Halloween (2007 film)

All you want to know about Halloween (2007 film)

Halloween

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Rob Zombie
Produced by Malek Akkad
Rob Zombie
Andy Gould
Written by 2007 Screenplay:
Rob Zombie
1978 Screenplay:
John Carpenter
Debra Hill
Starring Malcolm McDowell
Sheri Moon Zombie
Tyler Mane
Scout Taylor-Compton
Daeg Faerch
Music by Tyler Bates
Cinematography Phil Parmet
Editing by Glenn Garland
Distributed by USA:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Dimension Films
Canada
Alliance Films
UK:
Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) August 31, 2007
Running time 109 min.
Country  United States
Language English
Budget $15,000,000[1]
Gross revenue $78,301,528
Preceded by Halloween: Resurrection
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Halloween is a 2007 remake of the 1978 slasher film of the same name. The film was written, produced, and directed by Rob Zombie. The film stars Malcolm McDowell as Dr. Sam Loomis, Tyler Mane as the adult Michael Myers, and Scout Taylor-Compton as Laurie Strode; Daeg Faerch portrays a ten year old Michael Myers. Rob Zombie's "reimagining" follows the premise of Carpenter's original, with Michael Myers stalking Laurie Strode and her friends on Halloween night. Zombie's film goes deeper into the character's psyche, trying to answer the question of what drove him to kill people, whereas in Carpenter's original film Michael did not have an explicit reason for killing.

Working from Carpenter's advice to "make [the film] his own",[2] Zombie chose to develop the film as both a prequel and a remake, allowing for more original content than simply refilming the same scenes. Despite mostly negative reviews, the film, which cost $15 million to make,[1] went on to gross $78.3 million worldwide.

Contents

Plot

On Halloween in Haddonfield, Illinois, having already shown signs of psychopathic tendencies, ten year old Michael Myers (Daeg Faerch) murders his sister Judith (Hanna R. Hall), her boyfriend Steve (Adam Weisman), his mother’s boyfriend Ronnie (William Forsythe), and a school bully (Daryl Sabara). After the longest trial in the state’s history, Michael is found guilty of first degree murder and sent to Smith's Grove Sanitarium under the care of child psychologist Dr. Sam Loomis (Malcolm McDowell). Michael initially cooperates with Dr. Loomis, claiming no memory of the killings; his mother, Deborah (Sheri Moon Zombie), visits him regularly. After a year, Michael becomes fixated on his papier-mâché masks, closing himself off from everyone, even his mother. When Michael kills a nurse (Sybil Danning) during one of her visits, Deborah can no longer handle the situation and commits suicide. For the next fifteen years, Michael (Tyler Mane) continues making his masks and not speaking to anyone. Dr. Loomis, having continued to treat Michael over the years, attempts to move on with his life and closes Michael’s case. Later, while being prepared for transfer to maximum security, Michael escapes Smith’s Grove, killing the sanitarium guards and a truck driver (Ken Foree) for his clothes, and heads to Haddonfield. On Halloween, Michael arrives at his old home, now abandoned, and finds a kitchen knife and Halloween mask he stored under the floorboards the night he killed his sister.

The story shifts to Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton), and her friends Annie Brackett (Danielle Harris) and Lynda Van Der Klok (Kristina Klebe) on Halloween. Throughout the day, Laurie witnesses Michael watching her from a distance. That night, she heads to the Doyle residence to watch their son Tommy (Skyler Gisondo). Meanwhile, Lynda meets with her boyfriend Bob (Nick Mennell) at Michael's childhood home. Michael appears, murders them, and then heads to the Strode home, where he murders Laurie's parents. Having been alerted to Michael's escape, Dr. Loomis comes to Haddonfield looking for Michael. After obtaining a handgun, Loomis attempts to warn Sheriff Brackett (Brad Dourif) that Michael has returned to Haddonfield. Brackett and Dr. Loomis head to the Strode home, with Brackett explaining along the way that Laurie is actually Michael Myers' baby sister.

