Line #44 Film/Halloween2007


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/halloween-big-poster_3379.jpg]]
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3	-> ''"These eyes will deceive you. They will destroy you. They will take from you your innocence, your pride, and eventually, your soul. These eyes do not see what you and I see. Behind these eyes, one finds only blackness, the absence of light. These are the eyes...of a psychopath."''
4	-->-- '''Dr. Samuel Loomis'''
5
6	''Halloween'' (dubbed ''Rob Zombie's Halloween'' and ''Halloween '07'' for differentiation purposes) is a 2007 SlasherMovie written, directed and co-produced by Music/RobZombie. It is a reimagining of Creator/JohnCarpenter's ''[[Film/{{Halloween 1978}} Halloween]]'' (1978) and a ContinuityReboot of the ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' series that [[CanonDiscontinuity disregards the pre-existing sequels]] to the first film; Zombie described it as a combination of a {{prequel}} and a remake with original content.
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8	This film goes more in-depth about Michael Myers's childhood in Haddonfield, as Zombie strove to reinvent the character in the face of audiences being familiar with him, which he believed made him less scary to them. This includes looks at Michael's more-than-{{dysfunctional\|Family}} family, the deranged and homicidal behavior he exhibits even in younger years, and his time at Smith's Grove Sanitarium under the care of Dr. Samuel Loomis (Creator/MalcolmMcDowell). Fifteen years after this, he escapes from the asylum and starts making his way to Haddonfield, where one Laurie Strode (Creator/ScoutTaylorCompton) prepares for her babysitting gig on UsefulNotes/AllHallowsEve. She, and her unfortunate friends, will soon find out just what kind of nightmare they have found themselves in.
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10	After the critically and financially dismal performance of 2002's ''Film/HalloweenResurrection'', numerous ideas on how to proceed with a ninth ''Halloween'' installment were kicked around. Zombie was eventually confirmed as the film's writer and director in 2006; [[PromotedFanboy being a fan of the original film]], he reportedly jumped at the opportunity.
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12	While financially successful at the box office, ''Halloween''[='=]s reception among critics and fans was very mixed, with some praising its originality, some preferring to believe it never happened, and some considering the film more of a reboot than a remake because of the drastic story changes. Carpenter's opinion on the film has also evolved with time; while he initially encouraged Zombie to "make [the film] his own", he later stated that he felt Zombie took away the story's mystique by explaining Michael's background.
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14	Regardless, the film was successful enough to spawn [[Film/HalloweenII2009 a sequel]] that was released two years later.
15	----
16	!!Includes examples of:
17	* ActorAllusion:
18	** This ain't the [[Film/Halloween4TheReturnOfMichaelMyers first]] [[Film/Halloween5TheRevengeOfMichaelMyers run-in]] Creator/DanielleHarris had with Michael.
19	** Ismael, the friendly guard, try's to relate to Michael by telling how he also had to spend some time "behind walls". Danny Trejo, his actor, was a former criminal who spent 5 years in prison.
20	* AdaptationExpansion: Michael's background -- barely touched upon in the original -- is the focus of the first half of the movie: his awful home life, problems at school, disturbed behavior, and life at the asylum.
21	* AdaptationalHeroism: A very mild case considering all the other horrific things he does in the film, but it's worth pointing out that, where in the original film Michael's sole goal is to terrorize and murder Laurie, here he's genuinely trying to reestablish his [[spoiler: brotherly]] relationship with her from their youth and doesn't seem to want to hurt her.
22	* AdaptationalJerkass: Lynda would've been a complete bitch in this film if Laurie didn't play the part of a MoralityPet for her.
23	* AdaptedOut: Nurse Marion Chambers, Loomis's chain-smoking colleague from the first two continuities, has no counterpart in the Zombieverse.
24	** Neither does Lonnie Elam or his friends Keith and Richie, the bullies who harass Tommy Doyle in the 1978 film.
25	* AlphaBitch: Lynda is a popular and foul-tempered cheerleader.
26	* AmbiguousTimePeriod: The early scenes of the movie take place 17 years before the rest of the film, but they don't necessarily depict 1990. The fashions, cars, etc are actually mostly (but not totally) 70s-influenced. However, the present-day scenes mix in some appropriately mid-aughts technology such as cell phones with (then) contemporary fashion and cars.
