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Rob Zombie's Halloween; Micheal Myers' Life on Parade
Topic Started: Sep 2 2007, 06:54 PM (706 Views)
Stony Brooke da Mesquiteer
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I took my daughter to see this yesterday. I enjoyed it. Prior to seeing the movie, I read an interview with Zombie in the local paper. Zombie says he has John Carpenter's blessing to make Halloween a Zombie film and not a remake. Rob goes on in the article to say he sees the movie in 3 acts.

Act 1 is the upbringing of Micheal and what triggers his rage.

Act 2 is Micheal's time in the mental hospital.

The final act consists of Micheal's escape from the hospital and his return to Haddonfield.

This film doesn't have the sloth M. Myers in it, but an aware purposeful villian.

This film has Sid Haig and Bill Moseley in bit parts. Both have been in all 3 of Zombie's films. Sid as Captain Spaulding and Bill as Otis in both HOUSE OF 1000 CORPES and THE DEVILS REJECTS.Sheri Moon Zombie has been in all of the Zombie films and finds herself in the roll of Michael's mother.

This film has one graphic scene and a whole bunch of foul language.

Alot of '70's song are used (Don't Fear The Reaper) plus Zombie also uses Carpenter's original music.

Zombie is an artist who records music, does his own drawings for records and CD's and has directed 3 films! I expect him to broaden his resume with a great film in the next couple of years. Maybe it's the Dickel talkin' but I said it first right here and right drinkin' now!!
It's like Rodney King used to say, "Can't we all get a bong."
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Inspector Carr
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I agree, I mentioned Halloween in one of the threads about remakes, about the buzz being rather positive, personally I have liked what Rob Zombie has done with the face of contemporary horror, House of a thousand corpses is a great over the top homage to 1970's/1980's slasher horror, while The Devils rejects is when stripped down is a great western, I look forward to Zombie's envisioning of Carpenter's classic and look forward to future works from him (plus I like his music as well). aside from Mosely and Haig there are quite a few cameos from genre stars as well as Ken Foree from Romero's dawn of the Dead and The Devils Rejects.......
"Life is a Crapshoot however you need a pair of dice to participate"
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Stony Brooke da Mesquiteer
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Ken Foree is here as well as the actress who filled Karen Black's shoes as Madam Firefly in REJECTS. Also from REJECTS are William Forsythe and Danny Trejiola. Danny's name could well be misspelled.

Absent, as far as I could tell, from REJECTS are Micheal Berryman, Ginger Lynn and the chick who played Peewee's girlfriend in Peewee's Big Adventure... Yep that's her!

The Dickel will not let me remember her name!!
It's like Rodney King used to say, "Can't we all get a bong."
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Inspector Carr
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The Actress that took over Karen Blacks role in DR is name Leslie Easterbrook she also was a regular cast member in those Police Academy Movies with Steve Guttenberg. Dee Wallace Stone as well as as hard as it is to believe Mickey Dolenz has a small role as well........I am lookning forward to seeing it, and it would not shock me to see it out on DVD around Halloween.......(hey I am not an inspector for nothing)
"Life is a Crapshoot however you need a pair of dice to participate"
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Ignatz Ratzkywatzky
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I'll probably wait for the DVD, but I will see it eventually. Rob Zombie's first two films are guilty pleasures for me. House of 1000 Corpses isn't all that well made, but the characters (especially Sid Haig's Captain Spaulding) are a hoot. Zombie made a big leap in quality with The Devil's Rejects, but I still tend to feel a bit dirty for liking it (in the same way that I feel weird for loving Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia). Despite my misgivings, I find these two films more intriguing than most modern horrors, and I find myself returning to them. In October, I'll likely rewatch them again, along with the Vincent Price Dr. Phibes films.

