People aren’t judging this movie (series) separately from the original(s). It’s a fucking awesome horror movie.
-Loomis is meant to be a failure. People don’t like his character? That is the idea! At one point, he sips from a glass and says to himself “i’m an asshole.” I keep reading critiques that think this line is an example of poor writing. But this line isn’t there to inform the audience of what they’ve already seen. The idea is that he is judging his own actions/life, finally. His failure as a psychiatrist has lead to exploitative life, but now he’s unable to fool himself any longer. This introspection moment leads him to do the one good thing he does in the movie.
Another common note is that The New Loomis didn’t need to be in this movie at all. He’s just off on some unrelated book tour. But this devaluation of Loomis’ role as unnecessary is silly. He has moved on from failing michael to failing laurie. And This whole re-imagining of Michael Myers is bold enough to get it’s hand dirty with the psychology of blood thirsty monstrous human beings. The story concerns itself with the symbol of the unstoppable hulk, the fear focused Halloween holiday in general, and we the audience who are interested in seeing yet another gorefest slasher film.
The head doctor who is derelict in his duties is core to all this on several levels. It is Rob Zombie making a statement, instead of sloppily leaving it wide open.
-The movie would be more enjoyable for its harsher critics if they could stop questioning “would this realllllly happen?” and start asking “Ok, why did this happen?”
Laurie is traumatized, but surrounds herself with alice cooper posters. Saying “she would never do that” is just egotism. She did. A girl who wouldn’t dwell in disturbing media icons would probably also be too well adjusted to turn out as Laurie does in this movie.
– I think the key to many peoples’ misunderstanding of Rob Zombie’s movies is: his choice of dialogue and hillbilly flavor. Zombie seems to relish the low brow viewpoint of middle america. Tarantino and F.Miller fans want these inbred yokels to suddenly spout off crafty witticisms. but Zombie sticks with what low class people are really like. Honoring their failings? Trashy people abuse the f word. They don’t turn out to be well rounded city folk deep down inside, who were just waiting for the right moment to expose a stunninglly broad sing song vocabulary. I’d say this redneck rough edge, focusing on bluntness of normal filthy people, is what makes Zombie’s work stand out.
– I’m very curious if Zombie truly embraces this low brow culture, or just knows how to serve that specific audience. I think there are enough interesting things going on in the subtext of the film to suggest that he’s actually put a lot of thought into the details of his movies, but doesn’t want the average american to feel talked-down-to if they aren’t interested in what he has to say.
Example: A scene where the lowly lackey at a strip club still thinks he’s powerful enough to bully a homeless man says a lot about power in American culture. Most of the people Myers runs into in this movie seem to be commentaries on power trippers and the 70s mindset.
– Myers’s encounters in his “transient” getup strongly remind me of Vietnam veterans from that era. Like Rambo. People knew vets were dangerous, but still felt empowered to spit on them. I think it’s also just a commentary on how we treat the homeless, and those who don’t live in our worlds.
But we are allowed to see (subjectively?) that Myers views violence with the simplicity of a child. That killing the hell out of someone is just play time for him. This is why he’ll sometimes linger over a dead body and watch it twitch. This isn’t an explanation. This viewpoint is still so alien to how you life your life that it doesn’t comfort. The way that he sees both his mother and his child self along with the power hourse suggest that he is observing this dynamic (objectively?) as much as we are.
hmm. Well. I think the tragedy here is critics who chose not take the movie seriously from either side (high brow or low brow), and throw up their hands declaring the whole film poorly made because it doesn’t take its cliches where other filmmakers would have take them. Hopefully this is just a handful of critics, and mainstream America will still pay attention to the strange places Zombie is hoping to taking them.