Halloween (2007)

A troubled child named Michael Myers (Daeg Faerch) has a hard time dealing with his normal life as his Mother Deborah (Sherri Moon Zombie) works as a stripper at her local bar and is badly tormented by the main school bullies Wesley (Daryl Sabara) and Paul (Max Van Ville) due to this.
Plus his Mom has an abusive boyfriend named Ronnie White (William Forsythe) who treats him terribly along with his stuck up sleazy sister Judith (Hanna Hall) as he thinks that things will never get better for him and only has a relationship with his baby sister Laurie who was born shortly after his father passed away and isn't even a year old yet.
Principal Chambers (Richard Lynch) calls Deborah down due to Michael's ill behavior and shows him some gruesome stuff on what he has done to some animals along with a shrink named Dr. Samuel Loomis (Malcolm McDowall) trying to discuss on what it can lead to but she brushes them off not believing that her son was responsible for this.
On Halloween night Deborah assures her son that things will be better the next day before she heads off to work. Judith refuses to take him out on trick or treating instead deciding to have a good romp with her boyfriend Steve (Adam Weisman) and of course Ronnie is lazy as usual watching a good old fashioned horror movie on TV.
Michael decides to do them all in one by one in clever ways and is put away at the Smith Grove Sanitarium in which Loomis studies his behavior and sometimes seems normal and then acts crazy and obnoxious. Well things start to get worst as Nurse Wynn (Sybil Danning) makes a rude comment towards him and kills her in which this leads Deborah into taking her own life leaving baby Laurie up for an adoption.

Fifteen years have passed and Loomis is leaving his job along with being troubled by some bumbling employees there causing him to go more berserk killing them and escaping from the institution and returning to his home town of Haddonfield to search up his sister Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor Compton) whom is leading a healthy life raised by her adopted parents Mason (Pat Skipper) who is a real estate agent and Cynthia (Dee Wallace Stone) caring for their daughter very much. But things start to change when Michael stalks her and will kill anyone who will get in his way to have Laurie to himself like he did back in his days.

Dr. Loomis goes to Haddonfield with the aid of Sheriff Lee Brackett (Brad Dourif) to try and track Michael down before things turn into a bloodbath and keeping Laurie safe from Michael's clutches.