I'm not sure what I think of Rob Zombie taking on Michael Myers. The original Halloween was scary in the same manner as the original Black Christmas--for what it didn't show and didn't tell. Zombie's film will undoubtedly be very different. He isn't known for his subtlety. I'm intrigued, but I'll likely spend my theater dollars on 3:10 to Yuma and another viewing of Superbad.
IT CAME FROM THE BOTTOM SHELF! is a movie recommendation site, focusing on forgotten classics, lesser-known gems, and oddball discoveries. https://www.bottomshelfmovies.com
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Inspector Carr
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I have yet to see Halloween, but I do understand they get a little deep into the background of Michael Myers. and I think the mystery of the character is what made him so frightening. Now on the other hand in reference to Mr Ratzkywatzky's upcoming viewing shedule..........How bout Rob Zombies take on Dr Phibes.....
"Life is a Crapshoot however you need a pair of dice to participate"
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Ignatz Ratzkywatzky
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Rob Zombie's Dr. Phibes would be crazy fun. I'd be the first in line just to check out his take on Vulnavia.
IT CAME FROM THE BOTTOM SHELF! is a movie recommendation site, focusing on forgotten classics, lesser-known gems, and oddball discoveries. https://www.bottomshelfmovies.com
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Inspector Carr
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I would feel safe to bet the farm he would cast his wife in the role, Or give Lisa Marie a Job, I don't think has really worked since she split from Tim Burton...
"Life is a Crapshoot however you need a pair of dice to participate"
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Inspector Carr
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Well I actually saw the film and I will admit I liked it very much....Rob Zombie was treading on some sacred ground attempting to remake a bonifide classic in it's own right film. But to me it suceeded on all levels giving a fresh new look to the story but still paying the right amount of respect to Carpenter's original. Not as gory as one would expect....a very good re-envisioning of a modern classic Horror.

other interesting cameos in the film

1. Ex action matron Sybil Danning as a nurse
2. William Forsythe (also from Devil's rejects) as Michael Myers father
3. Richard Lynch (low budget action villian in films such as Invasion USA as well as the Vampire in the 1979 Television pilot "VAMPIRE" which also starred Jason Miller and E.G. Marshall as a Van Helsing type)
4. Clint Howard (Ron's little brother and Gentle bens pal) as a parole board official
5.Udo Keir (Count Dracula in Andy Warhols dracula, also Baron Frankenstein in Andy Warhols Frankenstein also in Blade) as a parole board offical
6.Courtney Gains (Children of the Corn) sanitarium security guard
7. Daniell Harris (Michael Myers neice in Halloween 4 and 5) Laurie strodes friend Annie Bracket
8.Brad Douriff (Billy in One flew over the cuckoos nest, LOTR) as sheriff Brackett

there are others
obviously Rob Zombie is building a stock company of actors kind of like a Preston Sturges of the Macabre
"Life is a Crapshoot however you need a pair of dice to participate"
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Bonga
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I guess one of you guys who are fans will have to explain it to me.

I recently saw the box for Devil's Rejects in the store, and reading the ad copy on the back--"one of the most depraved climaxes in history!" or some such claptrap--brought back to me the memory of watching part of House of 1000 Corpses on a hotel cable system a couple years back.

I say part of, because I don't have to eat the whole egg to know it's rotten.

I watched probably 30 or 40 minutes, past the part where the one psycho started to cut up the captive's face with a razorblade, to the orgasmic screams of approval of some plastered slut. Kept watching until he undraped the dead captive mocked up as 'Fishboy."

Scary? Not in the least. Suspenseful? Looked paint-by-numbers when it wasn't entirely plotless. Demeaning to the viewer? Yes. Debasing to be watching that for entertainment? Absolutely.

Made with craft? Well, the psycho seemed pretty psychotic. Was that impressive? Uh---no.

You guys are talking about this stuff since you like it, so how about filling in for those of us who are mystified why you like it? Is there a point to it, other than watching a guy cut up someone's face with a razor? This exists because of---what? Is there a reason that watching it is in any significant way different from watching dogfighting?