Meanwhile, Annie convinces Laurie to babysit Lindsey Wallace (Jenny Gregg Stewart), a girl Annie is supposed to be watching, long enough so she can have sex with her boyfriend Paul (Max Van Ville). Annie and Paul return to the Wallace home; during sex, Michael murders Paul and attacks. Bringing Lindsey home, Laurie finds Annie on the floor, bloodied but alive, and calls 911. She is attacked by Michael, who chases her back to the Doyle home. Sheriff Brackett and Loomis hear the 911 call and head to the Wallace residence. Michael kidnaps Laurie, and takes her back to his home. Michael approaches Laurie and tries to show her that she is his younger sister. Unable to understand, Laurie grabs Michael's knife and stabs him before escaping the house; Michael chases her, but is repeatedly shot by Dr. Loomis. Laurie and Loomis are just about to leave when Michael grabs Laurie and heads back to the house. Loomis intervenes, but Michael attacks him by squeezing Loomis's skull with his hands. Laurie takes Loomis' gun and runs upstairs; she is chased by Michael, who, after cornering her on a balcony, charges her head-on and knocks both of them over the railing. Laurie finds herself on top of a bleeding Michael. Aiming Loomis' gun at his face, she repeatedly pulls the trigger until the gun finally goes off just as Michael's hand grips Laurie's wrist.

Development

From top to bottom: Tyler Mane as adult Michael Myers, director Rob Zombie, and Daeg Faerch as young Michael Myers.
From top to bottom: Tyler Mane as adult Michael Myers, director Rob Zombie, and Daeg Faerch as young Michael Myers.

On June 4, 2006, Dimension announced that Rob Zombie, director of House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects, would be creating the next installment in the Halloween franchise.[3] The plan was for Zombie to hold many positions in the production; he would write, direct, produce, and serve as music supervisor.[3] Bob Weinstein approached Rob Zombie about making the film, and Zombie, who was a fan of the original Halloween, and friend of John Carpenter, jumped at the chance to make a Halloween film for Dimension Studios.[3] Before Dimension went public with the news, Zombie felt obligated to inform John Carpenter, out of respect, of the plans to remake his film.[4] Carpenter's request was for Zombie to "make it his own".[2] During a June 16, 2006 interview, Rob Zombie announced that his film would combine the elements of prequel and remake with the original concept. Zombie insisted that there would be considerable original content in the new film, as opposed to mere rehashed material.[5]

His intention is to reinvent Michael Myers, because, in his opinion, the character, along with Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Pinhead, has become more familiar to audiences, and as a result, less scary.[6] The idea behind the new film was to delve deeper into Michael Myers' back story. A deeper back story would add "new life" to the character, as Zombie put it.[5] Michael's mask will be given its own story, to provide an explanation as to why he wears it, instead of having the character simply steal a random mask from a hardware store, as in the original film.[7] Zombie explained that he wanted Michael to be truer to what a psychopath really is, and wanted the mask to be a way for Michael to hide. He wants the young Michael to have charisma, which would be projected onto the adult Michael. Zombie has decided that Michael's motives for returning to Haddonfield should be more ambiguous. As Zombie explains, "was he trying to kill Laurie, or just find her because he loves her?"[4]

Moreover, Michael would not be able to drive in the new film, unlike his 1978 counterpart who stole Loomis' car so that he could drive back to Haddonfield.[7] Zombie also wants the Dr. Loomis character to be more intertwined with that of Michael Myers; Zombie said that the character's role in the original was "showing up merely to say something dramatic".[6] On December 22, 2006, Malcolm McDowell was announced to be playing Dr. Loomis[8] McDowell stated that he wants a tremendous ego in Loomis, who is out to get a new book from the ordeal.[7] Although Zombie has added more history to the Michael Myers character, hence creating more original content for the film, he chose to keep the character's trademark mask and Carpenter's theme song intact for his version (despite an apparent misinterpretation in an interview suggesting the theme would be ditched).[5] Production officially began on January 29, 2007.[9] Shortly before production began, Zombie reported that he had seen the first production of Michael's signature mask. Zombie commented, "It looks perfect, exactly like the original. Not since 1978 has The Shape looked so good".[10]

Filming occurred in the same neighborhood that Carpenter used for the original Halloween.[7] A contest was held for a walk on role in the next Halloween film, at the time called Halloween 9. Heather Bowen won the competition.[11]

Release

Approximately four days before the theatrical release of the film, a workprint version of the film appeared online and was circulated around various BitTorrent sites. Upon hearing of the leaked copy, Zombie stated that whatever version had been leaked was an older version of the film, unlike what was about the be released in theaters.[12] The leak of Zombie's workprint led to speculation that the film's box office success could be damaged the same way director Eli Roth attributed the financial failure of his film, Hostel: Part II, to the leaking of a workprint version of that film.[13] Dark Horizons webmaster, Garth Franklin, notes that watching the workprint allows a viewer to see what things were changed after the test screenings in June 2007. One particular scene, the rape of one of the Smith's Grove female inmates, Franklin was glad to see replaced in the final version of the film.[14]