A nice little title on a seance that Dr. Loomis discusses on evil and then the opening credits with Halloween along with a grubby looking house taking place in 1978 and I was thinking "Right On!" After all that was when the original movie was released and then see Michael as a child and his life in which it looks disturbing when he takes out his pet rat ready to kill it. Meanwhile, we spot Michael's Mom Deborah as well as her nasty boyfriend Ronnie White having a dysfunctional quarrel along with a screeching baby crying alot sensing something is wrong which is of course Laurie. Alot of the setting here looked quite psychological and realistic on a big time dysfunctional family with the Mom going out with a nasty slob who treats everyone like shit in which I've experienced families like these in my days. Also looks good when there's close physical fighting between the two of them when Ronnie gets sleazy towards the daughter Judith who is a stuck up bitch as well as spotting Michael coming down to the table as well as wearing a Kiss shirt (Alright!!!) and a clown mask as Ronnie getting demanding towards him as I had a feeling that he might get brutal with him if he doesn't listen to him. All of this looked entertaining to watch and very different compared to the original.
Then Michael is bullied at school by two mean kids in which he mocks him as of course his mother is a stripper which would be very pressuring for any kid to go through in school as I enjoyed watching this greatly too. We also spot an obnoxious school Principal Chambers that Michael curses to which made me happy since we have had the odd bad teacher or principal while going to school that we wanted to take a stand against.
Then Deborah is called down to his school in which there's alot of shocking moments with Chambers showing her a dead cat and pics of dead animals claiming that Michael was responsible for all of this as I found this hard to watch but of course this is Zombie's style for him to make the audience squirm with his writing a horror film.
One of my favourite scene's here is when Michael is out in a wooded area seeking revenge against one of his tormentors by bashing him to death with a huge stick and really going at it. Before he dies he pleads for mercy showing that they're not so tough when they are pinned down injured. This is very imaginitive as well as psychological wishing any kid who was picked on to do this to their enemey at school. Very well done here.
A nice touch here is when Deborah is going to work but acts loving to Michael assuring him the next day will get better for him showing she's not all that dysfunctional just around negative energy while Ronnie is a couch potato watching old fashioned horror films on TV. Plus there's Judith refusing to take Michael out trick or treating and going upstairs to fornicate with her long haired grungy boyfriend instead. This seems to pay the tradition on the original film since Judith has fornicated with her boyfriend before he kills her on that Halloween night.
The settings looked peaceful spotting Deborah performing her strip show act along with Michael sitting outside of his front house or at the kitchen eating his candy.
Then while Judith is getting laid her boyfriend puts on the Captain Kirk mask to impress her as that's the mask Michael wears in the original flick but this time the mask looks alot creepier than in the original making this film look totally updated for today's horror standards.
Then we spot another slaying in which this one looked fairly clever in which we spot Ronnie asleep on the couch as Michael ties silver tape over his mouth and body and then slits his throat so no one will hear him scream and boy does this throat slit look gruesome. Good ole Zombie delivering the good here offering lots of blood. It certainly gets drak and creepy when he creeps up towards Judit's boyfriend while going to the kitchen to get something and Michael is ready to whack him over the head with a baseball ball. Trust me while watching this isn't a pretty site at all. In this remake Michael is more violent.
Before you know it he puts on that mask to go visit Judith in which she gets demanding towards him smacking his face as this leaves you an impression that this is a bad idea to do. This looked darkly written too on when he slays her. Then he stis on the front of his home waiting for his Mom. This seemed like a whole short story on it's own and really sells well.
We get to see Michael in the sanitarium with Dr. Loomis talking to him and recording his behavior in which he isn't a catatonic just yet. Looked well done showing a shrink talking to his mental patient in which he seems like a normal lifelike kid telling him that he didn't kill those people. Then other days he acts crazy and obnoxious. All of this makes you wonder if he has a split personality. There's even moments when he discusses the new masks he makes and wearing them. There are some good liners when he asks if he can go home and Loomis gives him a negative response telling him he did some bad things. I found this impressively wirtten in for a slasher flick to todays standards too. The story drags a bit too long with all of this however.
A real memorable moment is when a nurse comes in to see a pic of Michael holding his baby sister and comments on the baby being cute but a negative comment on him which is a big no no to a psychopath who has killed some people. Well I won't give away on what he does to her but we all know that it won't look pretty at all.
After all of this has passed it's impressive we spot Michael as an adult but he is huge which works well for an updated killer as well as Loomis saying his goodbye's to him when he tells him that he's leaving his job there and making out that he's a friend which is a different twist for him being sympathetic towards him.
There's also nice moments with one of the caretakers Ismael Cruz being friendly with him while the other one Noel Kluggs treats him like crap which is of course traditional in a film like this and having a feeling that he will be the next victim. While we spot Michael's room we spot numerous masks that he has created which is amusing.
Next during the night we spot a real deadly mistake when Noel and another employee taking out a new patient out of her room to rape her in Michael's room to see if he will join in the fun wondering if he's a queer or not. This moment is a good key on him escaping while he has the chance since he is powerful enough to kill these two sleazy employees. The rape scene looked quite disturbing and intense but yet well put in since many horror films have used this moment and works well every time.
It's really intense when Michael faces up to Ismeal and he is frightened and nicely tells him to put out his hands so he can cuff him and take up back to his room after he spots some dead bodies. Of course we spot Michael holding out his hands in which this keeps you in suspense while watching this moment and getting the deep dark feeling that he will really lash out.
The next day on Halloween morning we spot Laurie into a teenager with her adopted parents as this looked heartwarming on them teasing one another for fun and her having a healthy upbringing which seemed to be a great turn on everything.
Then the story rushes a bit and seems cheesy as there's a remake on a similar situation when Laurie is off to school little Tommy Doyle follows her along with her dropping a key off to the Myers house but yet this time she acts sarcastic when Tommy warns her about the rumors of the house and her teasing him about it all. I didn't find this moment funny at all and too stale.
There's some odd interesting moments when Laurie chats with her friends Lynda and Annie in school while in a distance through the window Michael is staring at them. Looked quite spooky here.
It also looked a bit dark and spooky when they walk home and spot him staring at them once again. However the humor falls flat with the one liners on them teasing him while doing this.
There's more heartwarming moments when Laurie and her Mom prepare stuff outside for trick or treaters but Michael is in a distance spying on them. This worked out well.
What was incredibly disturbing is it's night time and suddenly Michael grabs Laurie's dad while stabbing him to death and then entering inside the house to mame and kill the mother as none of this looked pleasant to watch at all. It does look well done when Michael grabs a pic in the house of Laurie showing it to her Mom. The inensity with the surroundings on these murders were definately at a high pace and psychological imaginging if you were going to have a peaceful Halloween night for trick or treaters but ends up in a nightmare with a killer doing you in and witnessing him killing your loved one too.
It looks fun when Lynda is fornicating with her boyfriend Bob in the Myers house this time as this looked like you wanted to join in for the party too since they're listening to some old school music while getting it on with one another but the writing looked rushed when she demands him to get her a beer in which was used in the original. Plus we spot Bob putting a white sheet around him with his glasses over him while about to fetch a beer for Lynda keeping up with the tradition from the original. A nice jumping moment when he passes by in the hallway Michael grabs him and ready to do his killing on him.
The scene's here although are quite rushed borrowing the elements from the original there is still new technology here at the same time as Lynda calls her freind Laurie on a cell phone while babysitting young Tommy so some good credit put on here.
There's even Annie babysitting young Lynsey Wallace as her eyes are glued to the set in which it looks like she's watching the original Thing from Another World which was of course used in the original flick. Oh yes good taste here. But this time Michael is inside the house looking over her without Lynsey noticing him. This looked pretty dark and creepy. But the scene's here even looked quite rushed.
It's very intense when Laurie spots Annie injured and trying to make a 9-1-1 call to the police wondering if she will succeed or not and the adventure here looked great and suspenseful when she tries to struggle away from Michael.
Then there's a new twist as Michael takes Laurie away to his house and tries to make her remember on who he is. Plus we even spot him takinjg off his mask but we don't see his full face but long hair covering it.
While she tries to escape from him there's terrific shots on her running around and trying to escape the home. There's even a good jumping moment when Laurie is in a squad car with Loomins asking him if that was the boogeyman and his reply to her. Then Michael's hands smash through the car windows grabbing at her since the moment was still, then, suddenly BANG!!! Great timing here. There's also a nice confrontation on Loomis towards Michael telling him he failed. You start to wonder what Michael will do next since he seems to have paused on what he was doing. This was nicely put in.
Bottom line is that this remake almost seems like a story on it's own and I thought to myself "Finally, a remake done right!"
It was great showing Michael's childhood with a dysfunctional family as it looked very dark and disturbing but then when present day came around things happened way too fast using the 1978 movie chemistry by rushing it so much offering nothing much but people constantly being killed. It took me a while to really like the film but it's worth watching and one of the best remakes on today's standards. It does have a bit of that old school feel blended in with today's standards too which both work in perfectly well. It is darkly performed with a good cast too and gives you the total Halloween spirit.

