Post by SwampFire on Sept 4, 2007 11:31:49 GMT -5
I concur with Holly.
Zombie really had a lot of good ideas with young Michael and his evolution into "The Shape". The first forty minutes and the many of the scenes inside the mental institution were by far the best in the film. After that, as Holly mentions, the film turns into basically a re-cut of the original with a weaker ending than the one I read about and was expecting.
As with all Zombie films, I tend to view the language and some of the scenes as over the top and gratituitous. These scenes are the ones that seem to irritate the general public and I think Zombie knows that he pushes buttons and instead of finding creative new ways to push buttons, he seems to only want to push continually harder on the same ones. I think he angers a lot of people like this and he leaves people like me (his thinking fan base) rolling their eyes at his pedantic treatment of what could be really good subject matter. It seemed like Zombie had an agenda to work every curse word into the script that he could and leave not a single one out. Some of it is almost awkward in its sheer ridiculousness. Being a horror fan I have no objection at all to some good cursing, some good violence, bloody scenes etc but Zombie tends to ham hand it and tries to maximize everything because I think he believes that this is what horror fans want. Conversely to that, there is a bully scene where young Michael takes care of business that was done brilliantly. I wish the rest of the film was done when Zombie was in whatever mood he was in on that day of filming.
Finally, though I did like the first part of the film, Zombie really played over the top at the whole dysfunctional family theme. They couldn't be a little dysfunctional, no, they had to be the worst dysfunctional you've ever seen. The sole savior in this part of the film is Sherry Moon who really does a great job showing some emotional depth in this film. As Baby Firefly she didn't really have to act. In this film she plays a stripper (Michael's mother) who knows her life is messed up and makes us, the viewing masses, know that she knows by connecting with us on that level. She was surprisingly good.
On a tangential topic, one of the things I really liked about the original Halloween was that young Michael looked so normal and that his house was just like my house, or your house. I like the idea that evil can breed anywhere, even in a stable and loving environment (The Bad Seed, The Good Son etc are examples where this idea is well utilized). I think the abuse and the environment in the Halloween remake were way over the top but I don't think an Oscar nomination was the motive for this film.
Still, with all of its flaws it was a great deal of fun and Daeg Faerch was brilliant as young Michael. I'll definitely buy the DVD and watch it several times as I do with most horror films that I like.
Oh yeah, I did take my 14 year old and he liked it. There was some stuff I'd rather that he didn't see but he said there were no surprises in there for him. I shouldn't be surprised at that... knowing how I was at 14.
Zombie really had a lot of good ideas with young Michael and his evolution into "The Shape". The first forty minutes and the many of the scenes inside the mental institution were by far the best in the film. After that, as Holly mentions, the film turns into basically a re-cut of the original with a weaker ending than the one I read about and was expecting.
As with all Zombie films, I tend to view the language and some of the scenes as over the top and gratituitous. These scenes are the ones that seem to irritate the general public and I think Zombie knows that he pushes buttons and instead of finding creative new ways to push buttons, he seems to only want to push continually harder on the same ones. I think he angers a lot of people like this and he leaves people like me (his thinking fan base) rolling their eyes at his pedantic treatment of what could be really good subject matter. It seemed like Zombie had an agenda to work every curse word into the script that he could and leave not a single one out. Some of it is almost awkward in its sheer ridiculousness. Being a horror fan I have no objection at all to some good cursing, some good violence, bloody scenes etc but Zombie tends to ham hand it and tries to maximize everything because I think he believes that this is what horror fans want. Conversely to that, there is a bully scene where young Michael takes care of business that was done brilliantly. I wish the rest of the film was done when Zombie was in whatever mood he was in on that day of filming.
Finally, though I did like the first part of the film, Zombie really played over the top at the whole dysfunctional family theme. They couldn't be a little dysfunctional, no, they had to be the worst dysfunctional you've ever seen. The sole savior in this part of the film is Sherry Moon who really does a great job showing some emotional depth in this film. As Baby Firefly she didn't really have to act. In this film she plays a stripper (Michael's mother) who knows her life is messed up and makes us, the viewing masses, know that she knows by connecting with us on that level. She was surprisingly good.
On a tangential topic, one of the things I really liked about the original Halloween was that young Michael looked so normal and that his house was just like my house, or your house. I like the idea that evil can breed anywhere, even in a stable and loving environment (The Bad Seed, The Good Son etc are examples where this idea is well utilized). I think the abuse and the environment in the Halloween remake were way over the top but I don't think an Oscar nomination was the motive for this film.
Still, with all of its flaws it was a great deal of fun and Daeg Faerch was brilliant as young Michael. I'll definitely buy the DVD and watch it several times as I do with most horror films that I like.
Oh yeah, I did take my 14 year old and he liked it. There was some stuff I'd rather that he didn't see but he said there were no surprises in there for him. I shouldn't be surprised at that... knowing how I was at 14.