In my continuing effort to arm myself with reasons why movies should not be remade, I've found myself defending a remake of one of my all-time favorites. No, it's not Zack Snyder's take on Dawn of the Dead (which isn't that bad and is surprisingly decent). And it's definitely not the Black Christmas remake (which looks good, but that's about it). I'm talking about Rob Zombie's take on Halloween.
The original Halloween is something I watch about once a year, usually near the end of October for obvious reasons. I still jump at the scares, find the acting believable, and find the film's look still really special. I thought a remake was a bad, bad idea for several reasons, re-stating my reasons why the idea of remaking is asking for trouble.
Now I'm not about to say Rob Zombie's take on the material is better than the original, but I will say see this movie if you're curious about the Halloween sequels and/or connection-in-name. If you want to see how to run a franchise into the ground and have the patience to sit through nearly a dozen hours of bad movies, see Halloween III, IV, V, VI, and Halloween Resurrection. If you don't want to do that and want to see some good sequels, see II and H2O. But I highly recommend Rob Zombie's take as well.
I'm well aware of the criticisms of Zombie's version. Stuff like making Michael Myers more human lessens his power as an evil entity and there's an unnecessary amount of nudity and gore. While I think those criticisms are valid, they didn't weigh the film down for me. I found Malcolm McDowell's take on Dr. Loomis was very good, and Sheri Moon Zombie is really, really fine as Michael's mom. (Maybe since I didn't like her character/acting in House of the 1,000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects I didn't have high hopes for her role. Still, she's really good in this.)
Yes, this is a modern update on a classic. No, I don't think making modern updates of classic movies is a great idea. But no matter how much people whine and complain about them, more are to come. So, I think it is worth my time to check out some remakes rather just respond to the idea of them.
The original Halloween is something I watch about once a year, usually near the end of October for obvious reasons. I still jump at the scares, find the acting believable, and find the film's look still really special. I thought a remake was a bad, bad idea for several reasons, re-stating my reasons why the idea of remaking is asking for trouble.
Now I'm not about to say Rob Zombie's take on the material is better than the original, but I will say see this movie if you're curious about the Halloween sequels and/or connection-in-name. If you want to see how to run a franchise into the ground and have the patience to sit through nearly a dozen hours of bad movies, see Halloween III, IV, V, VI, and Halloween Resurrection. If you don't want to do that and want to see some good sequels, see II and H2O. But I highly recommend Rob Zombie's take as well.
I'm well aware of the criticisms of Zombie's version. Stuff like making Michael Myers more human lessens his power as an evil entity and there's an unnecessary amount of nudity and gore. While I think those criticisms are valid, they didn't weigh the film down for me. I found Malcolm McDowell's take on Dr. Loomis was very good, and Sheri Moon Zombie is really, really fine as Michael's mom. (Maybe since I didn't like her character/acting in House of the 1,000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects I didn't have high hopes for her role. Still, she's really good in this.)
Yes, this is a modern update on a classic. No, I don't think making modern updates of classic movies is a great idea. But no matter how much people whine and complain about them, more are to come. So, I think it is worth my time to check out some remakes rather just respond to the idea of them.
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