Tobe Hooper's original Texas Chainsaw is widely regarded as one of the greatest American horror movies. Why then, do contemorary American horror directors fail to capture the gritty nastiness of this modern masterpiece?
Fortunately, Rob Zombie is the US helmer who's keeping the tradition alive with Halloween II, the sequel to his 2007 slasher remake. The sequel is a marked improvement on the original, jetisoning most connections to the Carpenter classic (which were the least successful things about the remake) and bringing the Zombie-esque aspects to the fore; the grainy, raw footage, the retro 60's/70's music, the natural pop-culture banter and the unrelenting, unforgiving violence.
As always with Mr Zombie, he's more interested in the psychos than the victims so the narrative follows three nutters; Michael Myers, his sister Laurie Strode and Doctor Loomis. In waking dream sequences we see the visions that drive Michael unstoppably towards his ultimate prey. With Laurie, we see her gradual descent into madness; the family connection all too complete, come the conclusion. And more subtlety, in Loomis, we get a monster who hurts his victims with his egotistical greed and arrogance, rather than a knife or axe.
In a world of weak, derivative slasher pics (My Bloody Valentine/Prom Night) this is a kick to the kugal sack in terms of risky choices. There's a lot of surrealism, especially in the dream sequences, that may be off-putting to less perceptive audience members. Plus, this is a really, really, really, nasty, mean spirited movie. Michal Myers doesn't just take out his victims with a surgical slice to the throat. He stamps on their heads repeatedly. When he stabs he does so with a primal ferocity, putting his full weight into each thrust, grunting like an animal as he does so. Not pleasent in any sense.
But this is a strong distinctive horror sequel and it's great to see Rob Zombie's distinctive visual stamp on the material. The sets have a messy, cluttered look while the party sequence is designed with the gholish halloween holiday sensibility of his old White Zombie music videos. On the strength of this, I can't wait to see what Mr Zombie will direct next...but I also fear what will become of the renewed Halloween franchise when the director of My Bloody Valentine/Dracula 2000 gets hold of it. Now that's scary.
1 comment:
This is a nasty, brutal, mean-spirited, utterly repulsive film....and I really liked it.
Rob Zombie reminds us that true horror is ugly and vile and repellant. There are no truly likeable characters in this film. They are all damaged emotionally, psychologically, physically and not one of them is someone you'd wannna spend any real time with.
Zombie's take on Michael Myers is a hulking, primal savage who is driven to murder in the most awful ways by the visions of his dead mother and the need to be 'reunited' with his baby sister.
The narrative to the film is pretty simple. The violence is unrelenting and nasty but the execution (pardon the pun) is very creative, horrifically stylish and highly surreal in places. Zombie does a great job with his use of editing and sound design. The cast are all ok with Malcolm McDowel hamming it up as Loomis and Brad Dourif having a bigger and more touching role as poor Sheriff Bracket. The girls and the other victims are adequate. But the star is Michael. And Tyler Mane does a truly scary and memorable turn as one of the most brutal pyschopaths seen on recent screen.
Zombie's take on Halloween is not my personal favourite - Carpenter's more mythic, shadowy, less brutal The Shape (The boogeyman) is unbeatable. But with Halloween 2 Rob Zombie made a horror film that was truly horrible. For all the right reasons.
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