A terrific prequel to a movie series that spawned a horror idol in the form Michael Myers. Well worthy of watching - and not just the one time.

Rob Zombie deserves all the credit he gets for his direction on Halloween, the movie exceeding any expectations I had before settling to the cinema for this one.

2007 certainly hasn’t been a bad year for movies, especially of late - Die Hard 4.0, Pirates Of The Caribbean 3, Transformers, The Bourne Ultimatum to name but a few. I reckon that when the curtain falls on 2007 I’ll be counting Halloween amongst the top I’ve seen this year.

Rob Zombie’s extension of the franchise gives us the background story on Michael Myers as a 10-year old boy living in Haddonfield, Illinois. Played by Daeg Faerch, we’re drawn into the mindset of Myers - bullied in school, mother living with a dead-beat drunk and working as a pole dancer, a fascination for killing small animals and hiding behind a mask from a young age.

Needless to say Myers doesn’t have any love for his family and is jailed on three counts of first degree murder, confined to a psychiatric ward for treatment and study. It is here we meet Dr. Sam Loomis, played excellently by Malcolm McDowell (who you might recognise from ‘Heroes’ as ‘Linderman’), Loomis befriending Myers over near 20 years in his care.

The transformation in Myers physical character is genuinely scarier than any weapon he could yield in the movie, changing from a 10-year old short blone boy to a near 7-foot monster, played by Tyler Mane, a former professional wrestler. The sheer size and strength of the charac

On a night where Myers is due to be transferred out of the facility, everything goes horribly wrong, Myers escaping and embarking on a relentless killing spree in a quest to find his sister, Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis in the original 1978 movie).

The film itself has all the elements of a 70s/80s horror movie that you would expect - the bad guy killer, the good looking female victims (and nudity), running up the stairs and hiding in the bathroom when you’ve nowhere to go - all served without a single hint of cheese.

The chase sequences are great, the character movements are great, the lighting a little dark at times, but such is the nature of Halloween - most of the action takes place at night. Some of the camera work is shaky, though a trait in movies I’ve admired since the Blair Witch Project.

Listening to and watching people around the cinema there were plenty of unexpected f-words, stifled screams and jumping in seat (falling victim to it myself at one point), the general consensus from the group of use who attended the film being Rob Zombie’s Halloween is a great movie.

I can’t see how fans of the original movie will be disappointed and if you’ve never gotten into the Halloween franchise then this is a perfect and thrilling gateway into the horror series.

Rated 4/5 on Sep 30 2007 by Ken McGuire
Review Tags: film, halloween, horror, michael myers, movie, rob zombie
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