The acting is very solid and well performed by many talented people along with cameo's by some has been's too.
Malcolm McDowell (Dr. Samuel Loomis) was very eccentric in his role playing Donald Pleasance's role in the original movie and he makes his role very different too which is a compliment. He has a great clear voice with his accent as well that he seems to have a good powerful behavior with what he does in the film. I really got a kick out of his performance in which he shows off alot of great energy and charisma into what he does here.
Scout Taylor Compton (Laurie Strode) played a good preppy looking teen although she is not as good as Jamie Lee Curtis her intensity in the film is better and has terrific energy when she gets scared. She seems to act life at the fullest in her performance and shows off some good spunk into what shedid. Plus shows great intensity and an emotional attitude when the terror hits her in which she seemed real while doing all of this. A good shocked reaction on her after what she spots to what happened to her onscreen friend which looked natural. There's a good sobbing reactions on her too.
Surprise, surprise we get a supporting role by none other than Danielle Harris (Annie Brackett) from Halloween 4 & 5 this time playing this stuck up role. She delivers well but I can't see anyone other than Nancy Loomis playing that part like in the original. She seems to bring on a good charm into what she does offering some humoress moments and seemed like a real ham by doing this.
Brad Dourif (Sheriff Lee Brackett) finally plays a normal (Well sorta) as a Sheriff which is a different take for him than in his other parts in horror films. He delivers a powerful attitude as well as being believeably closed minded on things. He brings this off very well and seemed to study this part inside out. He was perfectly sharp by doing all of this.
Daeg Faerch (Young Michael Myers) is wonderful as a younger part of this killer and does well by playing a disturbed child with his intensity and anger. He shows a good soft spoken voice as well as knowing on how to get aggressive when he can. He lets out all his energy and making this come to life big time. There's a nice hissing moment with him cussing towards the onscreen prinicpal. He shows off a good evil expression while taping someone's mouth before killing him. He does a great job being brutal while swinging a bat at someone with full force showing great intensity within this and fast energy too.
Sherri Moon Zombie (Deborah Myers) plays another skanky role but she doesn't behave crazy and whiney like in House of 1000 Corpses or Devil's Rejects. She does well as a basket case dysfunctioanl mother of Michael Myers. She focused on her role incredibly well making her seem like a believeable family woman trying to hold everything together with her emotions and aggressions too. She shows off excellent intense reactions after spotting her son killing a nurse. I found her to be one of the best cast members in this film.
William Forsythe (Ronnie White) was terrific as an asshole abusive stepfather as you wouldn't know this was him till you see the credits with his name on it. He brings off a terrific negativity with his sarcasm and sleaziness making his role truly intimidating if you ever tried to mess with him. Plus he had a great gruff southern accent whenever he spoke which was another great pointer here. He does well with his wide eyed expression and reactions after his throat is slit. He was another one of the best cast members here I found.
Hanna Hall (Judith Myers) was great playing a stuck up skanky bitch in which she really came across perfectly onto the camera while she is doing this. She makes her part very unlikeable as one of those rebellious teens who isn't well liked thinking that she can do whatever she wants. I found her a total attention grabber with her actions in the film along with her sarcastic attitude in which she seemed like a natural at doing too. Her snobby looks were a great plus to top it all off.
I could do without child actor Skyler Gisondo (Tommy Doyle) as he overly does his role. Brian Andrews had more of a charm to his character. It's just that he seems to act out the part too much than be a natural mischievious kid. He needs some acting lessons to make himself act out more realistic here.
Dee Wallace Stone (Cynthia Strode) was cool to watch and was nice to see her work in a mainstream gig again. She brings a niceness to her role and seemed believeably motherly into everything that she does here. There's a great intense moment with her freaking out and reacting well to her painful situations while she's being attacked in which her intensity looked greatly done. I just enjoyed her performance making her another terrific actress here. A shame she wasn't in it longer though but had some good scene's within what she did here.
Richard Lynch (Principal Chambers) who plays the school principal is aging quite fast here but seemed to have a great gruffness to his speaking along with a good intimidating type of behavior as one of those mean types working at a school. He still has what it takes to put on a character and it's nice to see him in a big production again although his role was small.

