Why does everyone hate the RZ films ?

Michael-Myers.net General Discussion
1

As a fan of MM and the community I’m well aware of the almost universal hate towards the RZ films but I must admit as a big fan of them (more so the first) I don’t really see why ? I would much rather watch them than 4,5,6,h20 and resurrection !!

The mask is the best since the original for me personally (until it’s hanging off)

He’s the first myers that you believe could lift a guy off his feet lol

He’s still stealthy and stalks somehow lol

And I didn’t even mind the zombie version of the theme tbh.

Yeah the whole childhood bit is a bit red necky but I don’t see why 90% of fans absolutely hate them ?

2

I actually really like RZ H1. As you touched on, Michael was actually scary again.

If RZ H2 would’ve been like the first 15-20 minutes, it would’ve been so much better, in my opinion. The rest of it was trash.

3

Yeah the whole 'needing to have his wife in no.2 and all the white horse bollox ruins it for me a bit. Boggles my mind that people who hate the first 1 don’t mind the 2nd lol

4

everyone doesn’t hate the RZ films… I actually like the first one alright
the general consensus among the fans that dislike RZ halloweens is, it gave Michael a backstory and took away his mystique, also with the movie and characters overall being more raw and vulgar. My thought process about it is; that’s the point of his remake, Rob did something different and made it his own, if it followed the exact same themes and film morals as the original it would be completely worthless and you wouldn’t take away any new aspects from it. If you take away the preconceived legacy of the original film, Zombies H1; objectively is not a bad film. I think more people need to be open minded with the RZ Halloween’s, and understand that their complaints of Michael being different than the original, is the whole point.

5

I’m not a fan of either, but I can at least sit through his H1 (I absolutely despise his H2). With that being said, I will say that if he cut out all the white trash back story, and tone down the constant needless swearing and inappropriate vulgarity, it might have been a decent remake.

6
  1. He went against the idea of Myers being a force of nature and gave him an “excuse” by having a white trash abusive background.
  2. He made Michael way too big and basically a copy of Jason.

I think his films have their good spots, and I like to watch part 1, but I think of them as kind of an alternate timeline.

7

Pretty much this.

8

I will say, when I reference RZ’s films and disliking them, it’s based on his Directors cuts mainly, though there are factors with both cuts that drive me nuts. That was a lot of “uts” lol.

Anyway, the theatrical edition of his first film I do actually find watchable, and I do like some things done in that film.

My issue isn’t really the overall film, it’s the characters, I can’t get behind any of them since they are all mainly unlikable characters. For me, Myers isn’t all that scary, only for the fact that most of the time I am rooting for him to kill these annoying characters.

If I could find any characters in the first film I genuinely cared for, it was Danny Trejo and Malcom Mcdowell. When he kills Danny’s character, I felt that one. All the rest are just mouthy annoying characters, even Laurie I could care less about.

Especially in the Directors cut, they are even more annoying with the extra vulgar filthy dialogue that’s just unnecessary. Don’t even get me started on that rape scene for Michaels escape. I mean seriously? Sick fucks couldn’t be killed soon enough.

So in a way, it’s like an anti-hero movie to me, especially the directors cut where Michael clearly is tormented by everything around him. It’s like yeah kill em all man, fuckers deserve it.

So as for his first film, I can watch his theatrical cut of that film, and it’s generally fine. But the directors cut is just too much, and I can’t enjoy it at all.

The cuts made and scene changes made for the theatrical cut was for the better in my opinion.

As for his Directors cut H2, yeah sorry but that’s just total trash. The theatrical cut did it a favor, but even then it’s still a mess. I give him props for doing his own story and take in H2, but if you just remove the mask completely and call it something like Rob Zombies rockabilly Murders, it would be an ok film in the world of Rob zombies confusing ass twisted ways.

I own both, as well as the theatrical editions, but will only watch the theatrical editions if I decide to throw them in.

Again, like I said they have an anti-hero vibe to me, and that’s where I enjoy them to a degree, but I am not scared of his Myers at all due to that fact.

Now with all of that said, there is the TV version of his first film which plays on AMC during this season of Fear Fest. It’s a much better movie and makes me see how he could be scary, and I will tell you why: the white trash table scene is cut way down to almost nothing, then also we don’t even see the bullies in the bathroom, he just gets in trouble for the dead animals in his bag. Then we just cut straight outside and he seemingly kills that kid for no reason at all. That was much more effective and scary to me. I didn’t need to see the bullies bullying. It was much better without seeing that, and he just kills him because he feels like it, is how it comes across in the tv version. Much more effective in my mind.

