HALLOWEEN: UNRATED DIRECTOR’S CUT.

It seems that the general consensus amongst horror “journalists” and even some die-hard fans is to scream “blasphemy” at Rob Zombie’s remake of John Carpenter’s classic film HALLOWEEN. But I’m going to go out on a limb here and confess that I rather enjoyed Rob Zombie’s movie, despite its flaws. I know in the past few months, I’ve avoided voicing my opinion during conversations with friends or even here on the Icons site & My Space, because for whatever reason, Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN is always instantly a very heated debate.

Look, I went into the movie theater with very little knowledge or expectations as to what the movie would or should be. I only wanted to be entertained and see a different take on the Michael Myers character, considering how tired I’d grown of lackluster sequels pitting our once scary icon against rappers that learned kung-fu from television. So, now after watching the movie in theaters (rather then the “work print” that all of you went and downloaded) and having watched the new “Unrated Director’s Cut” DVD twice in a row (once to make note of the additions/differences and secondly to listen to Zombie’s commentary track), I think I can confidently say that I really like Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN. And here’s why.

Of all the multiple versions that were floating around on-line or playing at cinema multiplexes, this new “Unrated Director’s Cut” DVD is by far the best and most complete version of the movie. Lots of little things that bothered me on the initial viewing in theaters have been rectified and restored for this definitive cut. It’s as if this DVD gave Rob Zombie the extra time he needed to really finish the movie & deliver his true vision of HALLOWEEN. (If only he wasn’t rushed into that August release date, damn it!)



What’s new? Different? Better? I’m going to assume you’ve already seen the movie, know what it’s about and jump right into answering these questions. There are a lot of subtle additions as opposed to full on “new” scenes here. It might not be noticeable at first glance, but all the additions truly help with the overall flow of the movie, flesh out certain plot points and help make more things clearer through out the duration of the picture. For example, there are a series of short black and white videos that Loomis shoots of young Michael in the asylum explaining his slow descent into madness, and his retreat into the masks he’s becoming overly obsessed with creating. Rather then jump to Michael suddenly not talking anymore, we get to see his frustration, his repeated requests to get out of the sanitarium, and the realization that he’s never, ever getting out of this place that he’s been locked up in, for reasons that even Michael doesn’t fully understand. (Real life killer Ed Gein claimed to “black out” during his murders, and young Michael claims to Loomis to have no recollections of the killings from Halloween night.) The strongest portion of the movie in any of the cut’s has always been the first act of the movie, and in particular all the great interactions between young Michael and Loomis. Granted, I’m not crazy about Michael coming from a white-trash family, but after the 10-minute mark when things pick up, I could care less about some of the opening scene’s dialogue.



One of the most controversial additions/changes is the escape “rape” scene, which has been restored for this version. It’s graphic and for the most part I initially didn’t like it, but I suppose it’s a more realistic method of escape then what was shown in the theatrical cut where Michael becomes super human for a mere moment to break his chains. (Literally.) Interestingly enough, I just didn’t think this kind of thing would happen or would be possible, but Zombie points out in his commentary track that he did in fact read about things like this going on in asylum’s back in the late 70’s. So, knowing that he pulled this tid-bit from truth makes it a bit easier to swallow, and at least continues to follow the logic of realism he was trying to represent with his HALLOWEEN.



I didn’t fully “get” the Linda/Bob murder scenes and what they represented until watching this new cut. I think the reason is - at first, I was so used to how things happened in the original HALLOWEEN that as an audience member, I found myself trying to pick apart when the familiar moments would present themselves. Pushing up Linda/Bob’s deaths in continuity definitely throws the balance off of what you would expect. But it’s a bit more obvious here on a second viewing that both Linda and Bob are just examples of Michael Myers recreating the murder of his sister Judith and her boyfriend from the beginning of the movie, right down to adult Michael following Bob down the stairs the same way he did Judith’s boyfriend 16 years earlier.



I saw the end to the “work print” on You Tube before it was yanked off line and I must admit I really loved it. The theatrical ending was a bit of a mess and I honestly didn’t understand what the hell was going on when I saw it in theaters. Thankfully, it’s slightly re-edited here and far more satisfying then previous incarnations. What the hell happened to Loomis?! Did he die? Was his head crushed? Was it not? Was it ever clear? Well, on this cut, you can see that he’s down but not out. He’s still alive (with a bloody forehead) and he makes one last attempt to grab Michael and stop him from chasing Laurie.



It even appears that there’s an added shot to the very end of the movie of baby Laurie with young Michael, and ending on that image with the knowledge that that baby will grow up to shoot her older brother in the face kind of makes for a really fucked up little family affair here.



It’s all of these subtle additions that really make a world of difference when it comes down to this final version of the film. As it’s own movie, and looking at it as it’s own self contained story about a killer kid who grows up and comes home to reunite with his baby sister, the one and only thing that still binds him to any kind of humanity is in itself an interesting story and what I’d expect to be Rob Zombie’s follow-up movie to THE DEVIL’S REJECTS. This isn’t “the shape” Michael Myers or the “pure evil of two legs” Michael Myers. This is Rob Zombie’s Michael Myers. A real life killer whose story ends with the credits. It’ll be interesting to see how they continue from here, if they choose to. (And considering the movie’s box office haul, a sequel is inevitable.)

