Common Sense

All the guys at CHUD took the time to bad-mouth, trash-talk and generally snub (and that’s putting it kindly) Rob Zombie’s version of Halloween.

This is in stark contrast to my review, which was generally glowing with praise. All the things they hated, were things I found great. It seems like their critique is that Zombie didn’t get what made Michael Meyers iconic, that he was supernatural in his need to kill and to be resurrected for yet another sequel. Zombie goes out of his way to make Meyers the antithesis of this supernatural slasher and to focus on his pathology. It takes the mystery out, but I think it puts back in that tons of children grow up in extremely similar circumstances. If environment helps spark the kind of rampage we see in the second act, then I find that chilling even if they find it mundane.

I’ll go with them that some of the dialogue and acting isn’t top-notch, but guys, we’re talkling about a horror movie. Horror movies, especially slasher films are renowned for their lack of acting and dialogue! It’s about ticket sales, popcorn and tits (amply supplied by Danielle Harris, little Jamie from Halloween 4 and 5 and now playing Laurie’s friend Annie). That’s what the core audience wants.

I dare them to take a franchise like Halloween, then write and direct a film out of thin air. Zombie tried to take something that some people consider sacred and he did what he wanted with it. Those are some cojones. He had fun and he brought his friends in to make the film he wanted. He knew going in that people were going to rip it. I was ready to just because I’m tired of all these endless remakes (The Hitcher immediately comes to mind). Zombie at least wanted to take a different look at the character with his first act, use the second act to do a shot-for-shot remake for the fanboys, and have an ending that ended with survivor girl Laurie surviving. Not 100% formula and not 100% original; a hybrid that we should all be able to find something enjoyable in. If we wanted to watch John Carpenter’s Halloween, then we would go to Netflix or Amazon and buy it. If we want to see what Zombie wanted to accomplish then we go see to the theater.

A quick look at IMDB tells me that a lot of people wanted to see what Zombie’s idea was, to the tune of $30.6 million its opening weekend. Of course, Superbad has made upwards of $92 million, so maybe we all have bad taste except for Devin, Jeremy and Nick.

All the guys at CHUD took the time to bad-mouth, trash-talk and generally snub (and that’s putting it kindly) Rob Zombie’s version of Halloween.

This is in stark contrast to my review, which was generally glowing with praise. All the things they hated, were things I found great. It seems like their critique is that Zombie didn’t get what made Michael Meyers iconic, that he was supernatural in his need to kill and to be resurrected for yet another sequel. Zombie goes out of his way to make Meyers the antithesis of this supernatural slasher and to focus on his pathology. It takes the mystery out, but I think it puts back in that tons of children grow up in extremely similar circumstances. If environment helps spark the kind of rampage we see in the second act, then I find that chilling even if they find it mundane.

I’ll go with them that some of the dialogue and acting isn’t top-notch, but guys, we’re talkling about a horror movie. Horror movies, especially slasher films are renowned for their lack of acting and dialogue! It’s about ticket sales, popcorn and tits (amply supplied by Danielle Harris, little Jamie from Halloween 4 and 5 and now playing Laurie’s friend Annie). That’s what the core audience wants.

I dare them to take a franchise like Halloween, then write and direct a film out of thin air. Zombie tried to take something that some people consider sacred and he did what he wanted with it. Those are some cojones. He had fun and he brought his friends in to make the film he wanted. He knew going in that people were going to rip it. I was ready to just because I’m tired of all these endless remakes (The Hitcher immediately comes to mind). Zombie at least wanted to take a different look at the character with his first act, use the second act to do a shot-for-shot remake for the fanboys, and have an ending that ended with survivor girl Laurie surviving. Not 100% formula and not 100% original; a hybrid that we should all be able to find something enjoyable in. If we wanted to watch John Carpenter’s Halloween, then we would go to Netflix or Amazon and buy it. If we want to see what Zombie wanted to accomplish then we go see to the theater.

A quick look at IMDB tells me that a lot of people wanted to see what Zombie’s idea was, to the tune of $30.6 million its opening weekend. Of course, Superbad has made upwards of $92 million, so maybe we all have bad taste except for Devin, Jeremy and Nick.