Halloween vs Hallo-whaaat?

John Carpenter's Halloween has been my favorite horror/slasher movie since the first time I saw when I was 12 or 13 years old. Michael Myers just embodies faceless evil and the setting (suburbian Illinois) is an outstanding contrast to what is going on in the film. Honestly, I was really excited when I heard that Rob Zombie was remaking what I feel is the originator of the slasher genre. I thought House of 1000 Corspes was really entertaining and The Devil's Rejects was way scarier than it had any right to be. However, in thinking about those two movies, I came to a forboding revelation - "Oh crap, he's going to miss the point."

My friend Bill C. had recently purchased a projector and thought it would be a good idea to watch horror movies in his basement - an event now deemed "Horror Night". I, of course, jumped at the idea. We were discussing what movies we could watch decided that a compare and contrast of Halloween (1978) and Halloween (2007) sounded like a good plan. I hadn't seen the the remake and had to admit I was slightly curious.

The night started with John Carpenter's Halloween. Bill and I had both already seen it. Michael was a newbie. I can't say enough about this movie. Sure it was filmed in 1978 and sure all the stuff that happens in the movie are clichè here in the 21st century, but this stuff was wholly original in 1978. I'm assuming the 2 - 5 people that read this blog already know the story of John Carpenter's Halloween, but I will do a basic synopsis anyway.

In the beginning of the movie, on Halloween 1963, young Michael Myers brutally kills his sister, Judith. in Haddonfield, IL and is put into a mental institution. Fifteen years later (again on Halloween) he breaks out, returns to Haddonfield and ceaselessly stalks Laurie Strode, a young baby sitter that at the time seems to be a totally random victim. Michael kills a couple of Laurie's friends, but when he finally makes his move for Laurie, Dr. Loomis (the Ahab) is there. He shoots Michael six times in the heart and Michael falls off a balcony to the ground below. However, when Loomis goes to the balcony himself, Michael's body is gone!

This movie gets to me because it is plausible. Michael Myers isn't an undead tank like Jason Vorhees neither is he a wisecracking, dream inhabiting sociopath like Freddie Kruegar. He is just your average, ordinary, every day killer. There was nothing in his childhood that would have given away what he would become. The little bit of back story makes it seem like the Myers were an average, ordinary, everyday family living in the suburbs. Michael Myers could have been your next door neighbor.

Another thing about this movie that gets overlooked it that it takes place on Halloween. No one is really that bothered by a man in a rubber mask or a screaming girl on Halloween. The fact that Michael is able to stalk around in the daylight is an eerie thought and when he chases Laurie onto a neighbor's porch, the blinds are quickly closed and the lights turned off by what is surely its prank weary inhabitants. Basically, its the subtle, psychological horror that gets in you John Carpenter's Halloween.

And now for something completely different...

Rob Zombie apparently decided that Carpenter was too subtle and decided to go in-your-face for his reimagining. In Zombie's version, the Myers household is not the seemingly normal surburban family, it's a white trash hell hole. Everyone in the story is transmuted into an asshole, a bitch, or a whore. That's not to say that some of the girls in the original didn't have loose morals, but the girls in this flick are of a totally different color.

I'm not going to recap this film (this entry has gone on for long enough) but in the end, I was right. Rob Zombie totally missed the point. Michael Myers is a psycho, but he's not a gigantic, mindless killing machine. There is a method to his madness. Zombie should have just made an entirely new movie with an entirely new killer instead of sullying the name of the genre's originator.

I think Rob Zombie is a very talented director and he has done some great things in his movies, but he is not a storyteller and ultimately that's what you need to make a good horror movie.

One thing I can say for Rob Zombie's version is that it reintroduced me to Danielle Harris. When I was watching the Halloween sequels when I was younger I had the biggest crush on young Jaime Myers. Well, thanks to Rob Zombie I've found out that we've both grown up and I still have a crush on her! She is my obscure hot girl of the day!