Thanks, I'm just curious.
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Inspector Carr
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I can't say that I can speak for the other fellows on the thread but I would certainly like to clear up my situation with liking Rob Zombies work....

For the record I don't live in my mothers basement and pull wings off flies to see them walk in circles, actually I own my house (and basement I think) and when I am down there I usually bind the legs of locusts together in hopes of stopping that annoying noise they make in the summer (LOL)

No actually let me explain and to quote myself from the earlier thread..

"House of a thousand corpses is a great over the top homage to 70's/80's slasher flicks"

That's precisely what it is....Over the top.....is it a Great film.....Not by a long shot
it touches upon every conceivable cliche from the 70/80's horror cycle from Last house on the left, Texas Chainsaw massacre to Halloween and the countless teenagers being stalked by some vengeance filled lunatic....

Even the combined characteristics of Captain Spaulding and his environment.
A. A funhouse laugh in the dark ride
b. Clown makeup
c. The whole Uncle Sam thing

as I said over the top.....many people are afraid of clowns, many people are afraid of funhouses or laugh in the Dark rides, and during the last decade or so many people are afraid of Uncle Sam

did I find it scary....not really......nerve wracking.....sure.....

What Do I find scary....

1. Martin Balsam walking into the Psycho house
2. Kim Hunter and the private detective sneaking into a building in Val Lewton's The Seventh Victim
3. The eye of the Psychotic killer looking through the crack of a door at Dorothy Mcguires character in the original Spiral Staircase
4. Lionel Atwill's wifes lover in "Murders in the Zoo" with his mouth sewn shut.
5. the moment Dana Winter turns into a pod person and the look on Kevin Mcarthy's face when he realizes she's changed
6. My mortgage payment

Do I believe Rob Zombie has potential as a film maker....yes I do...but I will explain later...


Now onto The Devils Rejects

"The Devil's rejects is when stripped down a great western"

the key word is stripped down here.....

very simple we have three fugitives on the run (any number of westerns) they are pursued by a relentless lawman (those pinkertons from Butch Cassidy) who is vengeance driven (not a lawman but John Waynes character in the searchers come to mind) Their place of refuge is a bordello or saloon (any number of westerns again) the ending being a bloody shootout of some sort (Once again Butch Cassidy or for that matter The Wild Bunch)

that's all, the plot lines are a basic formula for many a great western, and please don't think that I am comparing the actors in the way of Robert Redford, Paul Newman, William Holden or John Wayne to the actors in Devils rejects... I am talking the structure of the story....

As far as the characters are concerned they are a heinous bunch with no redeeming characteristics at all save for one and that is they are loyal to each other.

In fact I feel the violence in the motel and beyond is "Over the line" In fact I scanned through it...

But I do believe that Zombie has potential as a film maker......

So now I come to the following

"I look forward to Zombies envisioning of Carpenters classic"

whether someone likes Halloween or not it is considered a classic in the Horror genre and takes a bit of chutzpah to remake a classic. However Rob Zombie was given Carpenter's blessing (and yes Carpenter probably received a healthy envelope in return) The film has been a success perhaps because it is a Halloween related film, perhaps because it is a Rob Zombie film However many critics have been positive in their reviews for his re-invisioning of the AFI top 100 winner (number 68 top 100 thrill films)

I saw the film, enjoyed it and he has added something to the story and not necesarily over the top violence, in fact the violence is toned down considerably from both House of the thousand corpses and Devils Rejects. The New Halloween is a far smoother and better made film.

So why do I believe that Rob Zombie has potential as a film maker.....

There are snatches of interesting camera angles, lighting and use of light and dark. and yes there is story pacing, he even selects the music for his films. I believe his love of cinema and his talent (from whatever capacity) will improve as time goes on

It reminds me of the reaction of a number of "film buffs" a while ago when TCM was having Rob Zombie host their TCM underground film series. some were outraged others felt it was obscene that TCM had lowered themselves...

how pompous and pretentous, to judge one's love of film because of his profession or what he does.

this has nothing to do with your questions or criticisms it just kind of popped in my widdle head.

