Halloween (2007) (R)
Teen slasher flick remake is brutal and bloody.
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Seen the movie?
Movie details
- Studio: Weinstein Co.
- Directed By: Rob Zombie
- Cast: Malcolm McDowell, Sheri Moon-Zombie, Tyler Mane
- Running Time: 109 minutes
- Release Date: 8/31/2007
- Video/DVD Release Date: 12/18/2007
- Genre: Horror
- MPAA Rating: R
- MPAA Explanation: strong brutal bloody violence and terror throughout, sexual content, graphic nudity and language.
Parents need to know
Parents need to know that director Rob Zombie's "re-imagined" slasher flick leaves no blood, gore, or sex to viewers' imagination: It's all here in spades. Savage stabbings and slayings are presented in ugly close-up. Most (though not all) of killer Michael Myers' victims seem to be sexually active teenagers, and viewers see female characters in various forms of undress, including nearly full nudity. Characters -- including kids -- swear robustly ("f--k," "s--t," etc.).
Families can talk about which types of horror movies are scarier -- ones like this, that show all the gruesome details, or those like the original 1978 Halloween, which left more to the imagination. Why? Why do you think audiences are drawn to gory movies in the first place? Is it fun to be scared at the movies? Why? Families can also discuss whether this movie makes killer Michael Myers sympathetic in any way. Are any of his crimes rationalized or explained? Why is that significant?
Families can talk about which types of horror movies are scarier -- ones like this, that show all the gruesome details, or those like the original 1978 Halloween, which left more to the imagination. Why? Why do you think audiences are drawn to gory movies in the first place? Is it fun to be scared at the movies? Why? Families can also discuss whether this movie makes killer Michael Myers sympathetic in any way. Are any of his crimes rationalized or explained? Why is that significant?
Message
Social Behavior:
Most of the film's characters range from merely unsympathetic to absolutely loathsome, including creepy and nasty grownups and bullying and promiscuous teenagers (one of whom talks gleefully about manipulating her parents' divorce for her own ends). Some of this is used to illustrate the environment that makes Michael Myers into a vicious killing machine -- i.e. that his victims "deserve" it -- but other characters who are inoffensive (and even gentle) die just as hideously.
Consumerism:
Plugs for other horror movies admired by the filmmakers, in the form of clips from The Thing and White Zombie. Heavy selection of pop-rock tunes on the soundtrack, KISS T-shirt, one prominent porn magazine title.
Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco:
High schoolers smoke and drink beer.
Violence
Horrendous up-close beatings, bashings, stabbings, hangings, and strangulation. One victim is left dangling on a door, pinned by the knife; another is drowned as blood fountains out of his mouth. Two people are shot at close range. Viewers see victims' faces in bloody close-up most of the time. Many pets are killed, but viewers only see evidence photos.
Sex
Lots of teenage sex, with near-full female nudity. Another character, an exotic dancer, gyrates in minimal clothing. Kids and adults talk crudely and enthusiastically about masturbation, promiscuity, and stepfather incest. The pages of a pornographic magazine are riffled through, and one victim thinks Michael Myers is looking for a homosexual act in a bathroom stall.
Language
"F--k" and "s--t" are used routinely (even by kids); other language includes "c--t" spelled out (oh good, it's educational).
Common Sense says
What's the story?
Reviewed by Charles Cassady, Jr.
Early on, it seems like director Rob Zombie's Halloween is trying to do for Carpenter's blank-faced mass-murderer Michael Myers what Hannibal Rising did for fiendish Hannibal Lecter, showing viewers his upbringing and explaining how he came to be a monster. Michael starts out as an innocent-looking, blond-haired 10-year-old (played by Daeg Faerch) living in a family that includes an exotic dancer, her abusive live-in boyfriend, and a hyper-sexed sister. Bullied at school near Halloween, Michael ambushes and fatally batters a classmate (though that's not his first victim -- he's already killed plenty of small animals as practice). And then, after trick-or-treating on October 31, Michael slices up his stepfather, his sister, and his sister's boyfriend, sparing only baby sister Laurie. Police lock up the maniacal kid, who claims to remember nothing, in an institution. The plot then skips to 15 years later. Michael's mother has killed herself, and his longtime psychiatrist, Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) has given up on him as a hopeless, unreachable psychopath. The adult Michael (Tyler Mane) is a hulking, silent figure obsessed with wearing masks. Near the October anniversary of the murders, he escapes, slaughtering several guards and even a gentle orderly who befriended him. Dr. Loomis believes Michael is heading home to kill again on Halloween, and he guesses the target is his surviving sister, Laurie (Scout Taylor-Compton). Now a teenager, Laurie was adopted into a stable family years ago -- but she still has plenty of sex-minded girlfriends to hang around with, providing Michael with a plethora of victims as night falls.
Is it any good?
Horror fans claim, not without reason, that the original Halloween wasn't just a sicko slasher movie that caught on, but an artfully suspenseful masterpiece that expertly played on viewers' nerves. You barely see any real violence or blood -- you just think you do. Not so much this time around. This graphic HALLOWEEN remake from rock musician-turned-filmmaker Rob Zombie is positively drenched in blood and carnage, along with smashed faces, impalings, bashings, strangulation, crude sex, and vile language, all in shaky-camera close-up. In other words, it's full of everything that original director John Carpenter merely hinted at, letting our dread and elemental fear of a lurking marauder in the dark fill in the blanks. There have been worse slasher movies than the original Halloween (the first Friday the 13th, for one): Carpenter's finesse with the film's uncluttered, low-budget plotline made it look so easy that all kinds of hack moviemakers (many lacking even Zombie's level of directorial acumen) filled theaters with knives and butchery throughout the 1980s. The 2007 Halloween, besides pushing the gore to dare-you-to-look extremes, seems to want to cadge some sympathy for the ghastly Michael, making his victims (at first, anyway) foul sadists who deserve no mercy. But then characters who are inoffensive -- and even kind -- to Michael die just as gruesomely, so what's the point? Probably the dollar figures brought in by the combined earnings of some seven or eight (depends how you do the counting) Halloween sequels -- that's the point, and this movie's open ending leaves the door open for further installments. Judging by the movie's record-setting opening weekend, there will be an audience. Ugh.
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Parents and kids say
All Reviews
There are 34 reviews.
Posted on 07/01/08 by Anonymous Kid contributor, age 13
Posted on 05/09/08 by Anonymous Kid contributor, age 16
Posted on 03/28/08 by Anonymous Kid contributor, age 17
Kids Reviews
There are 15 reviews.
Posted on 07/01/08 by Anonymous Kid contributor, age 13
Posted on 05/09/08 by Anonymous Kid contributor, age 16
Posted on 03/28/08 by Anonymous Kid contributor, age 17
Posted on 01/29/08 by Anonymous Kid contributor, age 13
Which fantasy book creature has the best name?
Fluffy (3-headed dog, Harry Potter)
50%
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