This entry was posted on Monday, November 19th, 2007 at 7:49 pm and is filed under H, Horror. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Director: Rob Zombie
Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Brad Dourif, Tyler Mane, Scout Taylor-Compton, Daeg Faerch
Musician Rob Zombie is pretending to be a filmmaker, again. For all of our sakes, can’t he find a new hobby like golf, or something else where reviewers like myself aren’t obligated to observe his dismal efforts? This remake of John Carpenter’s 70’s suspenseful bloodfest, is just as gory, exploitive and utterly ridiculous, as the original, but lacks the style and craft that made Carpenter’s film a classic among the fans of grotesque movie killings. The acting ranges from mediocre to weak, and the story starts out as mildly interesting and gradually becomes strongly idiotic, though I did enjoy many of Zombie’s song choices.
The story here is close enough to the earlier version, to the best of my memory, except that Michael, as a prepubescent murderer (played by Daeg Faerch) is 10 years old, instead of 6. Young Michael is locked up for his misdeeds, which included killing off most of his family, and spends 15 years growing into a silent zombie-like mental giant, who hides behind countless masks, of his own construction. Eventually, he escapes (there’s a surprise!), and embarks on a yawning series of violent attacks, mainly on copulating teenage couples. He is of course drawn back to his old home, now abandoned in the same neighborhood, where his now teenage sister lives with a foster family, with no knowledge of her past.
Fans of slasher films of the 70s and 80s may find this to be a pleasant stroll down memory lane. The formula mix of blood, and opportunistic sex scenes, is as familiar as the regenerating one dimensional bad guys. If you enjoyed the remake of The Hitcher, earlier this year, then this one may be for you.