So in closing I would like to share two examples. of where people started and where they ended up.

back in 1963 Roger Corman handed the directorial reigns to a young film maker,
the result was a horror film called Dementia 13. I would feel safe to say that not one person saw this film and said this fellow is oscar material....

the director was Francis Ford Coppola


Yet another even more bizarre example is the saga of director Bob Clark..

in the late 60's he directed an over the top Night of the living dead film called
"Children shouldn't play with dead things"

he eventually made a Dead soldier returning home from Vietnam called "Deathdream" another rather eerie horror film that was violent and a big drive in hit and has attained cult status..

In reality he made the first "Slasher" film that was very bloody and extremely frightening which predated Carpenter's Halloween by 4 years. The Film was called Black Christmas. This is considered in many circles to be the grand daddy of slasher horror, which unfortuneatley was remade as a violent mindless remake just a year or so ago.

But chances are you probably know Bob Clark from a film that perhaps you or loved ones have seen and has become a modern day Holiday Classic

It's called "Christmas Story"


anything can happen

So I hope in some sort of weird way I have explained things at least from my end

you will have to excuse me now but the locusts have broken from their little leg irons and are making that annoying noise again....and so it is off to the basement

Oh yes and for the record my favorite film of all time is Claude Lelouch's 1995 re-envisioning of Les Miserables with Jean Paul Belmondo...

best regards till next

"Life is a Crapshoot however you need a pair of dice to participate"
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Bonga
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LOL

Inspector, the idea of someone with your distinguished grey locks and debonair bearing making a little pile of fly wings in the basement had honestly never crossed my mind. (Although now that the image presents itself, it's pretty creepy)!

No, it's because I share tastes with you and the others on this thread that I thought you could explain it to me, not 'cause I thought you were dementoids of your own.

Thanks for your funny reply. Actually I saw the guy profiled on tv a year or so ago and I thought he was surprisingly articulate, and that he voiced a sensible aesthetic when he said something to the effect of, "If you hate The Devil's Rejects, at least think of it this way, you'll never have to suffer through The Devil's Rejects Part Two, cau'se they're ALL dead!" Very much in the tradition of the original punk bands with two minute songs called things like Fuck Off and Die! That I get, and can laugh about.

I haven't seen Devil's Rejects. 1000 Corpses struck me as focused on cruelty for the enjoyment of cruelty, and while I have no qualms about violence per se, the enjoyment of cruelty for its own sake doesn't allow for the sense of catharsis which often comes at the climactic moment of a horror film, and isn't easy for me to laugh off. I dunno, mabye it was just where my head was at the night I saw it. Made me feel sorry to be a human. Too much of that stuff in the real world. Funny you should mention Last House on the Left, because that's the film 1000 Corpses most reminded me of. I hate that one too. Good horror films can produce a weird sense of glee--you can walk out pumping your fist and going "Yes!" Personally I can't achieve that kind of release when I feel like I'm indulging the director getting off on the pain of others.

But who knows. Mabye I'll try another of his films someday. Seems like a lot of folks of sane mind sing the guy's praises. Just so long as I'm not in close proximity to anything that I could slit my wrists on . . .

I guess the other thing that gets me is that I feel that the idea of horror films being directed by a guy named Rob Zombie is a bad joke of a back-room marketing hack that has gotten out of hand . . . on the other hand, the guy's real name is Robert Cummings, so for a film career he does kind of need a different name.

RE Bob Clark, A Christmas Story was also predated by Porkys, and if there are films of more different focus, I can't think what they could be. Good point.

