Halloween

Writer-director Rob Zombie does his take on John Carpenter’s 1978 original, expanding Carpenter’s brief prologue (in which the adolescent Michael Myers first carved up his nubile sister) into a full backstory of Michael’s dysfunctional family: stripper mom, scumbag stepdad, slutty sister, the works. Zombie’s idea seems to be to get the blood flowing as early as possible; a schoolyard bully is the first to get his, blubbering and pleading for his life, followed by a domestic massacre to rival the last act of Hamlet, then Michael’s long incarceration before the killings begin again, with a sort of twist to the familiar story. If you thought John Carpenter was too prissy and squeamish, his images too clean and pretty, then this is the movie for you. Malcolm McDowell plays Michael’s Cassandra-like shrink.