27	* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Michael's mask shouldn't have been ''that'' usable after being stuck under some floorboards for 17 years. Sure, it realistically was shown as cracked and faded after being there for so long, but, being made out of latex, the constant changes of the seasons would have melted it, hardened it, and/or turned it to dust.
28	* AscendedExtra:
29	** Annie's boyfriend Paul was only a voice on a phone provided by Creator/JohnCarpenter in the original film. Here, he actually shows up...[[spoiler:and [[DeathByAdaptation dies]].]]
30	** The Myers house as a whole. In the [[Film/Halloween1978 original film]] it’s used as a RedHerring because Loomis believes that Michael will come back there. He does, but that's before Loomis gets there, and by that time Michael has already marked Laurie and her friends for death and left the house to begin stalking them and plotting their demises. Here, Michael hides his mask there, it’s used as a "private place" by the high schoolers, and in that capacity [[spoiler:Bob and Lynda are killed there instead of the Wallace’s house]].
31	* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Judith, Ronnie, Wesley, and in the director's cut, the nurse who insults Michael's relation to his baby sister and the psych ward orderlies who rape a female patient. Judith's boyfriend Steve could also count depending on whether or not you hold him accountable for not speaking up when Judith bailed on trick-or-treating with Michael to sleep with him.]]
32	* BedlamHouse: Smith's Grove. Michael is kept chained at all times, and in the director's cut his wardens degrade and insult him on a daily basis, and he is beaten at night. Even if he ''was'' a mentally stable individual, that sort of treatment would turn ''anybody'' into a psycho. Not to mention the female inmate that the orderlies gang-rape in his room right in front of him in said director's cut.
33	* BullyingADragon: The aforementioned orderlies get a really bright idea to go into the room of a hulking, psychopathic murderer, insult, beat him, and [[BerserkButton touch his masks]].
34	* BedsheetGhost: [[spoiler:Michael kills Lynda]] while dressed as one, just like in the original.
35	* BerserkButton: Don't insult Michael's mother or baby sister or his relation to them, and don't touch his masks. Once he becomes an adult, it's best to just not be around him at all.
36	* BigBrotherInstinct: Michael practically dotes on his baby sister, Angel/"Boo"/Laurie. She's the only one (along with his mother) he doesn't kill during his killing spree and he holds onto an old picture of them together while he's in prison. When he escapes from prison, his main goal is to find her so that (presumably) they can be a family again.
37	* TheBigGuy: Played by 7', 300 pound former pro wrestler Tyler Mane, this is the largest, most physically brutal incarnation of Michael. He uses his size and power to smash through doors and barriers, and frequently lifts and throws victims with ease.
38	* BlackEyesOfEvil: According to Loomis, there is no soul in Michael's eyes, only evil.
39	* BloodbathVillainOrigin: This time, it isn't just Judith whom Michael kills as a child.
40	* BloodierAndGorier: Compared to the original. By the time the main events of the film begin, Michael has already amassed a body count equaling that of the entire [[Film/Halloween1978 original film]].
41	* TheCameo: The original Strode house can be seen behind Michael when Laurie looks out the window.
42	* CampingACrapper: Michael attacks Joe Grizzly in the public bathroom to take his clothes.
43	* CastingGag: Creator/DannyTrejo plays the kind-hearted orderly, while Creator/LewTemple plays his scumbag colleague which was an intentional inversion of their roles in ''Film/TheDevilsRejects''.
44	* ClusterFBomb: Various scenes, to the point where it's practically a second language.
45	* ContrivedCoincidence: Dr. Loomis is talking about his book on Michael in a high school, the same high school where Laurie Strode attends, [[spoiler: who is also the girl formerly known as Angel "Boo" Myers]], who Michael proceeds to stalk along with her friends...
46	* CreepyChild: ''Holy shit'', young Michael. The original young Michael (Will Sandin) was almost angelic-looking, but there is something wholly disturbing about this one (played by Daeg Faerch)...apart from the whole murdering numerous people and animals thing, that is. He's very obviously a severely unbalanced child with emotional problems and that cold, blank stare of his...
