Rob Zombie's Halloween

Den_M

So I got 'access' to this last week and I have to say I'm dissapointed. Not that my hopes were high to begin with. Rob took a classic and did his usual white trash/profanity-laden dialogue/extreme close up shtick with it.

He got some serious respect for the Devils Rejects, a film I also thought was very poor. Fangoria seem to worship the man. His scripts are so typical and unimaginitive I can't believe it. He's obviously a huge horror fan and it shows and thats great but creates nothing new. Nothing original. His films are one long tribute/rip off of whats gone before. At least Tarantino has some snappy dialogue.

Also, his wife can't act and is just plain annoying. McDowell was the best of a bad bunch. Don't even get me started on his choice for Laurie Strode. The dialogue between the girls in the first film wasn't up to much but it's cringe-worthy crap in this.

has anyone else seen this and what did you think?

ricey

did you see the workprint or in the cinema?

i got the workprint of it and really liked it
its prob the best remake iv seen over the
last few years. i hate remakes but i really
enjoyed this.

Den_M

Yeah it was the workprint. Even if it hadn't been a remake I would have been very underwhelmed. Every character seemed so unrealistic and over the top. the original developed the characters, this didn't. Laurie Strode was the biggest airhead, I seriously wanted Michael (who looked like the jolly green giant in overalls) to lop her head off.

niallon

I'm an avid John Carpenter fan and totally obsessed with Halloween and would like to think that nobody thought the notion of this remake sicker than I did, and I have to say I enjoyed it. Saw the workprint now mind you and from what I hear of the Theatrical Version it's been butchered! Don't get me wrong, still don't agree with the remake idea and definitely don't think Rob Zombie craps gold as a result but he did what he said he would: no shot for shot job, Halloween for the noughties. Maybe that wasn't a necessary thing but if it must be done then do it like this. My biggest gripes were the lack of nods towards the original, dwelled a tad too long on the backstory, grey mask not frightening, too little McDowell, too much Laurie (who is now a total b**ch instead of virgin #1) and the ending fealt like a bit of a cop out. All in all though it knocked the hell outta some remakes. I mean for example: Planet Of The Apes, The Fog, TCM, The Hitcher all crap with no respect for the source material. Can't wait for Near Dark and Escape From New York remakes....sigh...

DerekP11

Saw the work print and just finished watching it for a second time. I loved it. Im a big John Carpenter fan and nearly always against remakes, but the original Halloween, just left so much that could be explored in a remake. Zombie explored that. I no very little of the guys work, but as a film fan and filmmaker, I thought this was a job well done.

Can't wait to see whats taken out of it for the theatrical version. I reckon up to 15 minutes has gone.

carbonkid

From a fan of rob zombies previous work i gotta say i was kinda disapointed, specially the ending. I know hes not a great director but he does have his own style i like. I felt like i was watching two short movies squished together. Ok i liked the first half, although myers killing the whole family was a bit out of no where, but the second part/remake of the orginal was...well not great lol. It just felt like ok this person dies now and this person like this, where was the fear and suspense. And dont get me on his cast for the second half of the movie...f*cking awful man. Rob needs to stick to his hillbilly mass murdering family value scripts...like his last two movies, they were awsome ^_^

hyn-zie

how do i get a work print? ? ? ?

azezil

carbonkid wrote:

From a fan of rob zombies previous work i gotta say i was kinda disapointed, specially the ending. I know hes not a great director but he does have his own style i like. I felt like i was watching two short movies squished together. Ok i liked the first half, although myers killing the whole family was a bit out of no where, but the second part/remake of the orginal was...well not great lol. It just felt like ok this person dies now and this person like this, where was the fear and suspense. And dont get me on his cast for the second half of the movie...f*cking awful man. Rob needs to stick to his hillbilly mass murdering family value scripts...like his last two movies, they were awsome ^_^

I felt the same, loved the first half, hated the second half, the first half was true Zombie style, lots of gore and violence, but by showing Myers face and trying to get us to empathize with him, no, I thought that was a big mistake. Michael Myers is supposed to be the personification of pure evil, not some ****ed up delusional dude who was abused as a kid.

DerekP11

Theatrical version is terrible.

niallon

Yup, Theatrical Version is woeful! Whole scenes gone, pointless amateur new ones thrown in. Total character change to Myers. Basically Xombie's initial vision down the swanny. We'll surely see these parts on the DVD as Deleted Scenes and an Alternate Ending but why not just have them in the final cut? I'll say no more, blood pressure swelling.....

Thundercracker

from what ive been told i need to obtain the original workprint of this dvd, seemingly its better then the theatrical version, although in fairness thats not saying much. As someone said to me having seen it

"its like an extending addition of coronation street with a murder or two...you kinda expect david platt to be the one under the mask...."

jayteecork

I've seen the Workprint.
I really liked the scenes with the young Michael Myers.
However as soon as he grew up and turned into a WWE wrestler, things went pear-shaped.

spooky donkey

I saw this in the cinema and thought it was good, as did some mates from work. But the intresting thing was that while some had seen the cinema release some had seen the work print and what I learned from them is that they are almost 2 different movies. The work print seemed crap compared to the cinema release. It had a different end and the asylum senece was also completly different. Be Intresting to see the DVD of this and see what RZ has to say about the 2 versions. They are like 2 different films.

Otis Driftwood

Apparantly the reason for the 2 versions is that Zombie and or the studio wernt happy with the first version-the work print-so they filmed new scenes for the theatrical release.

niallon

spooky donkey wrote: »

The work print seemed crap compared to the cinema release. It had a different end and the asylum senece was also completly different.

To each their own but:

SPOILERS (Most have seen by now I'm sure but hey!)



- Yes, the asylum sequence has been changed, for the better! Zombie was making a new style Halloween film, one that tried to give reason and explanation for Michael Myers. In the workprint, Michael doesn't kill at random, and he doesn't kill those that do not hurt him. As a result, Danny Trejo stays alive. gone are the OTT gore scenes in the asylum too. He breaks out because two drunk ass guards bust into his room with an inmate and attempt to rape her. They mock Michael, one of them wearing one of his masks, and he flips. Gone is the horrifically cliched chain breaking scene.

- The ending. Far superior. I was so bloody bored during the theatrical ending! There's suspense and then there's just plain nothing. I could see what Zombie was trying to do but it wasn't working. Also, killing Loomis was just nonsense. In the workprint, Michael being the slightly rational being that he is, Loomis manages to reason with him and Michael surrenders Laurie. Then the entire Haddonfield Police Force fill him with lead, to the horror of Loomis. A great display of the American response of "we don't know what it is, we don't know how to stop it, better shoot it a couple of dozen times".


Just my two cents, no more no less!