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Reviews
Halloween (2007)
Both good and bad, depending on how you look at it.
A Halloween remake written and directed by Rob Zombie. When I first heard the news of Zombies involvement I had doubt. Not to criticize the man but I didn't like his previous films. I thought he was a terrible director to tell you the truth and he wouldn't be able to do Myers justice. His taste and style didn't come close to the original Halloween atmosphere. My bet were that this film would be either SO BAD that I myself would agree to put myself under Myers knife, or, it would surprise everyone and be SO GOOD. Well I was wrong. Zombies Halloween is both good and bad, all at the same time which makes me confused on whether I liked the film or not. First of all, this film is not a complete remake of the original. It is Zombies take on the original. His version of the 1978 Carpenter classic. Meaning, the script is based on the original. It is not even close to be a rewrite. This is good, because no one can come close to Carpenters original story. The bad thing is that Zombie makes it to complicated. One reason the original was so scary, was the simple story and the unknown. That is gone here. Zombie chooses to explain why Myers turned out like he did. We sympathize with the guy. We know who is is and why. That makes him much less scary. I enjoyed the first hour of the film when we meet young Myers. Seeing his family and his personal problems. He's a very troubled young man. BUT, this doesn't go along with the rest of the film when we switch over to the Myers we already know. The first half of the film was good but it destroys the second half. The Second half of the film was OK but it would have been better without the first half. The two halves don't match and that smashes the film as a whole. Sorry, Zombie. I think, and you don't have to agree with me. I think this film is too fast paced. The cool thing about Myers is his personality and psychology. Halloween may have blood, gore and strong brutal violence. Fine, but Michael Myers is suppose to be unknown, cold-blooded, slow paced and moving within the shadows. He is not suppose to be in a hurry killing people. He's suppose to be in the darkness, watching them. Then slowly getting closer to them. He's suppose to be slow and stiff, without any kind of emotions. In this film he's too fast. The scenes moves too fast. The editing is too fast paced. The music has a too fast beat. The scary psychology is lost. The tension is gone. The scenes looks great though, although the lightning could have been set darker. The directing of the actors is good. It's a good and cool thing casting Danielle Harris. It's a bad thing casting her as a seventeen year old girl. She's nearly thirty and it shows. But she does a good job.
So, to sum up. Halloween 2007 is a good film compared to other horror films made today. The first half and the second half of the film doesn't match which brings the film down and makes it less scary. The quality is still there though. It is too fast paced which makes it less scary and less tense. The whole Myers psychology is gone because of it. It's 2007, maybe viewers need fast cuts and so on today. I don't know.
Considered the fact that Rob Zombie wrote and directed the film, it's pretty good actually. If we toy with the idea that Carpenter wrote and directed it. It would be a bad one.
My personal 1-9 list of the Halloween films is as follows. (1 being the best)
1 - Halloween (1978) 2 - Halloween 2 (1981) 3 - Halloween 6 (1995) 4 - Halloween 5 (1989) 5 - Halloween 4 (1988) 6 - Halloween 2007 (2007) 7 - Halloween H20 (1998) 8 - Halloween resurrection (2002)
9 - Halloween 3 (1982) - Can't really grade it because it's not a Myers one.
Rob Zombies Halloween is well worth a look, but it's no masterpiece. Also, The original Halloween and Halloween 2 sort of stuck together. Do I smell a sequel remake here. If so, please do Myers justice and keep the original slow paced, tensed psychology. To go 180 will not work in a hospital. Trust me. Thanks,
Shutter (2004)
One of the best.
I love horror films. I love Asian films. I remember watching Halloween and Friday the 13th when I was about four years old. It's very difficult to find a horror film that satisfy me a hundred percent. I have just seen it all and nothing surprise me anymore. SHUTTER DID! Finally a flick that satisfy a hardcore horror fan. Shutter follows the nowadays overused Asian horror theme. A female ghost crawling on the floors. Long hair, pale face. Shutter does it differently though. Just when you think what's gonna happen the directors choose to go another direction, still following the same pattern, just not the timing. The style of the film is different too. It's dark. It's supernatural but still realistic enough. The lead characters doesn't pretend to know what's happening. They have no idea. Which is cool 'cause the ghost has actually something to do with one of the lead characters. It's a personal haunting. A personal vendetta. The acting is great. The direction, superb. The script is well written and clever. The photography, lightning and special effects, outstanding. Ju-On and Ringu are good horror films. Shutter is ten times better. DON'T MISS IT. For the name of God, don't miss it! An American remake is on the way. Let's hope Hollywood doesn't take credit for this film with a bad remake.
DOA: Dead or Alive (2006)
Entertaining but producers - Shame on you...
D.O.A is a pretty entertaining flick. The involved people sure seemed to have fun makin' it and that's good. The fun infects us viewers too. The martial arts scenes are entertaining, although not realistic at all. But hey, the film is based on a video-game so what would you expect, right? It's all good. Cheap thrills and laughs and all that. Cory Yuen does a decent job as a director etc.. But producers - Shame on you. According to what I know D.O.A is filmed in Thailand, yet in the end credits i did NOT see a single Thai name. Yep folks, no jobs were made for local people in this production. Instead it seems like they flew in a bunch of Chinese folks when they needed extras and other crew members. Nothing against the Chinese. They rock! But it's bad behavior from the producers side. Next time.. behave and create some local job openings. All that to the side. D.O.A is worth a look...
The Butcher (2006)
Are u freakin' kiddin me'??
Are you freakin' kiddin' me? There's a lot of bad horror films out there and this is one of 'em. Sometimes the filmmakers choose to make 'em bad by purpose due to low budgets etc.. That way at least you can be entertained. "The butcher", I'm not sure about. Did they make the film this bad by purpose or do all involved crew members really suck. The acting is below average. Not the worst performances I've seen but they're not good. The director seems to have no idea on how to build suspense or how to direct for that matter. The photography is okay. Not the best but okay. The budget of 750 000 $ is spent badly, I think. With a little imagination they could have spent it much better. But all this is not the worst thing about this film. The script, oh, the script. How in Gods name a production company ever picked this script up, I'll never know. The script is just terrible, awful.. well... not good. I'll rate this film 3 out of 10. It's possible to sit through it. Just don't get your hopes up for any scares. Prepare yourselves for laughs instead.