Before I go on to the features, I wanted to compliment some of the acting in the flick, since most reviewers are quick to point out their beefs with bits of bad dialogue and performances. Malcolm McDowell was a wonderful Loomis and again, I really loved every scene he had with young Michael. It was definitely a benefit that he didn’t see or mimic Donald Pleasance’s performance and made this version of Loomis his own. Seriously, wasn’t it good to have Loomis in a HALLOWEEN movie again? Surprisingly, I think Sheri Moon Zombie gave a decent performance as Deborah Myers that is far better then anything she’s done previously. Her moments with Michael in the sanitarium in particular are scenes that I like, and she proved herself believable as Michael’s concerned, if not slightly misguided mother. Brad Dourif is just great in everything he does. Doesn’t matter the quality of the flick, you know you can always count on him to deliver something special, and I loved him as Sheriff Brackett. Just look at any of his interactions with McDowell, or in particular the moment when he discovers Annie’s battered body. Solid acting from him, always.

The commentary: Usually the best commentaries are the ones recorded after some time has passed for the filmmaker, so that it’s easier for them to be more objective to their movie and analyze their decisions in retrospect. I’m still amazed how fast the process went for Rob Zombie from the film’s announcement, to the production, to the summer release date and now to this DVD. Despite the sped up time table, he’s still able to offer a very insightful and entertaining commentary, fully aware of the ramifications of his decisions and doing his best to explain more of his intentions for why certain scenes were deleted or moved around or added for this director’s cut. One tid-bit talked about on the commentary was his decision to cut adult Michael Myer’s one line of dialogue, which caused a huge uproar amongst the on-line community after an early script review was posted on Ain’t It Cool News. (“What?! Michael speaks?!”) Well, considering the young Michael Myers spoke in this version, I don’t see what the big fuss was over adult Michael Myers uttering the one word “Boo” once reunited with his baby sister. But alas, while it was filmed, Zombie confesses to cutting it out. If anything, the commentary is interesting just to hear him explain the intentions behind certain moments and how they reflect to the overall story. If you’ve read our interview, he usually has a very intelligent, well thought-out response for any question thrown at him. And he answers a lot of the common criticisms during his commentary track. For example, Zombie defends the film’s excessive bad language saying that when he was in high school, kids much like Daryl Sabara’s Wesley Rhoades said exactly the type of things he says to Michael in the school bathroom. He also offers plenty of humorous anecdotes, such as the fact that Ken Foree was bummed to lose a line from COOL HAND LUKE, which has finally been re-instated into this version. Now, had this director’s cut of the film been the one released in theaters, I wonder if the horror community would have embraced this movie a little differently?



Deleted Scenes/Alternate Ending: Several of the deleted scenes offer good stuff with actors like Daniel Roebuck, Gary Grossman (Bachelor Party!), Ezra Buzzington, Adrienne Barbeau, and more of Udu Kier, Clint Howard and Tom Towles. Rob Zombie explains why these clips were deleted, and rightfully so, most don’t exactly fit into the flow of the film, but alas, it’s fantastic to see them here on the DVD. Roebuck and Grossman’s interaction is a humorous bit from the Rabbit In The Red bar where Deborah Myers works. And Ezra Buzzington pops up as the caretaker on the deleted scenes, while in the actual movie, it’s Sid Haig in a welcome addition to the director’s cut. Also neat is Adrienne Barbeau’s brief argument with McDowell at the adoption agency where Loomis is attempting to discover the parents of Laurie Strode.



There’s an alternate first meeting between Loomis and Brackett that takes place in the graveyard and is shot in one long, impressive take. (A testament to McDowell and Dourif’s acting!) The alternate ending I mentioned earlier in this review is here for all to see. If it had been used, it would’ve cut a good 10 minutes out of the movie’s running time, and now with the director’s cut’s tighter ending, it’s more obvious that Laurie finishes her character arc at a more satisfactory spot then she would have had it ended with this alternate version.



Bloopers: Here’s where you can watch a lot of McDowell in all his wackiness, cracking crazy jokes and forcing his co-stars to burst into fits of laughter. Referring to Michael as a “right nutter” to Sheri Moon is cute. Quite frankly, I question if Mister McDowell was drinking on the job here or what! Regardless, the DVD features a rather entertaining 10-minute blooper reel and is certainly one of the disc’s highlights. (People really need to use McDowell for more comedy stuff.)



The Many Masks Of Michael Myers: This featurette talks to Rob Zombie about the importance of the Myers masks, and features interview segments with FX artist Wayne Toth, who goes into detail about his decisions for the designs behind Michael’s many masks, and in particular the re-creation of the famous white mask. Interesting enough is that although there were several “white” masks made for the shoot, they all featured the same exact expression, which is a testament to the acting job that Tyler Mane pulled off as the adult Michael Myers.



Re-Imagining HALLOWEEN: This is a lengthy featurette covering the entire making of process for the film and is broken up into 3 sub-featurettes – “From Camera To Screen”, “The Production Design” and “The Makeup FX, Props and Wardrobe”. Highlight of this section of the DVD has to be the FX portion, which shows how a lot of the film’s gory bits were pulled off.



Meet The Cast: A featurette that focuses on Rob Zombie’s casting decisions and introduces us to some of the film’s veteran actors such as Malcolm McDowell, Tyler Mane, Brad Dourif as well as Scout-Taylor Compton and more. Considering how neat it was for Zombie to reveal each new cast member via his My Space page, this is a fun, little featurette focusing on why each actor was perfect for their respective roles.

Casting Sessions: Fairly self-explanatory. We’re treated to a series of auditions in this featuette section. I always find it interesting to see actor’s audition tapes, because it’s often hard to imagine anyone else in their roles once you see these.



Also, the theatrical trailer is included, but not the original teaser that played before GRINDHOUSE back in April of 2007. (I actually prefer the teaser trailer to the theatrical one!)

Overall, this DVD and “director’s cut” made me completely re-evaluate Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN, and while most people either loved it or hated it, this DVD is definitely worth every penny for its content and features. I think once some time passes, a lot of horror fans and critics will go back and really re-evaluate this movie differently and hopefully not be as judgmental as they initially were. Highly recommended. –Robg.