Download 'Halloween': Five-Minute Commentary Track (mp3, 1.2 MB).
Halloween
With Rob Zombie’s remake in theaters this weekend, I thought it would be a good opportunity to explore why Michael Myers (or “The Shape”) worked so well in John Carpenter’s 1978 movie Halloween.
In this commentary track, part of Culture Snob’s Five Minutes series, I use the movie’s ending to discuss the transformation of Michael Myers from troubled child into bogeyman — from human to supernatural.
I haven’t seen Zombie’s movie, but I’m guessing that he misses what makes Michael — and Halloween — special in its genre. A big part of why The Shape works is that he has a blankness that makes him ripe for projection — he’s malleable as a source of fear. So adding a big back-story section seems like the wrong strategy to me.
The monster unmasked:
Acting hurt:
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