47	* CurbStompCushion: The only character in the film who even comes close to going toe-to-toe with Michael is Big Joe Grizzly. Despite being quickly overpowered and stabbed, he does get in one solid punch on Michael.
48	* DarkerAndEdgier: Arguably even more so than the original with the killings being a lot more gruesome and visceral, plus depictions of rape (in the director's cut), animal cruelty, and suicide, as well as just having an overall more disturbing tone.
49	* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler:Judith's boyfriend, Annie’s boyfriend, and Laurie's foster parents]] end up dead in this iteration.
50	* DeathByMocking: Naturally, anybody who mocks Michael doesn't last very long.
51	* {{Demonization}}: Considering how sympathetic Michael is in this version of ''Halloween'', Dr. Loomis' description of him as basically "pure evil," shown in this page's title quote, sort of falls flat on itself and is heavily implied to have been invoked by Loomis in order to drive up his book sales. However, Loomis appears to genuinely believe in his assumption about Michael, as shown in the scene where he's trying to convince Sheriff Brackett about how much of a threat Michael is. Still, while Michael isn't the monster he is in the first two film continuities, he's no less of a dangerous person than he was in those films.
52	* DisproportionateRetribution: It can't be stated enough that wronging Michael in even the slightest way is a death wish, especially for poor Izzy, Michael's primary orderly, who just wants to take him back to his room and is brutally murdered for it despite giving him over a decade-and-a-half of kindness.
53	* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:With her son becoming increasingly psychotic, losing her first-born daughter at the hands of said son, and pretty much having her life ruined irreparably with the stigma therein, Mrs. Myers [[AteHisHandgun takes out a handgun]].]]
54	* DysfunctionalFamily: The Myers family, especially in the opening scene. It's almost impossible not to think they're the trashiest family that ever existed. They're enough to drive anyone to commit mass homicide.
55	* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Michael is quite fond of his mother. He even starts his killing spree with a kid who insults her.
56	* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Michael loves his little sister and mother very much, and they're the only people he would never think about killing. He actually wants to reestablish his relationship with Laurie once he breaks out of the institute. [[spoiler:Too bad she has no idea who he is and is terrified of him after he's killed her friends.]]
57	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Michael refuses to harm children, his youngest victims being adolescents aka young adults.
58	* TheFarmerAndTheViper: A variation. [[spoiler:For 17 years, Ismael was possibly the only employee at Smith's Grove who gave Michael virtually nothing but respect and humanity. However, for the crime of trying to take him back to his room, Michael waterboards him and subsequently crushes his head with a television set during his breakout]].
59	* FinalGirl: Laurie Strode[[spoiler:/Angel Myers]], just like the original.
60	* FreakOut: Laurie has a massive freakout after [[spoiler:shooting Michael at the end of the film.]]
61	* TheGhost: Ben Tramer, a date candidate for Laurie.
62	* GirlsHaveCooties: Tommy's reaction when he hears that he has to spend time with Lindsey.
63	* HappierHomeMovie: Mrs. Myers watches one [[spoiler:as she kills herself.]]
64	* HateSink:
65	** Ronnie. Good God, Ronnie, [[spoiler:to the point where his death is listed in the ''Awesome'' sub-page.]]
66	** Noel and Kendall, who gangrape an asylum patient in the Director's Cut, also get the same treatment.
67	* HumanShield: In the theatrical cut, Patty tries to blast Michael with a shotgun during his escape from Smith's Grove. Michael grabs an earlier downed guard and uses him as a shield.
68	* IconicAttributeAdoptionMoment: The adult Michael Myers wears filthy pajamas and paper-mache masks during his time in Smith's Grove. Upon escaping, he murders a trucker in the bathroom for his coveralls and boots, then heads to his childhood home to retrieve the kitchen knife he used in his first kills as well as his iconic white mask, which has become dirty and cracked from 17 years of disuse.
69	* IgnoredExpert: Subverted. Sheriff Brackett initially doesn't take Loomis seriously concerning Michael, accusing him of demonizing Michael in order to sell books (which may or may not be partly true), but when he doesn't hear from Laurie's parents and later realizes that she was adopted from Michael's family, he gets on board with Loomis.
