Looking Back at Rob Zombie's 'Halloween' 10 Years Later

Ten years ago, Rob Zombie shared with us his vision of a rebooted Halloween movie.

Director and co-writer of Halloween (1978) John Carpenter gave his blessing to Rob Zombie on the condition that he made the movie his own and not a shot for shot remake (like Gus Van Sant's remake of Psycho).

Rob was thrilled to be creating his version, he wanted to do what Carpenter's didn't, give Michael Myers a reason for becoming a killer. The end result was met with mixed reactions from critics and fans. Some critics praised Michael's full back story, taking that dive into the psyche of Myers. Other critics and a majority of fans felt it was too clichéd.

In Rob's version, Michael Myers comes from a white trash broken home; his mother was divorced, a stripper, and living with an abusive, out of work, alcoholic boyfriend who had been sidelined with a broken hand. Right at the beginning we are introduced to ten year old Michael Myers who is showing his homicidal urges by killing a pet rat. Michael is also a victim of bullying from his sister and his mother's boyfriend and from kids at school. His only solace his mother and his baby sister he affectionately nicknames "Boo."

Later we see Michael get into a fight with two boys at school in the bathroom, who taunt Michael with homophobic slurs, insinuating his sister is a slut and makes rude comments about his mom for being a stripper. The fight is broken up by the principal and Michael's mom is called in, where she meets child psychologist Dr. Samuel Loomis and is informed that Michael is exhibiting signs of becoming a psychopath. Michael runs away, he hides and ambushes his bully from school, ultimately beating him to death thusly giving birth to his murderous side.

Michael suffers more verbal abuse at home from his sister and his mom's boyfriend, and ends up going trick or treating alone while his mom goes to work and his sister has sex with her boyfriend. He contemplates everything that has happened, set appropriately to the song "Love Hurts" by Nazareth. Disgusted at the ugliness of his life, he kills his mother's boyfriend, his sister's boyfriend and his sister. Leaving only his baby sister "Boo" unharmed, he sits outside with her until his mother comes home and makes the gruesome discovery of Michael's killing spree.

After a lengthy trial, Michael is institutionalized at Smith's Grove Sanitarium under the care of Dr. Loomis. Michael pretends not to remember the murders, works cooperatively with Dr. Loomis, and receives regular visits from his mother. Over the course of the next year, Michael slowly becomes unhinged and develops a fixation of wearing paper-mâchéd masks. He ultimately starts to shut down from everyone including his mother. One day as his mom leaves from a visit, he snaps and brutally kills a nurse. As the guards come in to restrain Michael, his mom comes back to the room and finally sees Michael for who he is. Overcome with guilt by the actions of her son, she ultimately kills herself.

Fifteen years later, Michael is still shut down, wears the masks he creates, and has not spoken a word. Dr. Loomis becomes successful writer and retires from Smith's Grove, telling Michael that he can no longer help him but admits he thinks of Michael as a best friend. Later two guards bring a female patient into Michael's room and rapes her in front of him while taunting him. Michael begins his killing spree and escapes from Smith's Grove, beginning a quest to return home to Haddonfield and find his baby sister.

What follows is basically a recreation of the events that took place in Carpenter's original film, with a different ending. Rob's ending has Laurie Strode's best friend, Annie Brackett, severely injured but alive and Laurie shoots Michael in the head just as he's coming to after falling from the second story of a house.

It's been ten years since this movie came out and fans still heavily prefer the original over this remake. Fans didn't like the idea of giving Michael a backstory because having no reason at all worked so well in the original. With the original it felt like that this could happen to anyone, anywhere and not just one "class" of family.

What worked so well with the original was the lack of reasoning, the lack of blood and gore despite being referred to as a slasher film. Not to mention the beginning of the movie, we are shown the murder of Michael's sister from Michael's point of view. The original set the ground work for future slasher movies, as it was still another two years before the start of the Friday the 13th franchise, six years before A Nightmare on Elm Street came to theaters and ten years before we'd be terrorized by Chucky in the Child's Play series.

The original movie still stands the test of time after nearly forty years, and doesn't feel dated at all. The original is more impressive because of what was done on such a small budget, and didn't need to impress with blood and gore.

If you're new to the Halloween franchise, stick to the original movies. Like most fans pretend this remake and its sequel doesn't exist. If you're a fan of Carpenter, watch the first two movies and ignore the other sequels. We are getting a new Halloween film in 2018 that will ignore the events of 3-8 and act as the true sequel to Halloween II.

Rob Zombie's Halloween Rating:

5/10