History Film / Halloween2007

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 (Scout Taylor-Compton) 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.

* ArtisticLicense: 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.

* AlphaBitch: Lynda.

* CastingGag: Creator/DannyTrejo plays the kind-hearted orderly, while Creator/LewTemple plays his scumbag colleague which was an intentional [[CastingGag inversion of their roles]] in ''Film/TheDevilsRejects''.

* PlayingWithCharacterType: Danny Trejo plays the kind-hearted orderly, while Lew Temple plays his scumbag college which was an intentional [[CastingGag inversion of their roles in The Devil's Rejects]]. Resident movie villain Brad Dourif is cast as Sheriff Lee Brackett who along with Trejo's character are the only two completely good characters in the film.

%%* SparedByTheAdaptation: [[spoiler:Annie.]]

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, his deranged behavior, the murders he commits, 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 (Scout Taylor-Compton) 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.

* 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.

* 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...

* 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 shield.

** 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."

* 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]].

* PlayingWithCharacterType: Danny Trejo plays the kind hearted orderly, while Lew Temple plays his scumbag college which was an intentional [[CastingGag inversion of their roles in The Devil's Rejects]]. Resident movie villain Brad Dourif is cast as Sheriff Lee Brackett who along with Trejo's character are the only two completely good characters in the film.

* TragicDream: Michael just wants to meet Laurie and live happily with her. However, with Michael being a violent, mute sociopathic murderer, it ends rather how you'd expect it to end.

* WorldOfJerkass: Most of the characters in the film, to put it bluntly, are not nice people. The few that are could practically be counted with one hand.

* 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. 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.]]

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 too much about Michael.