Pointless remake

I have nothing against remakes in general, some are great, some are good, some are quite, some are both awful and pointless. The remake to the classic Halloween(1978) isn't only awful, as a remake and on its own merits, but like the Psycho, Nightmare on Elm Street, Wicker Man and Stepford Wives remakes it is also pointless.

Not only is it awful, pointless and not scary at all, but it is the complete opposite of the original in every way. Sorry about the comparing, but in this case it is inevitable.

The film is not cheap as such, but just not atmospheric. The camera angles do get obvious after a while and the editing gets a little frenzied. Some of the music was nice, but the cues like the camera angles seemed obvious in how they were placed and it isn't successful at enhancing the mood of the film.

Halloween(2007) does also have some awful dialogue, particularly in the Loomis and Myers scenes that are ridden with clichés. The story is just not very interesting this time round, it is timeless in notion for sure but not in execution. The film feels more like a very dodgy homage and Rob Zombie fails to re-create what made Halloween work so well(the primal fears, the truly demonic characterisation of Michael Myers and how the scares are used). Also the film does take too long to set up and the sexual talk gets too much and disturbing after a while.

Also disappointing is how Halloween(2007) incorporates its scares. Instead of the suspenseful atmosphere and genuine jolts that the original had, this remake does something that the original cleverly avoided, using excessive gore and treating it in a cheap fashion.

I didn't care for the characters either, all of them are badly-underwritten, especially McDowell's Loomis. The character of Michael Myers also disappoints greatly, it is not demonic enough with the potentially unnerving characterisation completely stripped bare and I agree contradictory in an attempt to explore his background.

The acting is pretty awful. Malcolm McDowell is a great actor and has saved a not-so-good-movie more than once, but seeing how weak his character and dialogue is, not this time. Scout Taylor-Compton can't do anything with her role either, and while I blame the script more than anything else Tyler Mane comes more as a badly-written greasy-haired psychotic killer rather than a personification of terror. The less about Sherri Moon Zombie the better, for my money she can't act if her life depended on it.

In conclusion, pointless and very disappointing. 1/10 Bethany Cox

1/10