"He lied about me. He said that I was very cold to him when he told me that he was going to make [Halloween],” said Carpenter. “Nothing could be further from the truth. I said, ‘Make it your own movie, man. This is yours now. Don’t worry about me.’ I was incredibly supportive. Why that piece of shit lied, I don’t know. He had no reason to. Why did he do it?”
“So, frankly, that will color my response to the film,” he continued. “If I take that away, I did not… I thought that he took away the mystique of the story by explaining too much about [Michael Myers]. I don’t care about that. He’s supposed to be a force of nature. He’s supposed to be almost supernatural. And he was too big. It wasn’t normal.”
I’ve always seen interviews where JC basically said he told Zombie to do his own thing. I’ve grown to enjoy Zombie’s first film, though the “white trashing” of Myers never set well with me and I’m glad John agrees.
I agree wholeheartedly with John carpenter here. I never liked the zombie films, though I must admit, as a Halloween fan, it’s hard for me to not at least somewhat appreciate the few carryovers from the original from 1978 here and there. But I agree with John, Michael was too huge so he lost that creepiness of being this slim little normal guy that doesn’t look all that intimidating, yet he’s the Boogeyman. And again, I agree with John that zombie completely misses the fact that you don’t need to over explain everything little detail about Michael. Not knowing anything about him makes him even more frightening because he had no purpose to his kills, no reason to kill anyone. Which made me think, if you know why he’s killing people, oh ok i get it that makes sense he’s just getting revenge on his family so I’m safe. But with no reason behind it, I’m not safe, who knows who he’ll target next.
This is something I’ve said about the remakes since I’ve seen them. You don’t explain evil. Once you take away that mystery about Michael, he becomes sympathetic and that’s wrong. In the remake, I’m rooting for Michael all the way until he kills Danny Trejo. I didn’t like that. Michael is, as Carpenter says, a force of evil. He’s not a grotesque giant of a brute like Jason, he’s a mysterious, ghostly shape, a phantom of the night, a boogeyman. Give him a backstory and you take that away, creating some exceptionally large man with a vendetta against bullies. This is, of course, not to take anything away from the performance itself. Tyler Mane, despite the writing, gave a horrifically fantastic performance as Michael. My third favorite after Nick Castle and Dick Warlock. I’ll also say that the atmosphere is top notch in this movie, and creates a better feeling of Illinois in October from South Pasadena than the original did. Everything from the way the sun casts the shadows to the dead leaves on green grass breathes October in Illinois. I think the only Halloween movie that outshines the remake in this category is Halloween 4. The costume design for Michael is also really good. By Halloween 6, I feel like the white mask and grey coveralls starts to become stale. I feel like the Carhartt’s and rot mask was a breath of fresh air in a franchise that had gotten stale by the time the '90s rolled around. Now, after Zombies vision I’m ready to return to the classic and basics.
I agree with what Davy said here. I find the RZ films more entertaining than any of the sequels after H2. That being said, they don’t capture the spirit of Myers as Carpenter created him. And Carpenter acknowledges that in how he responds to Zombie. I’m wondering if maybe Zombie was looking to Carpenter for more support since Carpenter is a hero of his. Instead he got a vibe of indifference which he interpreted as coldness. That doesn’t surprise me, since Carpenter has made it clear ever since H1 that he doesn’t want to make any more Halloween films. He didn’t want sequels and his involvement has never been much beyond what’s needed to produce the film and profit financially. With John Carpenter not being involved in the RZ versions at all, he’s likely to not care one way or the other, or at least to act as if he doesn’t.
I can dig what JC said…kinda told RZ…Its yours now…do what you want. No coldness just truth. I mean common JC made one of the best horror films ever. No way in hell RZ was gonna come close to it and JC knew it. Rz is kind of a cry baby anyways.
rewatched RZ’s version for the first time in 9 years last night. the white trash storyline and being bullied and bused is so cliche. I also rewatched 1978 Halloween- guess which I enjoyed more? i didn’t care if Laurie died in the remake, why RZ made Laurie and her friends mean “bitches” I don’t know. I did like some aspects of the remake, I loved the neighborhood shots, really gave a great feel. Myers is too damn big too, no need to be a huge hulking monster, but i must admit mane didn’t do too bad. let me introduce myself, i’m joe grizzly bitch! made me spit my drink out lol
I think that Rob Z gave Mike Myers to much of a character storyline. He tried to explain to hard why he was the way he was. I think that is also why the original series went bad. Because H6 attempted to give him a motive. I did not like at all.
Does anyone have a vid or article where rob said Jc was cold to him?
It’s been almost a decade now but I swear I remember on the rz special features he says he went to Jc and he just told him do ur thing.
You’re right. Originally Zombie did not say that. It was later in a show that both Carpenter and Zombie were involved with that Zombie supposedly made that statement, according to Carpenter. The whole interview can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4twMPO7FzA It’s right around the 16:48 mark.
I really like some aspects of the RZ movies and I loathe other things. I liked the fact that Michael was as big as he was, to me that gave it reality that he could over power his victums and do the things a normal 6ft man couldnt. The whole white trash long haired element i could have lived without and the girls dialog seemed very forced and fake. I also could have cared less about any of the characters being killed( except Danny Trejos character) They were all long haired rock and roll stoner types. The movies atmosphere, locations and the Myers mask and costumes were great. RZ should have not copied any of Carpenters scenes from the original and just made it entirely his own. All and all could have been better but could have been alot worse
