Halloween (2-Disc Collector's Edition) (Blu-ray) (2007)

Editor's Note The early 2000s have seen a string of big-budget remakes of classic horror films. In addition to THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and THE HILLS HAVE EYES, John Carpenter's benchmark slasher flick HALLOWEEN has been given a new-millennial overhaul. At the helm of the project sits rocker Rob Zombie, whose previous films, HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES and THE DEVIL'S REJECTS, brought a fan's touch and an auteur's vision to the director's chair. While Zombie's HALLOWEEN is faithful to Carpenter's vision, there are some obvious changes, the most pronounced of these being the substantial focus on Michael Myers's childhood. The film posits Michael (played by a creepily vacant Daeg Faerch) as a troubled child made all the worse by a horrible home life--wonderfully illustrated via William Forsythe's performance as Deborah Myers's boyfriend--and constant abuse at school. Zombie paints Michael's pain with palpable grit and sleaze, but he isn't out to put our culture on the couch--he simply wants to show Michael killing his family. With the exception of Michael's therapy sessions while incarcerated, the film, post-massacre, stays loyal to the original. Zombie's film is clearly the work of a filmmaker who knows and loves the genre. The director's signature is stamped all over HALLOWEEN (most notably in the use of grainy home movie footage and a smokin' classic rock soundtrack), although remnants of Carpenter's brilliant original still remain. When it comes to remakes, it's hard to ask for much more.

	Brad Dourif
	Danielle Harris
	Tyler Mane
	Scout Taylor-Compton
	Daeg Faerch
	Malcolm McDowell
	William Forsythe
	Sheri Moon
	Phil Parmet - Director of Photography
	John Carpenter - Source Writer
	Rob Zombie - Music Supervisor
	Tyler Bates - Composer
	Rob Zombie - Screenwriter
	Malek Akkad - Producer
	Andy Gould - Producer
	Debra Hill - Source Writer
	Rob Zombie - Producer
	Rob Zombie - Director

Entertainment Weekly
"Zombie's version offers an extended prologue that fills in the formative days of Myers' psychosis..." 09/14/2007 p.126

Total Film
"It's relentlessly malevolent....Zombie's production design laces it with a truly nasty edge." 12/01/2007 p.68