70	* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:Bob being pinned to the wall with a knife, just like in the original film.]]
71	* {{Jerkass}}: It's a Rob Zombie flick, so everyone is as violently unlikeable as possible. When the ''least'' awful people around include Creator/BradDourif and Creator/DannyTrejo, you know things are bad.
72	* JitterCam: Used throughout the whole movie, but most notably in Michael's childhood, the killing scenes, and where Michael is chasing Laurie.
73	* LaughablyEvil: Ronnie is seen as this by many fans.
74	* LightningBruiser: In the theatrical cut, Michael escapes prison by beating several guards to death. During this time, he's shown as being quite fast for someone of his size.
75	* {{Metalhead}}: Michael is one, and it was filmed by a [[AuthorAppeal metal musician]].
76	* MistakenForGay: After Michael won't stop knocking on the door of his cubicle at the truck wash, Big Joe Grizzly seems to reach the conclusion that he's cruising for sex. Ronnie also accuses him of being gay as a child.
77	* MonsterClown: Michael's childhood Halloween costume.
78	* MsFanservice: The movie features quite a bit of fanservice from Hanna Hall (Judith), Sheri Moon Zombie (Mrs. Myers), Kristina Klebe (Lynda), and Danielle Harris (Annie). In particular, we're treated to a full-frontal shot of Klebe as she's being strangled by Myers, and Harris is shirtless during Myers's attack on her, which turns into FanDisservice.
79	* MythologyGag: There are many references to the original even down to the exact same dialogue in certain scenes.
80	** For starters, a lot of scenes are remakes of scenes from the original, like Michael's stalking of Laurie at her school, Lynda and her boyfriend's death, and Laurie's first encounter with Michael.
81	** Michael's coveralls are dark green, a nod to a little-known fact that coveralls used in the original film and its 1981 sequel were green too, specifically "spruce green."
82	** Annie tells Laurie that she set her up with a date with Ben Tramer like in the original film.
83	** The nurse who Michael shanked in the neck is named Nurse Wynn, a reference to Terrence Wynn, Sam Loomis's colleague in the original film.
84	** Dr. Loomis's outfit in this film seems to draw inspiration from his classic outfit (the beige trenchcoat) and his outfit in the sixth film (the black, turtleneck sweater).
85	* NeckSnap: [[spoiler:Mrs. Strode's death.]]
86	* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Ismael Cruz, the only security guard in the institution who ever showed Michael compassion and stopped the others from bullying him, is given an over-the-top and painful death for the crime of trying to take Michael back to his room to keep him imprisoned. Note that this is ''not'' the case in the work print version of the film, [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe where Michael does not kill Cruz during his escape]].
87	* OnceIsNotEnough: Laurie stabs Michael in the shoulder and makes a run for it. Unfortunately this is Michael Myers, and he is soon chasing after her.
88	* OrderliesAreCreeps: The two orderlies who decide to rape one of the patients in the asylum in the director's cut.
89	* PayEvilUntoEvil: Nobody will particularly miss [[spoiler: Kendall and Noel, the guards who rape a female patient in Michael's room, resulting in both their brutal deaths at his hands.]]
90	* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Two orderlies, Kendall and Noel, decide to brutally rape a female patient in Michael's room and taunt him as they do so.
91	* RetroUniverse: Downplayed. The movie's assumed internal timeframe with respect to its real world release date vaguely places the first 40 minutes in the early [[TheNineties 1990s]]. However, there are major influences of TheSeventies here and there from Mrs. Myers's wardrobe; [[SeventiesHair the hairstyles]], with Loomis's bob cut and the trendy long hair among a few male characters; nods to Nazareth (the band), Music/BlueOysterCult, and Music/{{KISS}}; as well as the rather retro-looking cop cars. The rest of the film jumps then to the [[TurnOfTheMillennium late 2000s]] with no retro aspects whatsoever.
92	* SelfInsert: Some have interpreted Rob Zombie's version of Michael, both young and old, to be vaguely based off Zombie himself mainly considering that they have similar appearances and they're both metalheads.
93	* SexinessScore: When Lynda sleeps with her boyfriend he "has a cramp" and ends up [[SpeedSex finishing early]]. When he asks her to rate him OnAScaleFromOneToTen she [[LousyLoversAreLosers promptly gives him a "0" and he has the gall to act shocked]].
