Halloween (2007) – review

DVB – italian audio track

Long story short: a 10 year old child massacres half of his family; after more than 15 years in prison, he escapes, committing new massacres...

I like John Carpenter’s movie – in particular, I love The Thing and Escape From New York, but most of you are aware of this; admittedly, the original 1978 Halloween was not a masterpiece; yes, it was scary (for these years), story was interesting and music was simple but extraordinary, could also be considered an horror milestone, but watched nowadays, is not so scary as one hoped for, and not gruesome enough for today’s standards of violence and blood…

At the contrary, this Rob Zombie movie is much better; this is not a mere remake, but more an homage to the original movie; indeed, some music cues are the same, and some scenes are acted almost exactly like the original ones.

But there is more than this; we discover more of Michael’s early life, and some of the reasons he brought him to do the massacre – added to the fact he’s a psycho, of course; in this movie, kills count rise, as violence and gore; in comparison, Carpenter’s Myers is almost an absolute beginner…

Actors are very good and believable – Malcom McDowell, Brad Dourif, Denny Trejo… enough? – story is not a simple verbatim copy of the original, but adds a lot, in particular at the beginning – even if cut many of almost useless scenes of the original, it still retain the most important ones, plus new unexpected plot twists; music is a perfect addition, make up and practical effects are excellent.

I should admit I was pretty sure to watch a simple and awful remake of an important film, and I was pleasently surprised to be completely wrong! Reccomended to any horror fan – in my humble opinion, a modern time small but important milestone in the horror movie history.

My vote: 7/10

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373883