pop-break’s scream queen ann hale compares the John Carpenter and Rob Zombie versions of the Michael Myers legend …
In the past decade, there has been a significant rise in the number of horror remakes being made. While some of them are just horrible, some have been well worth the money to see. If you are angry at yourself for spending the cash to see Prom Night or A Nightmare IKOn Elm Street, you can make it up to yourself with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or The Hills Have Eyes.
As for myself, I tend to instantly be skeptical of any remake put out there as I don’t usually believe that a remake can surpass its original. If the story has changed enough for it to almost be a different movie, but still be enjoyable, then it is a success in my eyes. An example of such is Rob Zombie’s Halloween.
Now, I have heard people say that Rob Zombie’s version is superior to John Carpenter’s original masterpiece. I have also heard it said the other way around. Personally, I very much enjoy them both so, to settle the matter, I thought we could set up a Deadliest Warrior match between the two films and see who comes out the victor. The battle will be judged based on the following topics: Story, Heroine, Brutality, Hotness Factor, and Fan Base.
STORY
John Carpenter’s Halloween starts out in 1963 in Haddonfield, Ill. You learn that 6-year-old Michael, complete with clown costume, sees his sister Judith making out with a guy and obviously goes upstairs to have sex with him. Michael grabs a knife from the drawer and heads upstairs after the boyfriend leaves. He finds Judith, topless, brushing her hair in the mirror and viciously stabs her to death. There really isn’t a reason for Michael to have done so, except that he is just mentally deranged.
Rob Zombie’s Halloween also starts in Haddonfield, Ill., but the year is not given. Based on Peter Frampton’s song, “Baby, I Love Your Way,” which was released in 1974, being played on the radio in the house, we can only assume that the story is based around that time period. Here, in the beginning, is where you learn that Michael likes to kill animals. This tells the audience that Michael is a bit disturbed. We meet his family, his mother, Deborah, his sisters, Judith and Angel and his moms boyfriend, Ronnie. We see Michael murder for the first time, a kid that bullied him at school. We see Michael murder his mother’s boyfriend, who is terrible to his mother and the kids. After that, Michael kills Judith’s boyfriend before killing Judith herself. Michael starts his murdering with people that have mistreated him.
Now, Carpenter gives us the “less is more” quality with his original story, but it leaves too many questions to be answered. Zombie gives Michael a personality. He gives Michael a purpose.
EDGE: Zombie
HEROINE
Laurie Strode, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, starts out the Halloween series as a helpless nerd who seems to survive based on quick thinking and sheer luck. By the sequel, she is less whiney and seems to be able to handle herself a bit more. She disappears after the second movie until Halloween H20, where she returns as a badass dean to a private school in California. Laurie is able to handle herself, protect others and kick Michael Myers’ ass.
Laurie Strode, played by Scout Taylor-Compton, is almost unbearable. She shares the same whininess with Curtis in the first movie but actually seems to get worse by the second. All she does is cry, scream and act like a baby throughout the entire movie to where you actually root for Myers to murder her.
EDGE: Carpenter
Brutality
From Halloween to Halloween: Resurrection, Michael Myers appears to rack up a kill count of 76 people and four dogs. Considering that Zombie only made two Halloween movies, his numbers cannot have possibly reached that high, so numbers beyond the first two movies cannot be taken into account for this battle.
Between the first two movies, Carpenter’s Myers kills 15 people and two dogs. Zombie’s Halloween films have a kill count of 33.
Both Myers’ kill anyone that gets in their way, with any weapon they see fit, and in any way possible. John Carpenter made Michael out to be almost inhuman. He has no emotions and seems to get no sort of enjoyment out of his kills. Zombie gave Michael a face and a family. Zombie made him human. Which is worse? People fear the inhuman because there is no reasoning with him. However, people fear the human because he could be the boy next door.
EDGE: Tie
Hotness Factor
Every horror movie has to have hot chicks in it so, based solely on the first film in each series, we have to judge the hotness of the cast.
Carpenter’s Halloween has a female cast of Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie, Nancy Loomis as Annie, P.J. Soles as Lynda and Sandy Johnson as Judith.
Zombie’s Halloween has a female cast of Scout Taylor-Compton as Laurie, Danielle Harris as Annie, Kristina Klebe as Lynda, Hanna Hall as Judith and Sheri Moon Zombie as Deborah Myers.
We can give Carpenter Curtis and Soles, but Zombie wins with Harris, Hall and Zombie.
EDGE: Zombie
Fan Base
The Myers house that fans have come to know exists in the fictional town of Haddonfield, Ill., and in South Pasadena, Calif., where it stands today but, what if I were to tell you that it also existed in the real life town of Hillsborough, N.C.? Well, it does! One giant fan of John Carpenter’s Halloween, Kenny Caperton, had his house built as an exactly replica of the Myers house from the films.
Sure, the inside and back of the house are a bit different but, from the front and side, the house can easily be mistaken for the original. The inside of the house is decorated in Halloween memorabilia including posters, masks, paintings, toys, autographs and even the knife used by Tyler Mane in Rob Zombie’s Halloween.
As if this isn’t enough proof of how big of a fan Kenny is, he has also wrote a tribute short film called Judith, contributed to several movies filmed at his house, held an uncredited Trick or Treater role in Rob Zombie’s Halloween, wrote and acted in the commercial for Sheri Moon Zombie’s clothing line Total Skull, AND he throws a Halloween bash every year at his house where he shows movies outdoors on a projection screen and invites people in to see his home.
You can check out his house at http://www.myershousenc.com/ or http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/myershousenc
While Rob Zombie has a fan base of his own from his band White Zombie, his solo music career and his previous cult films House of 1000 Corpses and The Devils Rejects, his fan base for Halloween cannot possibly reach the heights that Carpenter reached with his original 1978 version. I doubt anyone is out there building a replica of his Myers house. Technically, Zombie’s version of Halloween only proves that a fan base for Carpenter’s version exists.
EDGE: Carpenter
After all factors have been looked at, the final score comes down to 3-3 (counting the tie as a point each). For this, one might think that this means a tie. However, one final edge point goes to Carpenter for writing the script of Halloween to begin with. Without him, Zombie would have no film to make.
WINNER: Carpenter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljchb1tsLfs