Box office

Halloween was released on August 31, 2007, taking in $10,896,610 in 3,472 theaters.[15] The film broke box-office records for the Labor Day weekend by pulling in USD$30.59 million dollars over the four-day holiday weekend, surpassing the record set in 2005 by Transporter 2 of $20.1 million dollars.[16] It still currently resides as the top Labor Day weekend grosser.[17] Despite the film's opening weekend success, Bob Weinstein told Reuters that he doubts there would be another Halloween film.[18] Halloween dropped 64 percent in its second weekend, bringing its ten day total to $43.7 million in the United States.[19] The film opened with Michael Clayton and Mr. Woodcock in foreign markets on the weekend of September 29. Halloween led the trio with a total of $1.3 million in 372 theaters – Michael Clayton and Mr. Woodcock took in $1.2 million from 295 screens and $1 million from 238 screens, respectively.[20] By November 1, 2007, Halloween had taken in an additional $7 million in foreign markets.[21]

By the end of the film's box office run, it grossed $58,272,029 in the United States; an additional $20,033,660 was taken in by overseas markets, with a worldwide total of $78,305,689.[22] Halloween was the eighth highest grossing R-rated film of 2007.[23] Comparing this film to the rest of the films in the Halloween film series, Zombie's remake is the highest grossing film in unadjusted US dollars, beating out Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later and John Carpenter's original at $55,041,738 and $47,000,000, respectively.[24] When adjusting for the 2008 inflation, Zombie's Halloween—which adjusts to $59.9 million domestically—is fourth, behind Carpenter's Halloween at $160.8 million, Halloween H20 at $71.1 million, and Halloween II at $64.2 million.[25] Among other horror remakes, the film places ninth overall in box office gross in the United States.[26]

Reception

Based on 96 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, Halloween received an average 26% overall approval rating;[27] the film had a lower approval rating with the 18 critics in Rotten Tomatoes' "Cream of the Crop", which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs,[28] receiving a 17% approval rating.[29] By comparison, Metacritic calculated an average score of 47 out of 100 from the 18 reviews it collected.[30]

BBC's Jamie Russell and The ViewLondon's Matthew Turner both thought that Malcolm McDowell was perfectly cast as Loomis.
BBC's Jamie Russell and The ViewLondon's Matthew Turner both thought that Malcolm McDowell was perfectly cast as Loomis.

Peter Hartlaub, of the San Francisco Chronicle, felt Zombie was successful in both "[putting] his own spin on Halloween, while at the same time paying tribute to Carpenter's film"; he thought Zombie managed to make Michael Myers almost "sympathetic" as a child, but that the last third of the film felt more like a montage of scenes with Halloween slipping into "slasher-film logic".[31] Nathan Lee of The Village Voice disagreed in part with Harlaub, feeling that Halloween may have placed too much emphasis on providing sympathy for Michael Myers, but that it did succeeded in "[deeping] Carpenter's vision without rooting out its fear".[32] The ViewLondon’s Matthew Turner believed the first half of the film, which featured the prequel elements of Michael as a child, were better played than the remake elements of the second half. In short, Turner stated that performances from the cast were "superb", with Malcolm McDowell being perfectly cast as Dr. Loomis, but that the film lacked to scare value of Carpenter’s original.[33] Jamie Russell from the BBC agreed that the first half of the film worked better than the last half; she stated that Zombie’s expanded backstory on Michael was "surprisingly effective"—also agreeing that McDowell was perfectly cast as Loomis—but that Zombie failed to deliver the "supernatural dread" that Carpenter created for Michael in his 1978 original.[34]

New York Daily News critic Jack Matthews believed the film lacked tension, and went more for cheap shocks—focusing more on enhancing the "imagery of violence"—than real attempts to scare the audience; he gave the film one and a half stars out of five.[35] Dennis Harvey, from Variety magazine, echoed Matthew's opinion that the film failed to deliver on the suspense; he also felt that you could not tell one teenage character from the next, whereas in Carpenter's original each teenager had real personalities.[36] In contrast, Rossiter Drake of The Examiner applauded Michael's backstory, feeling that it was a "compelling take on the mythology" that managed to be "unique" and "shocking" at the same time.[37] In agreement with other critics, Empire magazine's Kim Newman felt that, because Zombie seemed less focused on the teenagers being stalked and killed by Michael, the film "[fell] flat" when it came to delivering suspense or anything "remotely scary"; Newman did praise McDowell for his portrayal of the "dogged pschiatrist".[38] Ben Walter, of Time Out London, felt Zombie added "surprising realism" to the development of Michael Myers’ psychopathic actions, but agreed with Newman that the director replaced the original film’s "suspense and playfulness" with a convincing display of "black-blooded brutality".[39]