Kristina Klebe who's role was much smaller than PJ Soles role in the original film totally shows it off wit her breasts more so than Soles. Plus there a but shot and a full shot of her too when Michael is carrying her as a corpse.
Danielle Harris surprisingly exposes her breasts too during a sex scene.
A guy is reading a porn mag with naked women.

Unlike the first one this film offers tons of blood and gore
Little Michael bashes a bully in the face with a heavy stick numerous times. Blood flying everywhere.
He slits his stepdad's throat blood gushing out
Bashes a sleazy teen in the head with a bat and his body is all battered up in blood
Stabs his sister to death with a knife with tons of blood surrounding her.
There are bloodied bodies at a sanitarium as Michael kills a nurse and 15 years later crushes some officers and paramedics.
A trucker is bashed to death in a washroom with tons of blood too.
A head is crushed
Lots more blood here and there.

Tyler Bates does a splendid job with his music for the remake as he has real dark booming sounds like in a Texas Chainsaw Massacre type fashion and uses some of the original music too. Both work perfectly well. What really works in perfectly is low groaning type sounds whenever Michael is about to do something deadly. Plus there's some of John Carpenter's theme sounds proving that it still is effective like it was in the original movie itself.

We get a great rockin soundtrack by many retro rock groups.
It opens up with Kiss' classic "God of Thunder" when it shows the Myers house as I thought that this was a great kick ass feel to the beginning of the story here.
Also, we hear the Blue Oyster Cult with "Don't Fear the Reaper" during the sex scene involving Judith Myers (The song was used in the first film) and was nice to hear this song play again and it totally looked like a 70's atmosphere with all of the surroundings while this song was going on.
There's the touching love ballad "Love Hurts" by Nazareth during Mother Myers at the strip joint giving it a smooth magical and pleasant feel to this surrounding. Indeed the strip club while this song is playing definetely looking convincing that it took place during that time era when this song was riding high on the billboards.
During the middle of this film we spot a truck wash place as Rush's song "Tom Sawyer is playing in which really suited this scene with the great dazzling synthesizer playing and the high pitched vocals. I remember this moment very well in the film. Terrifically done.
We hear the oldie "Mr. Sandman" which was used in the original part 2 but this was by a different group. Still it gives the film a nice feel regardless
Ahh yes we can't forget about Alice Cooper now with "Only Women Bleed" during a makeout scene involving Annie and Paul as this seemed to look necessary for what they were doing and gives it a total party type environment here.
Better yet, we hear the punk rock band the Misfits with their song "Halloween II" during the sex scene between Lynda and Bob. The song has a good fast beat to what they were doing here in which is a compliment and making this moment a total kick ass feel.

