We all know the story: on an eerie Halloween night, little Michael Myers stabs his older sister Judith to death and is committed to a sanitorium for the rest of his days (that is, until he escapes). 1978’s Halloween is the definitive slasher movie to nearly everyone these days, spearheading one of the most important subgenres in horror history; but what happened in 2007 when a director known for directing films that Roger Ebert calls “a gaudy vomitorium” is tapped to direct a remake of one of the most important horror films of all time?

Rob Zombie (known for his musical ventures) wrote and directed a remake of John Carpenter’s classic, with a sequel two years later. Despite the ever-trendy requel angle the franchise took a decade later, it was a shock to many horror fans at the time that someone dared remake such a groundbreaking film. The consensus currently holds the 2007 film at a 28% critic rating and a 59% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, as many believe the film failed on all fronts. Despite a perception of public distaste, 2007’s Halloween updates the franchise with nuance and grit for more hardcore horror fans, and the 2009 sequel acts as a stellar companion. 

The initial complaint for many with Zombie’s Halloween is that the first act focuses closely on Michael’s childhood more than the original film. The idea for the original is that Michael becomes a faceless entity of pure evil, remorseless and unfeeling. Zombie’s take on it is an antisocial, unstable young boy driven to his most violent self. It’s a more sympathetic approach to the character that allows the audience to understand Michael more deeply. 

Another difference with the 2007 Michael is that he not only kills his older sister on Halloween, but a bully, Judith’s boyfriend, and his mother’s abusive boyfriend, while sparing his little sister Angel. Zombie focuses on Michael Myers in more detail and amps up his killing spree on Halloween, which makes for a more intense film all around and allows the audience a bit more insight into what exactly drove him over the edge.

Just as Michael’s story changes between Carpenter and Zombie’s films, so does Dr. Samuel Loomis’s. Donald Pleasence gave an iconic performance as the doctor hunting Michael down and Malcolm McDowell takes the reins from him effortlessly. Dr. Loomis in Zombie’s films is far colder and more selfish. While this mostly applies to the second film, the first film establishes that this iteration of Loomis is more determined to help Michael recover and eventually track him down for his own ego, not for the safety of others.

 The second film deals more heavily with Loomis’s hubris and greed surrounding the events of the first film as he is on a book tour he wrote about Michael’s life for his own gain. Loomis’s arc varies depending on if you’re watching the director’s cut of the second film, but regardless it is a wildly different take on the iconic character originally portrayed by Pleasence.

As mentioned previously, the second film goes in a wildly different direction. While Rick Rosenthal’s Halloween 2 (1981) (written by Carpenter) simply changes location and throws in a sibling reveal out of nowhere, Zombie planted the seeds for 2009’s Halloween II in the first film with the introduction of Angel Myers, who is heavily implied to be Laurie Strode as an infant. This is confirmed in the 2009 sequel, with Laurie’s arc focusing on moving past her trauma and the realization of her relation to Michael. This also adds an important layer to the film about class which is a facet Rob Zombie often employs in his films. 

It can be read that Michael’s targeting of Laurie and her friends could be due to jealousy over Laurie’s higher position in society compared to where Michael was as a child and wanting to remind her of where she came from. This further differs from the themes of the original film by instead discussing what societal factors can drive someone to evil whereas Carpenter’s original focuses on Michael as a conduit for evil itself. Zombie adds nuance to Michael, his potential motive, and Laurie’s arc throughout both films as well as incorporating complex themes that the original film purposefully holds back. 

Scout Taylor-Compton gives a good performance in the first film, but the second film is where she truly shines. Laurie in Halloween II is far from the antithesis of evil we see Jamie Lee Curtis portray, instead a rebellious young adult trying to drown out her trauma with whatever vice she can get her hands on. Complimenting Laurie’s arc is franchise veteran Danielle Harris as Annie Brackett, who played Michael’s niece Jamie Lloyd in Halloween 4 and 5: The Return and Revenge of Michael Myers (1988, 1989 respectively). In Halloween II, Annie has moved on with her life, and the two exhibit very different reactions to trauma. 

A large number of fans complained about the Rob Zombie Halloween films because they didn’t want to see iconic films remade, fearing the integrity of the nostalgia the original films brought them. While there are rare cases where remakes can be justified, Zombie’s unique take on one of the most iconic horror franchises of all time should be recognized as a significant spotlight in the horror community. If Zombie had remade the original film shot for shot, audiences would have the opposite complaint of it being too derivative. The fact that Zombie was able to take the reins and do something wildly different while maintaining strong themes and characters makes 2007’s Halloween and 2009’s Halloween II better films than most give them credit for.


Retrospective Courtesy of Nadia Arain

Feature Credit to Dimension Films via IMDb