effectively giving the film a Blair Witch reference and a War of the Worlds reference as well though Audiences are well aware that the film is fiction but watching many of the previous entries for the first time audiences would frequently be seen yelling at the screen.

 Well in this movie the characters are listening.

The DVD and Blu-Ray Releases do have a special feature option where you can see the found footage show as it is airing.

The film was directed by Halloween director Rick Rosenthal and filmed on a soundstage in Canada which was a first for the series. I do like the camerawork and the editing as well. The look of the film and sound design is great and I can’t complain about it.

Bianca Kajlich is both hot and a great Final Girl for the flick. I almost would have expected this role for a pre Battlestar Galactica Katee Sackhoff before becoming Starbuck in the role of the celebrity narcissistic Jen .

The Ending scene in the Morgue is a nice touch!

Needless to say this flick is a good stand-alone film in the series and while often regarded as the redheaded stepchild due to the death of Jamie Lee and the Martial Arts rapper but these don’t bother me and if you ask me what could be worse.

Well you could always hire a Rock Star

to remake the original Film as well as a sequel, but that is a whole other chapter.