Frank Scheck, of the Hollywood Reporter, believed that even though Zombie's remake of Carpenter's Halloween was better than getting another sequel in the long running franchise it still was not comparable to the 1978 original. For Scheck, Zombie replaced Carpenter's building suspense, which made it so "brilliant", with graphic violence and extended scenes of nudity; he also criticized McDowell for lacking the intensity that Donald Pleasence brought to the Loomis character.[40] BeepCentral's Jeff Schwister concurs that Zombie spent more time trying to use graphic violence to disgust the audience than truly scare them, and criticized Zombie's choice in dialogue exchange and drawn out finale; for Schwister, the best part of the film was the use of John Carpenter's original score.[41] By contrast, TV Guide's Ken Fox felt that Zombie did deliver a "scary horror movie", not by copying Carpenter, but by making the film his own. Fox noted that Zombie seemed to follow more in the footsteps of Wes Craven and Tobe Hooper's "savage, greasy-haired '70s" films, which allowed him to bring Michael back to his roots and successfully terrify an audience has grown accustomed to the recent "torture porn" horror films.[42] Bill Gibron, of PopMatters, believes that audiences and critics cannot compare Carpenter's film to Zombie's remake; where Carpenter focused more on the citizens of Haddonfield—with Michael acting as a true "boogeyman"—Zombie focuses more on Michael himself, successfully forcing the audience to experience all of the elements that Michael went through that would result in his "desire for death".[43]

Halloween won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Film of 2007, drawing in 550 votes, the most ever in the history of the award.[44]

Home video

The film was released on DVD on December 18, 2007 in the United States. Both the theatrical and an unrated director's cut were released as two-disc special editions containing identical bonus features.[45] The film was released on DVD in the UK on April 28, 2008 known as the "Uncut" edition.[46]

In June 2008, it was announced that Dimension Extreme will release a Three-Disc Collector's Edition of Halloween. The set will include the same bonus features as the previous unrated edition, but it will also include Rob Zombie's 4-and-a-half hour "making of" documentary similar to the 30 Days in Hell making of Zombie's The Devil's Rejects.[47] The 3-disc set will be released on October 7, 2008.[47]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released August 21, 2007 which includes 12 dialogue tracks and 12 songs, mostly original songs from the 1960s-1980s including Blue Öyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", Kiss's "God of Thunder" and Rush's "Tom Sawyer".

