Halloween

By Tooba Ghias, staff writer
Wednesday, October 24, 2007

The remake of the 1978 movie, Halloween, just came out and it struck fear into the audience. It had all the features available in any horror flick which would be dramatic music, a serial killer, and lots of blood.

Even with these usual tactics, the audience wasn't satisfied. Many viewers criticized how “it was the same thing as the old version with just a modern atmosphere.” It was true that the story line of the movie was almost an exact replica of the old one, but it did have one difference, the first twenty minutes. This issue really did bring the ratings down, but other features helped balance that part out.

Now that it was modernized with current technology, the audience was more comfortable, or a bit more terrified. The music stirred anxiety and kept us on the edge of our seats wanting to find out what would happen next. Many of the scenes kept the audience in suspense including the house where Michael Myers, the murderer, is finally killed. You never knew which door would open and out would pop out Michael with his knife. The wardrobe was also a significant improvement without the old 70's version of fashion. Michael's mask and clothing were a lot more disturbing which helped raise the level of horror.

The cast's acting was decent. They all acted their parts and did a good job of captivating the audience's attention. The best part was the change in Michael Myer's character. In the 1978's version, Michael didn't talk at all throughout the movie which was probably done to make him seem more murderous, but all it did was make people curious to see how he sounded like. This time they actually gave him lines, so he wasn't running around hunting down his targets all the time. Many of the other characters became more sophisticated and it made the movie a lot more interesting.

Rob Zombie (director) has succeeded in making a movie that brought in large crowds. It wasn't the best horror movie because the main plot was simple and it had no twists and turns to make the audience start to think deeply into it. However, it did scare us, and that was exactly what a horror film is made to do.

Score: 7/10
Running Time: 1 hr. 49 min.
Genre: Horror
Rated R for violence and terror throughout, nudity, and language.