Rob Zombie's Halloween

So, after being encouraged by just about everyone I know, I put Rob Zombie's Halloween on my Netflix list. I got it yesterday and watched it this morning. And honestly.... I'm a bit disappointed.

What everyone was telling was this is the story of Michael, not the teenage bimbos he's killing. A mental analysis of a serial killer that one of my close buddies told me was even better than the original. I never saw any of the other films as I'm not much for mindless slasher flicks, but this sounded up my ally. And well, everyone was right... kinda. The first 40 minutes of the film are fucking amazing. It is exactly what everyone was telling me it was and I was getting deeply engrossed by it. When Michael kills, its written so well that it almost feels justified. I just about rooted for him. And the time he spends in the mental ward is just amazing, as it dives further into his mind. I was really loving it... until he broke free.

Then the film just boiled down to what I imagine all of the others are like: teenage skanks, tits, and gore. All character development and analysis are thrown completely out of the window as the film becomes just another slasher film. The story fails to advance beyond that point as it becomes blood bath after blood bath without rhyme or reason. It was almost like the first part of the film was nothing more than a reason to get to the mindless killing. I was hoping to see more of an exploration into the mind of Michael, some character development, SOMETHING! I didn't even feel sympathy for the people he was killing. If this was the only the last act of the film, it would have felt better... but instead it was almost 3/4 of the entire film.

I went into this expecting something similar (though not to the caliber of) Silence of the Lambs. Instead, I got a taste of that, then exactly why I wasn't interested in the Halloween films to begin with. Maybe I set the bar to high? I dunno.


*edit* Needed more Sid Haig.
-Roger