For those hording toilet paper

Rob Zombie's Halloween

Every time I return to Rob Zombie’s Halloween, I recall the viewing experience in the theatre for the first time. It is really jarring to grow up watching Carpenter’s film then getting a load of the household seriously disturbed tyke Michael Myers endures in Zombie’s own vision of Halloween. There’s shouting and cursing, a kitchen disheveled (as well as the house itself as a whole), a stripper mother with multiple kids (and perhaps multiple fathers) choosing a bum (a vile, obnoxious, loud, boorish, profane slob) as the fraternal man of the house, a sister who dresses like a hooker and scoffs at any form of parental order (when mom tells her to do something, she rolls her eyes and registers little regard for anything she says), and the absence of a true father figure for Michael to steer him in the right direction. The seething psychopathy lurking within would soon surface and Michael, seemingly on a whim, butchers both the man living under his roof, the sister fucking around while mommy was away at the Red Rabbit nude dancing the pole, and the sister’s boyfriend who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. You go from the quiet, sinister stylistics of Carpenter’s opening brother-kills-sister on Halloween night with that chilling score to this freakshow of two adults (well, the man is juvenile and antagonistic, while the mother is defensive and gives it as much as she takes it) swapping spit and insults as a teenager walks about as if preparing for a night at the street corner hoping to score a few johns while Michael cleans off the blood from his hands after killing a pet mouse. This prepares us for a different kind of Michael Myers film.

Carpenter and Zombie’s films share certain similarities but the latter is taking his characters in a direction he’s most comfortable. When Zombie attempts to appease the fans of the original, this is where it is glaring the director isn’t at peace. The rock music before the household is introduced kicks a lot of ass, though. And the addition of Mike in a KISS shirt while wearing the epic clown mask was really cool, also.