Post by rrw on Sept 16, 2007 8:31:45 GMT -5
It's really no big deal... But I got a review published in our small, school paper. Okay, it IS a big deal but only to me.
Since I teach a class called American Horror Film a lot of people ask me what I thought of Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween. It was... okay... which is not really good. Not for a horror film. Why do I say that? Glad you asked. The major problem with the film is that it's actually two movies in one and not enough time is given to fully develop each movie. Sure, Alfred Hitchcock did the same structure in Psycho, but Rob Zombie is not Hitchcock.
The first part is RZ's best work where he tries to explore how a little kid could turn into a cold-blooded killer (much the same thing as Thomas Harris tried to do with Hannibal Rising with the same clichéd and rather lifeless outcome). Yeah, we see that "Little Mikie" has a terrible life. His "father" abuses him, his mom's a kind-hearted but neglecting stripper and his teenage sister... well, she's just the stereotypical over sexed teen who doesn't have time to be bothered by a weird little brother! Biiiiiig mistake on her part!
Although it’s an interesting idea, RZ just doesn't take the time to flush out each scene, which is a major problem that ALL the 21st Century horror filmmakers have. They got it in their collective head that young moviegoers are too impatient to sit and watch characters and storylines develop slowly. "Heck No! We don't want to see THAT! Just show us the ACTION, the BLOOD and GORE!" Unfortunately, the ACTION sequences in Halloween are so distorted by RZ's addiction to close-ups and the use of "shaky cam" that you never really SEE the action. It's all one big blur. And the BLOOD and GORE? Well, with the exception of the killing of the bully in the woods, every "kill scene" is borrowed from other movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Terminator and… just about every movie you've ever seen. Come to think of it, the bully scene is very much like Last House on the Left! There's just nothing original going on.
The second part of the movie is the original Halloween written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill. Yes, there are a few extra scenes, a few changes in dialogue, a few new camera angles thrown in, but for the most part it’s Halloween 1978 all over again. The only reason you should bother watching the second part of Rob’s movie is that it will give you an even greater appreciation for JC and Debra Hill’s script.
Zombie and the rest of the “New Masters of Horror” keep looking back to the 70s and 80’s to find ideas for movies. It’s okay to do that if it inspires NEW ideas, NEW ways of doing things. But they just don’t seem to be inspired much at all. They just rip off titles, gut the stories and throw in as many BAD special effects as they can and call it “HORROR!” What they need to do is look father back for inspiration. Try some of the Gothic literature out of the 19th Century. Go to Radcliffe or Poe or study the philosophy of the Sublime. Just stop giving us the same mediocre storylines, same mediocre characters and really try to scare the bejeebees out us for a change.
To give the devil's reject (Hee!) his due, Rob Zombie is slowly becoming a good writer/director. Halloween is probably his best film to date. But he suffers from the same malady that the other remake artists suffer from... they really don't have anything to say about the human condition, and they don't understand how to use the tools of the horror genre.
Rob Zombie’s Halloween
By
Professor Robert R. Woods
By
Professor Robert R. Woods
Since I teach a class called American Horror Film a lot of people ask me what I thought of Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween. It was... okay... which is not really good. Not for a horror film. Why do I say that? Glad you asked. The major problem with the film is that it's actually two movies in one and not enough time is given to fully develop each movie. Sure, Alfred Hitchcock did the same structure in Psycho, but Rob Zombie is not Hitchcock.
The first part is RZ's best work where he tries to explore how a little kid could turn into a cold-blooded killer (much the same thing as Thomas Harris tried to do with Hannibal Rising with the same clichéd and rather lifeless outcome). Yeah, we see that "Little Mikie" has a terrible life. His "father" abuses him, his mom's a kind-hearted but neglecting stripper and his teenage sister... well, she's just the stereotypical over sexed teen who doesn't have time to be bothered by a weird little brother! Biiiiiig mistake on her part!
Although it’s an interesting idea, RZ just doesn't take the time to flush out each scene, which is a major problem that ALL the 21st Century horror filmmakers have. They got it in their collective head that young moviegoers are too impatient to sit and watch characters and storylines develop slowly. "Heck No! We don't want to see THAT! Just show us the ACTION, the BLOOD and GORE!" Unfortunately, the ACTION sequences in Halloween are so distorted by RZ's addiction to close-ups and the use of "shaky cam" that you never really SEE the action. It's all one big blur. And the BLOOD and GORE? Well, with the exception of the killing of the bully in the woods, every "kill scene" is borrowed from other movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Terminator and… just about every movie you've ever seen. Come to think of it, the bully scene is very much like Last House on the Left! There's just nothing original going on.
The second part of the movie is the original Halloween written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill. Yes, there are a few extra scenes, a few changes in dialogue, a few new camera angles thrown in, but for the most part it’s Halloween 1978 all over again. The only reason you should bother watching the second part of Rob’s movie is that it will give you an even greater appreciation for JC and Debra Hill’s script.
Zombie and the rest of the “New Masters of Horror” keep looking back to the 70s and 80’s to find ideas for movies. It’s okay to do that if it inspires NEW ideas, NEW ways of doing things. But they just don’t seem to be inspired much at all. They just rip off titles, gut the stories and throw in as many BAD special effects as they can and call it “HORROR!” What they need to do is look father back for inspiration. Try some of the Gothic literature out of the 19th Century. Go to Radcliffe or Poe or study the philosophy of the Sublime. Just stop giving us the same mediocre storylines, same mediocre characters and really try to scare the bejeebees out us for a change.
To give the devil's reject (Hee!) his due, Rob Zombie is slowly becoming a good writer/director. Halloween is probably his best film to date. But he suffers from the same malady that the other remake artists suffer from... they really don't have anything to say about the human condition, and they don't understand how to use the tools of the horror genre.
and 
all
time for me 
echoes, hope you all are doing well 