* Imagining the ad art for 'Rob Zombie's "Harvey" starring Adam Sandler, the story of a loveable dipsomaniac and his invisible six-foot serial rapist buddy.' *


Thanks for your reply, no offense was meant and I'm glad you didn't take any.
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Stony Brooke da Mesquiteer
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I don't know what you were expecting from this film Bonga or if you were expecting anything at all.

I've been listening to Zombie's music since the early 90s so my expectations of the 1st time director were based on a director who:

A) Calls himself Rob Zombie.

B) Named his last band WHITE ZOMBIE after a Bela Lugosi film (this film appears on a TV in Rob's HALLOWEEN)

C) Has written songs titled GRINDHOUSE (A GO-GO) ... GREASE PAINT AND MONKEY BRAINS ... I, ZOMBIE ... LIVING DEAD GIRL ... And my personal fave EL PHANTASMO AND THE CHICKEN-RUN BLAST-O-RAMA.

D) Has albums titled LA SEXORCISTO DEVIL MUSIC VOL.1 and ASTRO-CREEP:2000 SONGS OF LOVE, DESTRUCTION AND OTHER SYNTHETIC DELUTIONS OF THE ELECTRIC HEAD.

E) Does his own artwork for the "sleeves" of his CDs. The drawings are of monsters, zombies and big breasted women of course.

F) Calls himself Rob Zombie.

I don't think 1000 CORPSES is a good movie but neither is BRIDE OF THE MONSTER but I like both of them. I think the opening scene where Capt. Spaulding and Micheal J Pollard's character are held up at gunpoint is a great scene. There are other scenes I like along with the dialog in parts of the movie but the movie has no flow especially the ending. I also liked the characters in this bad movie and they return in a good DEVIL's REJECTS movie.

My hat is off to Zombie for going into movie directing when he wasn't "groomed" to do so.

G) Directed most of his music videos.

When you consider how many musical artists fail in front of the camera, here is one who went behind the camera and made 2 good films out of 3, IMO, too bad you selected the runt of the litter.
It's like Rodney King used to say, "Can't we all get a bong."
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Bonga
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I didn't so much select it as just flipped the channels, it was on, I had heard of it, and like to try new things. And I like horror movies. So I started watching. I don't know the music from the guy, just the name. I guess you're saying that you were predisposed to liking it because you like his musical act. Fair enough. I certainly have no issue with monsters, zombies and large-breasted women. But I wasn't presold, so I took 1000 Corpses in solely on its own terms. Perhaps it isn't representative of his other work?

But, Bride of the Monster isn't really a pertinent comparison. That one's a laugher throughout due to vast ineptitude in every single category, and it isn't an expression of meanness of spirit, which was my impression of 1000 Corpses. And it's the ineptitude that makes Bride of the Monster so enjoyable. 1000 Corpses had enough talent associated with it that watching it, instead of marveling at the ineptitude, it became reasonable to wonder to what end that talent was being applied, and why. Which is why I asked the question. . .

I understand Zombie is fascinated by Charles Manson. There's a lot of reasons someone could be so fascinated: because they're interested in police investigation techniques; because they wonder what forces could forge a man into someone who writes on the walls in the blood taken from the womb of his 8-months-pregnant victim; or because they feel pity for the victims; or because they need to be reminded of how evil things can get in order to find inspiration within themselves to do good. Probably lots of other reasons. Watching what I saw of 1000 Corpses, I have the feeling that Zombie is fascinated by Manson because he really, really grooves on what the guy did.

BTW, Inspector, my mortgage payment is a chiller too. And I like your list. I'll add another scene to it--how about the moment at the end of the original The Vanishing, when the hero flicks his lighter and discovers what it was all about?
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panzer the great & terrible
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Inspector Carr, anyone who respects the Belmondo LES MISERABLES is OK with me. It's one of my all-time favorites.

I haven't watched any Zombie yet so I'll stay out of that one, but I've always hated movies that seem to have no point but sadism, particularly Hershell Gordon Lewis movies, so I may end up on Bonga's side.
Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious...
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