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Michael Myers (Daeg Faerch) came from a typical dysfunctional family, complete with an exotic dancer for a mother and a lazy, good-for-nothing stepfather who didn’t like Michael. He was constantly cussed at and belittled, smothered and babied by his mom, and picked on by his classmates. One day, Michael had enough. He beat one of his classmates to death with a big stick, then he went home and butchered his family, leaving only his mother and baby sister alive.
Michael spends the next fifteen years in a sanatorium for the criminally insane, attended by a psychiatrist named Samuel Loomis (Malcolm McDowell). Then grown-up Michael (Tyler Mane) escapes and heads for Haddonfield, Illinois, to find his baby sister.
Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor Compton) is all grown up, with a good home and two loving adoptive parents. She’s well liked by her peers, and she gets good grades in school. She has no idea she has a psychotic brother who’s out there, watching her every move, waiting for the perfect opportunity to reunite with her. But does he want to kill her—or is he just looking for someone who will accept and understand him as he is?
While watching Rob Zombie’s remake of the horror classic, Halloween, I found out just what it means when you get the unrated director’s cut of a movie: you get more nudity, sex, and blood. When I discussed the movie with my son, he kept saying, “That wasn’t in the theater version!” Of course, he couldn’t wait to borrow my copy to see all the extra goodies for himself.
Though Michael Myers’s early life is one big cliché—the seriously messed-up family, the animal mutilation, and the misunderstood child—I give Rob Zombie kudos for making the effort to explain why Michael did what he did. However, it slowed the story down some—especially during his years in the sanatorium.
But Scout Taylor Compton does a great job in her role as Laurie Strode—a sweet, smart girl with attitude. She’s very likable—making you not want anything bad to happen to her. Out of all of the characters, she’s the most memorable.
Still, as a woman who loves horror movies, I often have to put up with some things I could do without. In Halloween, I could’ve done without the full frontal female nudity, the constant use of the f-word, and most of the sex scenes (especially the rape scene in Michael’s cell). In fact, just about every time Michael raises his butcher knife, the scene involves couples who are either having sex or have just finished having sex—and it just isn’t necessary.
Halloween has its ups and downs, its plot holes, and its senselessness, but I liked the movie anyway. It’s a real cringer, and I almost did the girly thing and put my hands over my eyes during particularly brutal scenes. Suspenseful and horrifying, Halloween will have you holding your breath, jumping out of your skin, and cringing at every revolting and abhorrent scene. And, really, that’s the main attraction for any good horror film.
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