94	* SexSignalsDeath: Any teenage girl who isn't [[spoiler:Laurie and Annie.]]
95	* SingleMomStripper: Note to [[KidsAreCruel cruel kids]]: do not tease Michael Myers about how his mom is a pole dancer.
96	* SparedByTheAdaptation: [[spoiler:Annie]] died in the original movie.
97	* SpiritualAntithesis: To the original film, specifically in how it depicts Michael. Creator/JohnCarpenter famously described Michael as "an absence of character", and his film depicted Michael less as a human being than as a wicked force of nature, with little interest in his backstory except to show that he was ''always'' pure evil. Music/RobZombie's film, meanwhile, dedicates its entire first half to showing how Michael went from [[UsedToBeASweetKid an ordinary boy]] to a psychopath. In short, while Michael in the original film was thoroughly dehumanized (to the point of only being credited as "The Shape") in the name of the RuleOfScary, this version goes out of his way to depict him as all too human.
98	* StalkerWithoutACrush: Once Michael breaks out and stumbles across his grownup baby sister, he starts following her everywhere she goes.
99	* StartOfDarkness: The first half hour is this for Michael.
100	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
101	** After killing Judith, young Michael hides his infamous mask underneath some floorboards, which he retrieves 17 years later after escaping Smith's Grove. However, by this time, the mask is severely deteriorated as a result of being left untouched for nearly two decades and exposed to major changes of the weather, including extreme heat and cold. The mask rots even more over the events of the film due to Michael's usage of it.
102	*** Still, [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality the film takes some liberties with the mask's decaying]]. In real life, a rubber latex mask would most likely get melted and fuse to itself due to heat from the summer or become brittle and disintegrate from the cold of winter.
103	** You should ''never'' mock a mentally unstable patient, especially when the patient has a history of violence, ''including murder.''
104	** Michael successfully kidnaps Laurie and brings her to the dilapidated Myers house, placing her next to the [[FanDisservice nude, strangled corpse of Lynda]]. When she wakes up, Michael tries to tell her that they're siblings by pointing to a picture. Laurie naturally has no idea what Michael is trying to say. All she knows is this psycho killed her friend, brutalized her other friend, and has her in his clutches. She then distracts him by telling him she'll get him help before stabbing him and trying to get out of the house.
105	* TimeSkip: The film opens with Michael's childhood and then skips to the Laurie storyline 17 years later.
106	* TooDumbToLive: And the [[Website/DarwinAwards Darwin Award]] for "Practically Suicide" goes to the orderly Noel and his cousin Kendall who, in the Director's Cut, put their two collective neurons together and decide to gangrape a female patient in Michael's room''...with Michael himself still inside''. And to top it off, they mess with his masks, which they've been clearly told is his biggest no-no, and antagonize him incessantly. Drinking on the job where you constantly deal with mentally unstable people one-on-one is no excuse.
107	** To a lesser extent, this might also go for Nurse Wynn. In the director's cut she [[BullyingADragon insults Michael about his relation to his baby sister, an extremely disturbed and violent boy who loves his sister dearly]] and who happens to be eating lunch with ''a metal fork'', and then she '''turns her back''' on him and just assumes he won't do anything. [[SlashedThroat He does]].
108	* TragicDream: Michael just wants to meet Laurie and live happily with her. However, with Michael being a violent, mute sociopathic murderer, it ends rather than how you'd expect it to end.
109	* UglyGuyHotWife: Pretty much every couple on-screen. As WebVideo/CinemaSins pointed out, are there NO attractive men in Haddonfield?
110	** Annie's boyfriend Paul is the sole exception.
111	* VillainProtagonist: This film is much more about Michael than the original was.
112	* WorldOfJerkass: Most of the characters in the film, to put it bluntly, are not nice people. The few that are could practically be counted on one hand.
113	* WouldntHurtAChild: Evil as he is, [[spoiler:Michael brutally kills anybody who gets in the way of his getting to his sister, with the exception of Tommy and Lindsey, whom he doesn't even touch despite having ample opportunity to do so.]]

Context Film / Halloween2007