Halloween (2007)

***Halloween*** is a 2007 slasher film written, directed, and produced by Rob Zombie. A remake of the 1978 horror film of the same name, it is the ninth overall installment in the *Halloween* franchise. A sequel, *Halloween II* (not to be confused with the 1981 film of the same name) was released in 2009.

## Plot

After being committed to a mental institution for 17 years, Michael Myers is now a grown man and still very dangerous. He escapes from the mental institution and immediately returns to Haddonfield to find his baby sister, Laurie.

## Why It's Great

1. Even if it's not quite as good as the original, it is at least an improvement over the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th films in the series.
2. All the actors still give good performances. They even got Danielle Harris (who played Jamie Lloyd from the original *Halloween* series) to play a role in this remake as Annie Brackett, and her performance is pretty good.
3. Michael Myers himself is much better than he was in the preceeding sequels, returning to his roots as a legimate threat. His mask and attire are also very well done and creepy.
4. The death scenes are still brutal (probably even more than the original), such as the scene where Michael beats his bully to death with a tree branch or the part where Michael duct-tapes his mom's boyfriend, Ronnie, to a chair before slitting his throat with a kitchen knife.
5. Most of the soundtrack is pretty good and sounds very close to the original.
	* The new take on the iconic theme is also impressive.
6. The scene where Michael's mother kills herself is very heartbreaking to watch.
7. A few scenes are actually quite better and more brutal than the original, like the scenes where Michael kills the entire mental institution staff before escaping and how we get to see Michael kill the man (Joe Grizzly) who he took his clothes from.
8. Dr. Samuel Loomis is surprisingly more likeable in the director's cut more so than the theatrical cut, as he's shown to really want to help Michael Myers from his psychopathic mind while showing a lot of guilt over how he failed to help him. He also even pleads nicely to let Laurie go after Michael's got a hold of her, as well as willing to prevent him from killing anyone else.
9. Ismael Cruz is a likeable character because he cares and helps Michael at Smith's Grove and seeing him get killed by Michael is sad.
10. The suspenseful and scary moments are pretty well done.
11. The atmosphere is just as eerie as the original.

## Bad Qualities

1. It has a LOT of unlikable characters that you just want Michael to kill off, many of which are basically the reason why he becomes as vicious as he does.
2. There is also far too much profanity even for a R-rated film.
3. Michael having an established backstory in this film takes away the mystique factor he had in the original film. It doesn't help that the first half of the film focuses entirely on this, and having Michael be this annoying whiny kid makes it harder to take seriously when he grows up to be the monstrous killer we know him as.
4. Plot holes like how Michael was able to bury his mask and knife under a wooden floor shortly after killing three people in his house.
5. The director's cut has two infamous scenes that could've been cut to save time and do nothing but further hurt the film in the long run:
	* The first being a scene where two custodians rape a young woman in a cell that feels entirely pointless and only added for shock value.
	* The other is where Laurie begins teasing her adopted mother, Cynthia Strode, while she finger humps a bagel, as Cynthia begs her to stop.

## Reception

Based on 119 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, *Halloween* received a 28% approval rating, with an average rating of 4.40/10.

## Box Office

Despite mixed reviews, the film, which cost $15 million to make, went on to gross $80.3 million worldwide in unadjusted U.S. dollars.

## External links

* ***Halloween*** on IMDB
* ***Halloween*** on Rotten Tomatoes