|
Halloween - Unrated Director's Cut (Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition) | 
 enlarge | Director: Rob Zombie
Actors: Malcolm Mcdowell, Brad Dourif, Tyler Mane, Daeg Faerch, Sheri Moon Zombie
Studio: Weinstein Company
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $7.00
You Save: $12.95 (65%)
New (57) Used (46) Collectible (6) from $5.33
Avg. Customer Rating:  254 reviews
Sales Rank: 936
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Director's Cut, Special Edition, Widescreen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Unrated
Number Of Items: 2
Running Time: 121
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 80557
UPC: 796019805575
EAN: 0796019805575
ASIN: B000VKL6Z2
Theatrical Release Date: August 31, 2007
Release Date: December 18, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
More of a supercharged revamp than a remake, Rob Zombie's take on John Carpenter's Halloween expands the back story of masked killer Michael Myers in an attempt to examine the motivation for his first deadly attack, as well as some reasons for his longevity as a horror icon. Zombie's Myers is a blank-eyed teen (played by Daeg Faerch) whose burgeoning mental problems are left unchecked in a horrific home environment; harassed by schoolmates, a randy sister, and his mother's deadbeat boyfriend (William Forsythe, terrific as usual), Myers' homicidal explosion seems inevitable, and intervention by Dr. Sam Loomis (Malcolm McDowell, who offers a fast-talking, hippiefied version of the Donald Pleasance character) does little to impede his development into a mute, unstoppable killing machine (Tyler Mane) bent on finishing off the only survivor of his family's massacre--his sister, now grown into teenaged Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton). Opening up the psychological motivation of a cipher like Michael Myers is an interesting approach, but Zombie's script possesses neither a depth of character nor dialogue to offer more than a cliched thumbnail character sketch, and devoting over a hour of the unrated cut's 120-minute-plus running time to this history feels bloated and self-indulgent (especially when compared to the lean efficiency of the Carpenter original). Zombie's Halloween isn't terribly suspenseful, either; he has a keen eye for visuals and the details of chaotic environments, but his scares are nothing more than brutal showcases for his special effects team. The end result barely surpasses the original film's numerous sequels, though the Who's Who of cult and character actors in the cast (including Zombie regulars Sid Haig, Bill Moseley and Ken Foree, as well as Brad Dourif, Udo Kier, Clint Howard, Richard Lynch, Danny Trejo, Dee Wallace, and Danielle Harris) adds a touch of late-night monster movie charm. However, the film's best performance belongs to the director's spouse, Sheri Moon Zombie, who brings unexpected pathos to the role of Myers' downtrodden mother. The two-disc Unrated Director's Cut offers a full disc's worth of extras that should please Zombie fans; chief among the supplemental features is his commentary, which details the film's shooting history and the numerous edits required to deliver the theatrical version. A making-of featurette offers further details of Zombie's vision for the film, and there are featurettes on his cast choices and the many masks that Myers makes while incarcerated. Seventeen deleted scenes (two of which feature Adrienne Barbeau and Tom Towles) and an alternate ending (all with Zombie's commentary) are also provided, as well as footage from the casting sessions. A blooper reel, which is highlighted by unchecked mischief by McDowell and Dourif, offers the set's sole moment of levity. -- Paul Gaita
Product Description
The original slasher film about Michael Myers the psychotic killer who dons a mask and terrorizes his hometown is re-imagined by edgy director Rob Zombie. System Requirements:Run Time: 121 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR/SLASHER MOVIES UPC: 796019805575 Manufacturer No: 80557
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 249 more reviews...
 dumbing down the classics one film at a time October 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Dawn of The Dead, The Hills Have Eyes, and now Halloween. All originals were independent productions made with limited budgets that found worldwide success due to the fact they were simply well made original films. Leave it to Hollywood to do some sloppy cut n paste jobs with some hack/poser directors cashing in hard earned name recognition, basically they see something so old making more money consistently over the years when their modern dull horror flicks fail to be remembered once they're out of theaters so they create some mock-ups with the same name and cut in front of line. All these new horror remakes are BORING to their very core, the violence isn't even "XTREEEME" as they try to make it out to be, even if there is more blood than the originals (well Dawn of The Dead remake was no where near as graphic as the original on top of being moronic/annoying).
Well here's Rob Zombie's Halloween. Rob Zombie is a terrible writer and a lousy director, he belongs directing Saw movies or some straight to DVD horror flicks, this is easily the worst horror remake since The Texas Chainsaw Massacre but it might be even worse than that one. The film has vague character outlines but nothing much else, and don't say it doesn't matter because a good hour of this movie is devoted to fall-flat-on-its-face character development that is nonexistent. There is setup, location, some empty lines, and well its so amateurish, either the door is wide open for some real talent to save horror or it really is over for the genre.
