Halloween (Two-Disc Unrated Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray]
by Rob Zombie
![Halloween (Two-Disc Unrated Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray]](/images/Halloween-Two-Disc-Unrated-Collector-Edition-Blu-ray-B001CFLGYQ-L.jpg)
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Actor: Daeg Faerch, Malcolm McDowell, Scout Taylor-Compton, Sheri Moon Zombie, Tyler ManeDirector: Rob Zombie
Brand: Genius
Writer: Rob Zombie
Writer: Debra Hill
Writer: John Carpenter
Blu-ray: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.40:1
Running Time: 109 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: 2008-10-21
Audience Rating: Unrated
Model: 81588
Studio: Dimension Home Entertainment
Product features:
- Rob Zombie (The Devil's Rejects), "modern American horror's most eccentric and surprising filmmaker," (Matt Zoller Seitz, New York Times) reinvents the ultimate slasheric, unleashing Michael Myers for a bloody rollercoaster of a rampage like fans have never seen. Including a retelling of the original story that unfolds at a breakneck pace, as well as a chilling new introduction that finally reveal
Blu-ray Reviews of Halloween (Two-Disc Unrated Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray]
Blu-ray Review: A Remake That Should NEVER Have Been Made...
Summary: 1 Stars
First of all, this film is so shallow, cliched, and tired I don't even know where to begin. Zombie somehow manages to take a beloved classic (which was so good to begin with that it didn't ned to be remade in the first place) and destroy just about everything great about it.
Where to begin? The dialogue is incredibly insipid, crass, and totally unbelievable. The characters are thinner and more one-dimensional than a piece of white paper, and the motivations are absolutely straight out of a "how to make a B-movie" manual. The Michael Myers backstory is so cliched that it's laughable; he comes from a seriously dysfunctional household with an abusive/alcoholic father, a stripper mother who is barely hanging on to life, and a cruel, whore sister. Therefore, poor Michael becomes a serial killer! Makes sense, right? Not really...but, Zombie would like to fool people into thinking it does.
The three heroines from the original are back in the form of Anie, Linda, and of course, beloved Laurie. Except these three girls are transformed from charming, wonderful, smart-alecky (in a cute way) girls into obnoxious, mean-spirited, vacuous, shallow twits who we can't even begin to care about. Even Laurie herself fails to elicit much sympathy or empathy from the audience due to her being just plain stupid and rather, as I said before, obnoxious.
Loomis is transformed from a venerable, noble, and sympathetic Doctor into an egocentric, clueless, simpleton. One can't feel any respect or identification with him either.
Finally, there's Michael himself. In this incarnation, Michael turns from a child into a hulking behemoth...a 6 foot 8 inch bulking monster of a man. Where's the suspense, horror, mystery, fright, or aura of terror in this idea? I won't delve deeply into the "what makes Michael work" argument...but, making him 8' 9" tall and built like a Hummer does NOT show basic comprehension for what made Michael such a legendary terror to begin with. If bigger = scarier...why not just turn him into a 12' 8" cyborg fashioned out of the remains of other serial killers and Nazi tanks? Turning Myers into the Hulk doesn't make him scarier per se. In fact, it has the opposite effect because it's too obvious, lazy and cliched. Everyone is expected to be scared of a HUGE man in a mask...but think of it this way. Real life serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy were "normal" guys. They appeared "normal" on the exterior and were also "normal" sized; but they were absolutely evil and some accounts also say they possessed inhuman strength. You wouldn't expect that from people who just look like they are the "guy next door". And THAT'S what makes them so scary. You would expect a 6'8" hulking monster to be superhumanly strong...but you would absolutely NOT expect a man who stands just above 6 feet to be a completely indestructible force of nature. Sure, Zombie's version is more obvious...but that's also why it's so much less scary to some people. There's no mystery and no subtlety to Zombie's Myers, we expect exactly what we get. And therein lies the problem. The original Myers had a quiet stealth and mystery to him that was truly disturbing; Nick Castle didn't simply walk while wearing the mask...he glided. He moved smoothly and efficiently, like a shark. And because of his "normal" stature, it made it even scarier when he performed superhuman feats of strength and stamina.
When I first saw the film, I wasn't sure whether or not to blame most of my dislikes on the actors...but then I realized, they were doing their best given the material they had to work with. The fault lies with the director/writer for even putting such trash to paper in the first place.
Naturally, when this film was announced and the director revealed, audiences shouldn't have expected a shot-for-shot remake of the original. But, audiences WERE expecting a film with intelligence, style, and a basic comprehension and respect for what made "Halloween" work in the first place. Zombie showed NONE of those things. Instead he caters to the average IQ level of the reality-TV-slurping cro-magnons who have the attention span and aesthetic sensibility of a pre-schooler. He took a great idea, a masterpiece of horror and dumbed it down...stripped it of it's mystery and subtlety, and thus its effectiveness...and layered it with white-trash characters, foul-mouthed and crass teens that are unlikeable, and poured buckets of blood on it; he made it more "today". That's NOT necessarily a good thing.
Description of Halloween (Two-Disc Unrated Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray]
Studio: Genius Products Inc Release Date: 10/21/2008 Rating: UrMore of a supercharged revamp than a remake, Rob Zombie's take on John Carpenter's Halloween expands the back story of masked killer Michael Myers in an attempt to examine the motivation for his first deadly attack, as well as some reasons for his longevity as a horror icon. Zombie's Myers is a blank-eyed teen (played by Daeg Faerch) whose burgeoning mental problems are left unchecked in a horrific home environment; harassed by schoolmates, a randy sister, and his mother's deadbeat boyfriend (William Forsythe, terrific as usual), Myers' homicidal explosion seems inevitable, and intervention by Dr. Sam Loomis (Malcolm McDowell, who offers a fast-talking, hippiefied version of the Donald Pleasance character) does little to impede his development into a mute, unstoppable killing machine (Tyler Mane) bent on finishing off the only survivor of his family's massacre--his sister, now grown into teenaged Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton). Opening up the psychological motivation of a cipher like Michael Myers is an interesting approach, but Zombie's script possesses neither a depth of character nor dialogue to offer more than a clichéd thumbnail character sketch, and devoting over a hour of the unrated cut's 120-minute-plus running time to this history feels bloated and self-indulgent (especially when compared to the lean efficiency of the Carpenter original). Zombie's Halloween isn't terribly suspenseful, either; he has a keen eye for visuals and the details of chaotic environments, but his scares are nothing more than brutal showcases for his special effects team. The end result barely surpasses the original film's numerous sequels, though the Who's Who of cult and character actors in the cast (including Zombie regulars Sid Haig, Bill Moseley and Ken Foree, as well as Brad Dourif, Udo Kier, Clint Howard, Richard Lynch, Danny Trejo, Dee Wallace, and Danielle Harris) adds a touch of late-night monster movie charm. However, the film's best performance belongs to the director's spouse, Sheri Moon Zombie, who brings unexpected pathos to the role of Myers' downtrodden mother.
The two-disc Unrated Director's Cut offers a full disc's worth of extras that should please Zombie fans; chief among the supplemental features is his commentary, which details the film's shooting history and the numerous edits required to deliver the theatrical version. A making-of featurette offers further details of Zombie's vision for the film, and there are featurettes on his cast choices and the many masks that Myers makes while incarcerated. Seventeen deleted scenes (two of which feature Adrienne Barbeau and Tom Towles) and an alternate ending (all with Zombie's commentary) are also provided, as well as footage from the casting sessions. A blooper reel, which is highlighted by unchecked mischief by McDowell and Dourif, offers the set's sole moment of levity. -- Paul Gaita
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