Ronnie White: [Michael walks in with mask on] Michael, take that thing off.

Deborah Myers: Jesus Christ, Ronnie, you know I have to work tonight. Someone around here has got to make some money.
Ronnie White: I'm all broken up here bitch, I can't work.
Deborah Myers: Yeah, and who's fault is that? You're so pathetic.
Ronnie White: You know that new waitress over at the Bingo Lounge? She's been giving me the freaky eye.
Deborah Myers: You mean the whore the big tits hanging down her knees?
Ronnie White: Maybe I will choke the chicken and purge my snork all over those flappy ass tits.
Deborah Myers: Yeah, well have a great fucking time.
Ronnie White: I will.
Deborah Myers: I hope she likes cripples.
Ronnie White: Bitch, I will crawl over there and I will skull fuck the shit out of you!
Deborah Myers: Oh, I will get the crutches for you.
Baby Boo: [Baby Boo starts crying]
Deborah Myers: See what you did loud mouth?
Ronnie White: WAAA! WAAA! That's all that fucker ever does is cry. WAAA! WAAA! Cry and shit, cry and shit.
Deborah Myers: That's what you do all the time is cry and shit.
Ronnie White: Fuck you, sit on my pole right now bitch.

Wesley Rhoades: Next time I see that Myers pussy, he's dead!

Deborah Myers: [looking at gruesome photographs of dead animals] Are you saying Michael did this? Michael loves animals!

Michael Myers - Child: [crying] I wanna go home.
Dr. Loomis: You can't go home.
Michael Myers - Child: Why?
Dr. Loomis: Because you've done terrible things.

Michael Myers - Child: I like the mask because it hides my face.
Deborah Myers: I don't like you to hide your face. Take it off.
Michael Myers - Child: It hides my ugliness.
Deborah Myers: Sweetie, don't say that. Take it off. You're not ugly. Don't talk like that.OK?... I miss you so much.
Michael Myers - Child: I miss you, too.

Dr. Loomis: [saying goodbye to Michael] I don't know what else I can do for you, Michael. You haven't said a word in fifteen years. That's a life time. That's twice as long as my first marriage. It's funny but in some strange way you've become my best friend. I've done all I can for you so I am afraid that, now don't be upset but this is gonna be my last day, Michael. I have to move on.

Ismael Cruz: [Ismael discovers multiple massacred bodies and turns to find Michael standing behind him] Whoa... Mikey... what're you doing out of your room...? Ok... now, don't do nothin' we're both gonna regret later, ok, Mikey...? I'm gonna have to get you back into your room, okay now?
[Ismael retrieves handcuffs from a dead guard]
Ismael Cruz: Let me get these. I'm just gonna... get these handcuffs and... I'm gonna try and put these handcuffs on you right now, Mikey... and then we'll get you back into your own bed, okay?
[Michael extends his hands slowly, Ismael cautiously approaches Michael to put the handcuffs on but is visciously attacked, he begins to bleed and sob]
Ismael Cruz: Mikey! I was good to you, Mikey...!

Dr. Loomis: These eyes will deceive you, they will destroy you. They will take from you, your innocence, your pride, and eventually your soul. These eyes do not see what you and I see. Behind these eyes one finds only blackness, the absence of light, these are of a psychopath.

Lindsey Wallace: [singing as her and Annie are walking to Tommy's house] Trick or Treat. Smell my feet. Give me something good to eat. If you don't, I don't care. I'll pull down Annie's underwear!
Annie Brackett: [about the pumpkin she's carrying] I can't believe you're making me haul this thing all the way over there.
Lindsey Wallace: I can't believe you think that I'm not going to tell.
Lindsey Wallace: [begins to sing again] Trick or treat. Smell my feet. Give me something good to eat...
Annie Brackett: [while Lindsay is singing] UGH! I swear to God, Lindsay, if you don't stop singing that song, I'll have a pumpkin smashing party right here in the middle of the street.

Laurie Strode: [after Michael shows her an old photo of the two of them; unaware he is her brother] I don't understand!

Laurie Strode: [crying] Was that the boogeymaan?
Dr. Loomis: As a matter of fact... I do believe it was.