Halloween (18)

Another unnecessary ’70s horror remake, another trip behind the mask of a horror icon. Fortunately helmer Rob Zombie has something to add, retooling John Carpenter’s masterpiece with fanboy aplomb. The first hour is Michael Myers: The Early Years. Little Mikey (Daeg Faersh) murders his trailer trash family and ends up in the loony bin under the care of Dr Loomis (Malcolm McDowell). He spends 15 years making creepy, homemade Halloween masks in his cell (some therapy) before an ultra-violent breakout. The second hour falters, a rushed retread of the original’s babysitter stalk ’n slash, too familiar to impress. It’s relentlessly malevolent though and Zombie’s squalid production design laces it with a truly nasty edge. Better than the original? No way. Can it outclass Halloween’s seven sequels? Standing on its pumpkin head.

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