John Carpenters’ Halloween is a horror classic revered by the masses: it’s a cohesive narrative with solid acting and is absent of redundant jump scares and gore. When Rob Zombie announced he was remaking the horror masterpiece, fans quickly reacted: some loved the idea; others were completely against it. The film released in Summer 2007, and while it received substantial negative backlash, it also delivered an entirely different take on Carpenter’s original concept. So, was Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake better than you remember? Yes, it was.

The Mask

     The Weinstein CompanyDimension Films[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

One complaint Halloween fans have about the franchise is its lack of attention to Michael’s iconic mask in later sequels. In Halloween 4, Halloween 5, Halloween H20, and Halloween Resurrection, the masks have continued in a downward decline bordering on cartoonish. This product is unacceptable to Halloween fans; there’s a reason why Michael Myers is often referred to as “The Shape” as much of the horror to the killer is not knowing what he looks like behind the mask, and the mask itself has to maintain an eerie nature. The Halloween remake does what all previous sequels before it failed to; it redesigns the Michael Myers mask in a truly chilling fashion. Disheveled, blank-eyed, and expressionless, it compliments Tyler Mane’s 6'9 stature to truly create a menace out of Michael Myers.

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Sentimentality

     Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

One of the more controversial aspects of Rob Zombie’s Halloween is the emotional depth given to Michael Myers: he has a full range of emotions as opposed to being a hollow killing machine. From anger, love, to madness, this Michael Myers is emotion-driven to the point where that’s what perpetuates his crossover from troubled child to murderer. When Michael escapes Smith’s Grove Sanitarium, his one goal is to find his younger sister, Angel, (better known as Laurie Strode). But Michael doesn’t want to find her to end her life or carry out some family curse; Michael simply wants to reunite with Laurie because he loves her. Unfortunately for Haddonfield citizens, this means Michael will stop at anything to reach Laurie, including killing anyone in his way.

The Most Brutal Michael Myers

     Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Rob Zombie’s films are known for their gore; it’s what led to the filmmakers’ success, and Halloween is no exception. This incarnation of Michael Myers is the most lethal: he attacks with absolute brutality. From the school bully, his stepfather and his own sister, Judith, Michael destroys in the bloodiest ways. Perhaps the most graphic attacks were those carried out against Laurie’s adoptive parents and her best friends, Lynda and Annie. Laurie walks in on a bloody Annie pleading for Laurie to save herself is absolutely heartbreaking to watch.

Malcolm McDowell’s Performance

     Dimension Films

Horror movies are heavily criticized for their actors’ somewhat over-the-top or wooden performances, but Rob Zombie’s Halloween counts with an ensemble of extremely talented actors. Scout Taylor-Compton as Laurie Strode is phenomenal, Brad Dourif adds an emotional nuance to Sheriff Brackett that creates a compelling character, opposed to a one-dimensional, cliché law enforcer; and Danielle Harris is engaging to watch as Annie Brackett, given her former portrayal as Jamie Lloyd. Then there’s the powerhouse known as Malcolm McDowell. Known for classics such as A Clockwork Orange, O Lucky Man!, The Artist, and the controversial Caligula, the seasoned Thespian creates a layered version of Doctor Sam Loomis that reinvents the original character. This Sam Loomis actually sees Michael as a human man and attempts to reason with him tirelessly. Malcolm McDowell sells his performance as not only a doctor trying to save a small town from impending doom, but a man putting his life on the line to save a man he’s devoted a good portion of his life to.

Michael and Loomis’s Relationship

As aforementioned, the relationship between Michael Myers and Sam Loomis is entirely different in Zombie’s Halloween remake. Malcolm McDowell’s Sam Loomis maintains a strong relationship with Michael, and spends years of his life nurturing him despite Michael’s bouts of insanity and later catatonia. This takes a toll on Loomis, who pauses his life to tend to Michael’s case. On the retrospective, Michael has never had a functional relationship with a male figure, making Loomis the closest thing to a paternal relationship. This highlights one of Zombie’s central themes in the film: family. Michael’s actions are driven by his protection of family; he kills his mother’s boyfriend as revenge for abusing her; he kills anyone in his path to reach Laurie, and ultimately doesn’t kill Loomis due to the role he provides in Michael’s life. Rob Zombie’s Halloween is a social commentary on the effect dysfunctional families have on their most innocent members, and how these individuals will go about life searching to fill the absent roles through any means possible.