References

  1. ^ a b "Boo! ‘Halloween’ scares up record 4-day debut", MSNBC (2007-09-03). Retrieved on 2007-09-04. 
  2. ^ a b "Rob Zombie to Re-Make Halloween". TheGauntlet.com (2006-06-04). Retrieved on 2006-12-19.
  3. ^ a b c "New “Halloween” film". HalloweenMovies.com (June 4, 2006). Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  4. ^ a b "Halloween: On Set With Director Rob Zombie!". Bloody-Disgusting (March 19, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-04-11.
  5. ^ a b c "Interview with Rob". HalloweenMovies.com (June 16, 2006). Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  6. ^ a b "Evil Reborn: Zombie resurrects a horror classic". MTV. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  7. ^ a b c d "Zombie Kills 'Halloween' Theme Song, Revokes Myers' Driver's License". MTV (March 7, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  8. ^ "Rob Zombie's MySpace". MySpace (December 22, 2006). Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  9. ^ "Official Halloween Casting Breakdown, Synopsis". Bloody-Disgusting (November 22, 2007). Retrieved on 2006-12-19.
  10. ^ "The Big Question Answered Halloween" (January 4, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-01-04.
  11. ^ "Webmaster(Chad) Interviews Halloween 9 contest winner Heather Bowen!", Halloween Series.com (2005-08-16). Retrieved on 2008-09-20. 
  12. ^ Elizabeth Cline (2007-08-28). "Rob Zombie's ‘Halloween’ Remake Leaks, Rob Zombie Shrugs", New York Entertainment. Retrieved on 2008-08-18. 
  13. ^ Peter Sciretta (2007-08-28). "Rob Zombie’s Halloween Workprint Leaked Online", Slashfilm. Retrieved on 2008-03-01. 
  14. ^ Garth Franklin (2007-08-28). ""Halloween" Workprint Leaked", Dark Horizons. Retrieved on 2008-08-17. 
  15. ^ "Daily Box Office Totals". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008-08-17.
  16. ^ Gregg Kilday (2007-09-05). ""Halloween" pulls neat trick at box office", Washington Post. Retrieved on 2008-08-17. 
  17. ^ "Labor Day Record". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008-08-17.
  18. ^ Dean Goodman (2007-09-03). "'Halloween' slashes holiday box office record", Reuters. Retrieved on 2008-08-17. 
  19. ^ Brandon Gray (2007-09-10). "'3:10 to Yuma' Arrives at Top Spot", Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008-08-17. 
  20. ^ Conor Bresnan (2007-10-03). "Around the World Roundup: 'Bourne' Stays in Charge", Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008-08-17. 
  21. ^ Conor Bresnan (2007-11-01). "Around the World Roundup: 'Ratatouille' Still Served at Top Spot", Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008-08-17. 
  22. ^ "Halloween box offic total". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008-08-17.
  23. ^ "R-rated 2007 films". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008-08-17.
  24. ^ "Halloween film series box office". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008-08-17.
  25. ^ "Tom's Inflation Calculator". Half Hill. Retrieved on 2008-08-17.
  26. ^ "Horror remake box office numbers". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008-08-17.
  27. ^ "Halloween". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008-04-26.
  28. ^ "Rotten Tomatoes FAQ: What is Cream of the Crop". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008-04-26.
  29. ^ "Halloween: Rotten Tomatoes' Cream of the Crop". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008-04-26.
  30. ^ "Halloween (2007): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved on 2007-09-09.
  31. ^ Peter Hartlaub (2007-09-01). "Zombie's 'Halloween' follows Michael Myers' psychotic roots", San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 2008-04-26. 
  32. ^ Nathan Lee (2007-08-28). "Halloween review", The Village Voice. Retrieved on 2008-04-27. 
  33. ^ Matthew Turner (2007-09-28). "Halloween review", The ViewLondon. Retrieved on 2008-08-11. 
  34. ^ Jamie Russell (09-25-2007). "BBC review", BBC. Retrieved on 2008-08-11. 
  35. ^ Jack Matthews (2007-09-01). "Rob Zombie hacks away at 'Halloween' horror classic", New York Daily News. Retrieved on 2008-04-27. 
  36. ^ Dennis Harvey (2007-08-27). "Variety review", Variety. Retrieved on 2008-04-27. 
  37. ^ Rossiter Drake (2007-08-31). "'Halloween': Once more, with flaying", The Examiner. Retrieved on 2008-04-28. 
  38. ^ Kim Newman. "Empire review", Empire. Retrieved on 2008-08-13. 
  39. ^ Ben Walter. "Halloween review", Time Out London. Retrieved on 2008-08-11. 
  40. ^ Frank Scheck (2007-08-31). "Halloween review", The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved on 2008-08-13. 
  41. ^ Jeff Schwister (2007-08-31). "Jeff: Let’s not celebrate this ‘Halloween’", BeepCentral. Retrieved on 2008-08-13. 
  42. ^ Ken Fox. "Halloween review", TV Guide. Retrieved on 2008-08-15. 
  43. ^ Bill Gibron (2007-08-31). "Short Cuts - In Theaters: Halloween (2007)", PopMatters.com. Retrieved on 2008-08-17. 
  44. ^ "Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards". RondoAward.com (2008-03-12). Retrieved on 2008-08-17. "Click on "Enter Site" and scroll down to the press release."
  45. ^ "Halloween (Two-Disc Special Edition) DVD release". Amazon.com. Retrieved on 2008-08-17.
  46. ^ "Halloween: Uncut". DVDactive. Retrieved on 2008-09-20.
  47. ^ a b "Cover Art, Full Specs For 3-Disc 'Halloween' DVD Set", Bloody-Disgusting (2008-07-10). Retrieved on 2008-08-29. 

External links


Preceded by
Superbad		 Box office number-one films of 2007 (USA)
August 31, 2007		 Succeeded by
3:10 to Yuma
v • d • e
The Halloween series
Films
Characters
Media tie-ins
v • d • e
Rob Zombie
Rob Zombie · John 5 · Piggy D · Tommy Clufetos
Mike Riggs · John Tempesta · Blasko
Studio albums
Live albums
Compilations
Singles
Filmography
Related articles
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