Reviewed by Johnny McNair

Weinstein Company – 121 minutes – 2007 – Unrated – 1080p Widescreen 2.40:1 – Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Audio

The original 1978 Halloween has become the ultimate trick or treat flick mainly because if its title, and it was one of the first films to define the slasher genre. There have been plenty of really bad sequels but up until now, no one has every attempted a remake of John Carpenter’s horror classic. Coming off of the cult success of The Devil’s Rejects, rocker and director Rob Zombie has been handed the torch to re-invent the saga of Michael Myers for a new generation. The 2007 re-telling of Halloween is now available on Blu-ray from the Weinstein Company hoping to unleash the ultimate in fear, but instead will have you asking, was this remake really necessary?

THE MOVIE

Rob Zombie’s goal for his vision of Halloween was to give the audience a look at who Michael Myers was before he became a psychotic knife welding maniac. The story begins taking a look at his childhood, being raised by white trash parents, played by William Forsythe and Sheri Moon, and his two sisters, one being little Laurie Myers. Young Michael (Daeg Faerch) is made to look exactly like a kid who will end up shooting up his school one day, he’s abused and bullied and hates the world he lives in.

Everyone who is a fan of the serious knows how the story plays out; Michael goes berserk one night, killing his family, except for little Laurie, and his sent to an insane asylum where he is put under the care of Dr. Loomis, played by Malcolm McDowell. After many years locked up in the asylum and developing into a large silent brute, Michael escapes and goes back to the town he grew up in to searching for his sister Laurie (Scout Taylor-Compton), who adopted and raised by another family and doesn’t know anything about her killer brother. Will there be a whole lotta blood spilling and people screaming for their lives? Oh yes, because Michael is a natural born killer, so anyone who stands in his path will be sliced and diced.

Love or hate this film, the one thing you have to give director Rob Zombie is that he did attempt to develop what would normally be a cardboard character into someone you may actually understand why Michael became who he is. For those of you who saw Zombie’s last film The Devil’s Rejects, a similar style is set in place, so this is a hard, vulgar and violent movie that is not for those used to seeing the mild PG-13 horror films that have been the norm for the past few years. But the problem is that we’ve seen Halloween and it’s schlocky sequels so many times that it feels weird watching what looks like a serious dramatic analysis of Michael Myers.

Unless you’re afraid of your own shadow, there really aren’t any real scares in the movie, because you already know what’s going to happen. Just imagine Halloween parts one and two sewn together with a weird backstory tossed in attempting to give it legitimacy. In the end Halloween is not the worst film you’ll ever see, it just feels unnecessary and silly. If you have a few friends over on Halloween night and you sit together in a dark room to watch this re-make, you may get some thrill out of it; otherwise there’s always one of the old Halloween movies on cable that will do the trick, because basically they’re all the same.

VIDEO

The film itself is nothing memorable, but the image quality is very great with a full 1080p image and 2.40:1 aspect ratio. Obviously Michael Myers does his best work in the dark, so black levels look great, and character’s skin tones blend perfectly with the darker backgrounds. The earlier scenes of Michael Myers are filmed in a washed out style similar to Rob Zombie’s The Devil’s Rejects, and it fits nicely. Overall, there are not really any major negative issues with the image so on Blu-ray it’s very effective.

AUDIO

The sound is also a winner with this one, showing off a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix that will get under your skin if you watch the blu-ray in the right setting. Those wondering if John Carpenter’s original theme makes it into the film may or may not be disappointed, because like the movie the theme has been re-imagined by musician Tyler Bates. The sound design is handled well to play up the creep factor, and if you have a good home theater set-up you will benefit from it.

EXTRAS

For those of you who love bonus features, this two-disc Blu-ray sells itself with, believe it or not, a four and a half hour documentary. So if you enjoyed this film you’ll get a complete overdose. The only sucky side is that since this is a port from the special edition DVD, all of the extras are in standard definition.

First up, the man himself, Rob Zombie provides a solo audio commentary track that tears into the movie. The one thing you can say about Zombie is that he is a perfectionist and really wanted this film to be more than what it turned out to be.

‘Michael Lives’ is the main reason to own this Blu-ray, clocking in at an incredible four and a half hours, like it’s The Lord of the Rings or something, this documentary goes into every aspect of the making of Halloween, right down to how dirty the gas station bathroom should look. This is something you will have to see for yourself, and in many ways is better than watching the film itself.

This is one time when the deleted scenes are actually worth watching, and here you get a dozen of them totaling about twenty minutes including the cameo by former misses John Carpenter and B-movie queen Adrian Barbeau; plus the alternate ending.

‘Re-Imagining Halloween’ is a twenty-minute featurette that you should just skip, because everything you need is in the ‘Michael Lives’ documentary.

‘Meet the Cast is exactly what it sounds like, interviews with the stars of the re-imagined Halloween. ‘Casting Sessions’ is the follow-up, showing the screen tests for the actors.

‘The Many Masks of Michael Myers’ looks at the re-imagined mask worn by our favorite slasher, and for Halloween buffs, this is worth checking out.

BOTTOM LINE

This re-make of Halloween is an ambitious attempt, but really does nothing to re-start the series or adds anything new to it that fans didn’t know already. Rob Zombie does all he can to make it work, but he’s better off working with his own original material. Regardless, this unrated Blu-ray edition is still worth owning because of the great picture, sound and bonus features, particularly the four and a half hour long Michael Lives documentary. Die hard Halloween fans may have a lot of issues with this re-make, but all will agree that as a full Blu-ray package it’s definitely worth owing.

SCORES (out of 5):

The Movie: 2.5

Video: 4.0

Sound: 4.0

Extras: 4.0

Bottom Line: 3.5