Among all the mask-wearing undead psychopaths in the history of horror film, Michael Myers is always my favorite one. The legend begins when the little boy puts on the mask, picks up the sharp knife, and kills for the first time. There is always something fascinating about that blank, emotionless white mask. It is that emptiness and blankness haunt me, but also allure me to wanna get closer, close enough to grab it and see who is truely behind.
That being said, you should understand as a hard-core horror movie fan who has watched all the previous Halloween movies, there is no reason for me not to greet dear old Mike Myers one more time.
As a matter of fact, director Rob Zombie isn't really my cup of tea. So naturally I didn't really expect to see anything extraordinary in this one. Then the movie proved my instincts were right again. Just to name a few: First of all, you can't really justify Michael Myers' bloody rampage by giving him a stripper mother and an alchoholic father. What's so interesting and so scary about Myers is that he kills for no reason and he will continue killing; Second of all, making Michael Myers unrealisticly tall is kind of unnecessary. Focusing more on his body language would be more effective than just creating a bear-like monstrous guy; Third, the horror should be brought within you, not be forcing upon you from outside. All the excessive bloody scenes do not push the story moving forward in a creative way but make it cliche.
I know this is an old concept that has been brought into life many times, but is there really nothing interesting a filmmaker can do? Well, I can't deny all of Zombie's efforts. Now a few things I actually liked: there is a scene in which the young Myers kills his classmate in a deserted forrest. The pace and tempo of this series of shots are well-controlled and powerfully reveal how violent a human being can possibly be. I also like Mike Myers wearing a leather mask ratger than a plastic one. The material helps contribute a feeling of primitive cruelty that only exists in the body of a beast. After seeing so many different versions about this character, I've already considered him as an animal, an animal larger than life.
So Michael Myers never dies. It is definitely not one filmmaker's calls to say "Ok, this is the end. Let him die this time." The fun of watching this genre of movies is that you never know what he can possibly do next time. It is a figure that never ages, never fails, and always bounce back. Realistic? Of course not. But who cares about reality when they are watching a horror movie!!
So see you next time, Michael~!
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