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Halloween
MGM

Halloween reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 47 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
5.8 out of 10
based on 18 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 166 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for strong brutal bloody violence and terror throughout, sexual content, graphic nudity and language

Starring Scout Taylor-Compton, Tyler Mane, Malcolm McDowell, Brad Dourif, Daeg Faerch, Sheri Moon, William Forsythe, and Udo Kier

From acclaimed musician and filmmaker Rob Zombie comes an entirely new take on the highly successful and terrifying Halloween legacy, which began in 1978. While revealing a new chapter in the established Michael Myers saga, the film will surprise both classic and modern horror fans with a departure from prior films in the Halloween franchise. Audiences should brace themselves for unprecedented fear as Zombie turns back time to uncover the making of a pathologically disturbed, even cursed child named Michael Myers. (MGM)


GENRE(S): Horror  
WRITTEN BY: John Carpenter (1978 screenplay)
Debra Hill (1978 screenplay)
Rob Zombie
 
DIRECTED BY: Rob Zombie  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: December 18, 2007 
Theatrical: August 31, 2007 
RUNNING TIME: 109 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

88
TV Guide Ken Fox
Zombie delivers a scary horror movie immediately recognizable as his own -- something that will come as a welcome relief to fans who've diligently sat through seven "Halloween" sequels in hopes of one day reliving the original's terrifying magic.
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80
LA Weekly Nathan Lee
Horrific as it is, Halloween isn’t so much a horror film as a biopic, and a superb one at that.
Read Full Review
75
Premiere Paul Semel
Halloween is a real, classic-style horror movie, not an exercise in gross special effects. Oh, and for those who’ve missed Carpenter’s classic, this will scare the candy corn out of you, but the original is still champion.
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67
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
This Myers is more problem child than bogeyman.
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60
Film Threat Mark Bell
As it stands, he made a noble attempt, and it could've been a Hell of a lot worse, but it's not as great a film as its potential hints at.
Read Full Review
60
The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
As usual, Zombie has added an element of camp fun to the proceedings with his clever casting of B-movie icons in small roles, including Dee Wallace, Brad Dourif, Danny Trejo and Sid Haig.
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50
The New York Times Matt Zoller Seitz
The new Halloween has sympathy for the Devil, but not enough.
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50
The Onion (A.V. Club) Steven Hyden
This latest unsuccessful stab at Carpenter's masterwork just proves that the original Halloween is as unbeatable as its masked leading man.
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50
ReelViews James Berardinelli
This is not a good movie but, considering what Halloween has evolved into over the course of seven sequels, it's perhaps better than it has a right to be.
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50
San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub
Filmgoers looking for copious amounts of mindless violence won't be disappointed.
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50
Los Angeles Times Tasha Robinson
It's a more polished, high-fidelity version of a story that's played out on screen many times since 1978, but once Zombie runs out of subtext, he's right back to the same old slasher text: "Blood. Guts. The end."
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40
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Zombie continues to have a true, unflinching artist's eye for the sublimely horrific (a woodsy murder sequence is pregnant with disturbing, painterly compositions), that eye is wasted here on an unnecessarily moribund history of sociopathy as it relates to Halloween in Haddonfield, Illinois.
Read Full Review
38
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
There is just no tension built prior to the murders.
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38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jason Anderson
Like kudzu vine, killer bees and herpes, we may never be rid of it.
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30
Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall
The set-up is tediously slow, while the later murders are packed so tightly it's like watching a blender on high speed.
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30
Variety Dennis Harvey
Leaves nothing to the imagination: Michael Myers is always right there in plain sight, committing mayhem sans suspenseful buildup or mystique.
Read Full Review
25
Boston Globe Tom Russo
As with Zombie's two previous schlock horror features, "House of 1000 Corpses" and "The Devil's Rejects," the atmosphere here isn't so much tense and jolting as unnervingly weird and gory, but it's effective.
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20
Washington Post Richard Harrington
A film that contains dialogue so nasty and stupid, you'd swear (right along with the characters) that the booker for "Jerry Springer" wrote it (Zombie did).
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 5.8 (out of 10) based on 166 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Scott N gave it a0:
First off, I am not particularly bothered by profanity, but when the movie is just "F this" and "F that", it's just completely stupid and over the top and is nothing more than a distraction. Nice job of "modernizing" Halloween. The acting in this movie was inferior across the board compared to the original, and the time-consuming, heavy-handed Michael Myers back story left little time for the Haddonfield part of the story, which should have been the main event, but if felt very rushed and artificial. It was almost like Zombie realized after he was done with the Myers backstory "Oh, I still have to write the Haddonfield part of the story!" and threw something together. This movie was very dull (Unless you like the F word). Total crap.

joe h gave it a0:
I walked into this movie without much prior knowledge of the series or what I was about to see; which was my first mistake. This movie is the antithesis of films like 1408, having not the least bit of intelligence or atmosphere, it is and unrefined, clumsy mess of a bloodbath. It wasn't scary, it wasn't horror and it certainly wasn't enjoyable in any sense of the word. Don't get me wrong, I like movies about sociopaths- seven was great and Silence of the lambs is one of my favorites- but what makes these movies good is their delicate tact and eloquence, observing the characters from an objective point of view; as opposed to reveling in the bloody carnage they create. One common mistake made during the creation of films like these is the inclusion of background stories, which tend to ruin all the mystery and intrigue of these psychopathic antagonists, such as Hannibal Rising did. Well this movie is no exception, since after the first hour of getting to know little Mikey, not only was I bored and offended, but I knew there was nothing left to show aside from a bloody string of murders committed by this newly and fully realized monster. Honestly, there isn't a whole lot left to say, after that it was a gore fest that never created tension, suspense or any sense of emotional attachment. The sheer fumbling of the films execution earned this movie a 0, everything after that takes it into the negative zone. Just plain out, unrelenting, unremorseful and unforgiving torture porn that is bent on making you feel uncomfortable. Judging by the rest of these reviews, I intend to see the original Halloween with hopes that this travesty is simply a horrible misrepresentation of a once great series.

George gave it a10:
Awesome! better than expected! ace photography, nice jump scares, decent performances!

Fb Fb gave it a6:
Well i thought this was just okay but zombie's best his other movies are just awful house of a 1000 corpses to name one. Anyway the acting was ok but some scenes seem unnessary and violent with a little to much nudity some scenes seemed forced and it lacked suspense just alot of gore. The music was good though. So the movie not terrible but nothing to write home about either.

Robin S gave it a6:
I have to say Mark Bell is spot on. Not the great film it could've been, but certainly not a horrible one (in every sense of the word). It has grit, and doesn't compromise, but the entertainment value is lost in the apathetic world of Michael Myers.

brenda m gave it a9:
I think that rob Zombie did an excellent job on this movie. Jogn carptner should have done a movie like this. I like that way it explained how michael became a killer.

Lou D. gave it a9:
Great movie. Not too much like the original, but if I wanted that, I'd watch the original. This movie is incredible, the kill scenes are well done and the reimagining is top-notch. Half-remake, half-new. Rob Zombie is paving his way in this genre and he continues to move forward. Michael's childhood explains many previously unanswered questions and as long as you go into the movie with an open mind and look for a 9th movie, you will be happy. If you want a remake, watch the original. Theres no point in someone making a copy of something perfect, that is what Zombie avoided and thankfully so. Masterpiece.

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