The payoff at the end of the film is very cut n paste. Its no better or worse than any Halloween sequel, well its not even as good as 2 or 4. Since its a new movie the camera is constantly shaking around and there's that fake "realistic" brutality/dying/screaming acting that is so forced its just annoying. There is nothing worse in my opinion than something that believes it is truly shocking and in your face when in truth it is very plain and kind of dull. Every minute of this movie is like that down to the throwaway horror cameo characters, which are haphazard cussfests that attempt to be funny but are just, I dunno, lame. Zombie's downtrodden "everyone is stupid" modernistic attitude kills every frame of the movie, as if none of the characters he wastes over an hour on matter because MICHAEL MYERS is coming and this time he seems to be based on professional wrestler Kane or The Undertaker. Which is fitting, this is a very modern mall goth approach to story telling, and Rob Zombie is mall metal with an audience that could never hope to name the origins of horror film samples found in his music so I don't know. Michael Myers jumps out and stabs lots of people but its nothing too graphic or interesting, there's no suspense, buildup or pay off. Its just kind of there.
John Carpenter's early films were minimalist, Rob Zombie films are excessive, so its only ironic his film comes off as an empty exercise in generic slasher fare. The late 80s are back I guess.
 A new point of view on an old classic October 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The 1st thing I noticed about this movie was it was from the point of view of the hunter instead of the hunted. For the 1st time wee see what Michael sees not what his victims see. This version does an extensive build up of the Michale Myres character from his child hood of abuse- how his step dad mentally and physically abuses him and how his sister ignores him. We learn how he was picked on at school to the point this small 10 yr old snaps. We also get to learn about his obsession with masks and how he dealt with being in the mental institution as well as how he escaped and the storyline of how he became the monster he was in the previous movies. The 1st part of the movie gets the viewer to see exactly what happened to this small child to push the right buttons to create the perfect killing machine.
.
The cinematography was great from the film color dating the movie back 20 yrs. With some modern changes to how high school kids act now a days to add to the realism. The blood wasn't over done or digitalized. Zombie kept a sense of realism that made the movie that much more believable raising the scare factor.
Of course if you follow zombies previous films you will see a hand full of actors and actresses make an appearance from time to time. The children actors did an amazing job as well. The other thing I liked was I never got bored. I remember the old slasher flicks like the Freddy and the Jason films as well as the old Halloween movies- during scenes of character development there was a lot of boring dialog that slowed the movies down to a crawl and lost my interest until another sex scene or another killing depending on the film I was watching. This movie manager to negate all that boring sluggishness development and still create a character on the screen.
 Again? October 5, 2008
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
Is it just me? Am I the only one sick of re-releases. Why even bother buying it when it comes out if they are going to release a better version ten times over in the coming years?
A Perversion of a Classic October 2, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I was very interested in an updated version of the film, plus the previews looked really dark and creepy. Unfortunately, I went and saw the movie...
For one, ALL of the characters have abnormally filthy mouths. Even Laurie had a filthy mouth, which made it very hard to think of her as a victim I'd want to survive.
Secondly, I don't need a lengthy biography on Michael. I wish they'd just leave at him being a born sociopath. Instead they made it due to child abuse and being picked on in school. What was interesting in the first one was when the parents run up to Michael after he's stabbed Judith to death and the parents look completely normal; their son is just crazy. Also in this remake here, Judith was an awful person and I was completely apathetic to her death. In fact, she pretty much deserved. I prefer innocent victims.
Rob Zombie knows how to create an awesome atmosphere, but he should NOT write his own scripts. He makes his characters so hard to like and they all have mouths like a bunch of uneducated trash.
Apparently a lot of people enjoyed this movie, but I hated every single character and basically sided with Michael despite how much I already hated his character. In my opinion, this movie is an enormous failure and it does not deserve this 3 disc special edition.
The Life and Times of Michael Myers October 1, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I'm not a big horror fan. My housemates have repeatedly talked me into watching slasher film after slasher film, and I still just can't get into the genre. But this film is different. This film is actually really good. And that's not to say that other slasher films aren't. (I could never discredit the Scream series.) Rob Zombie's "Halloween" just goes beyond the simple bad-guy-with-a-knife stereotype and delivers an amazingly scary and sad story of a well-known fictional psychopath.
In this version of "Halloween", director Rob Zombie doesn't just retell the original story in his own style - he retells it well: Zombie's "Halloween" is more of a biography of Michael Myers than a slasher film staring Michael Myers. The first and best example of this is the opening act of the film: the back-story of Myers's childhood is almost thirty minutes long. (Most slasher films tell the back-story in a short five-minute teaser before the opening credits.) Once the audience is attached to Myers' character, the story progresses to show Myers' troubled life in a mental institution, his escape from the mental institution and finally his killing spree. Most films wouldn't go into this much detail on the nemesis's character which is what makes Zombie's version so good.
Overall, this movie will likely appeal more to horror fans but non-horror fans, such as myself, may enjoy it too. Yes, it shows blood and guts, but it's a great retelling of Michael Myers's story and I highly recommend it.
|
|
|
|
| |