And even though William Forsythe’s character is still an ass, with it cut down so much, your not as ready to see him die. Yeah he’s a little bitchy, but not so bad that I want him dead right away. The tv cuts made a huge difference in the prequel section of that movie. At least in my opinion. It makes it more scary, as Michael is just killing because well, why not?

Other than that, I can’t stand his directors cuts. Just my opinion. I still watch the theatrical ones. Even though they are right out of a white zombie music video.

9

I actually love the first one, and think it has a great Halloween feel to it from beginning to end.

But the sequel felt like Devils Regects with Halloween characters. No interest, no intrigue, no Halloween feeling. The most interesting part of the movie is Michaels wardrobe, and even that isnt entirely “Myers” like.

10

I didn’t care for Zombie’s Halloween’s because there was just way to much over the top gore and long drawn out kill scenes that just doesn’t interest me in the least. They could’ve been really good. But with Rob directing… not a chance.

11

Personally I dislike them because Rob Zombie directed them; by that I mean he isn’t that great of a film maker in my eyes. It seems like he just transplanted all the white trash stuff from his previous films, removed the cannibalism, and loosely used the Halloween universe. All of his movies are overrated, I remember seeing House of 1000 Corpses and thinking Texas Chainsaw the whole time. The fact that he uses his wife in every film like Tim Burton did is off putting too. If she could play more than the white trash sexbomb role, it might be more tolerable. I personally didnt find his Voorhees meat terminator sized Myers really scary, especially with all the back story with childhood trauma and psychopathy. That made him a little too identifiable and understandable of a character. Kinda like how they screwed Leatherface up yet again in the last texas chainsaw installment, the back story stuff for certain characters just kill their mystique appeal. I also found all of Rob Zombies protagonists to be really unlikable in the Halloween remakes. They felt flat, and didn’t care if they died or not, and that made it impossible for me to get any elements of suspense in the suspenseful moments. The self serving Loomis could’ve been interesting if there were a little more to his character. I personally think Zombies problem is he constantly tries to make likeable unlikable characters, and honestly that gets pretty boring. The mask was pretty cool in the first RZ Halloween, but thats about all the good I have to say about them. The second RZ doesn’t really need much for explanation of why I dislike it. I mean it’s a dumpster fire and the trippy dream sequences felt like rejected scenes from early 2000’s Manson music videos. To each their own though, we all got our preferences and thats what makes this community rad!

12

Pretty much what’s already been said. I don’t hate the first one, but really all the characters are just unlikable, even Laurie.
I’m not really into white trash stuff and that tends to be RZs forte. And like others I’m sick of seeing his wife in everything.



…i did like Danielle Harris but only because it’s Danielle Harris. How could anyone not like Danielle Harris.

13

Because Michael Myers is actually the hero of the Zombie films. Contrast H1 and H2 and H2018 with RZH1 and RZH2. In Zombie’s Halloween, Michael is someone picked on by his mothers boyfriend. Taunted and teased by his older sister. Bullied at school. When he’s locked up what did the orderlies do to him? Me and my pops are giant Halloween fans. I couldn’t sit through RZH1 with him due to unnecessary vulgarity. Additionally, his movies have unnecessary gore. Rob Zombie thinks the fear comes from the crunching bones and sternums and the congealed blood etc. It is the chase and the slow tension that makes it scary. What made H1 scary is that anyone of us could’ve been walking to school and Michael is following. Anyone of us could be in the wrong place at the wrong time when evil happens and there is no explanation for it.

It is even worse in H2. He basically gave his wife a useless role for the sake of it. The movie has horrendous pacing issues, Hobo Michael isn’t scary and everyone else including Loomis is a trash human being. It is a repudiation of people in a sense. The kill scenes are long for no reason, the camera angles are off, the costumes and set design are trashy etc. I pretend they don’t even exist to be honest.

14

Thanks for the very in depth answers guys !!!

I get the whole beginning bits ruining it for people even though now ive seen it so many times the whole “take that damn mask off” bit does make me chuckle now.

The constant swearing thing does seem to bother alot of people as well (seen drumdums on youtube lol), it does seem weird that you can rank your top kills with people being stuck to walls with a knife or have there head stamped into oblivion but be deeply offended by some nasty words lol.

15

I don’t think it’s offense at the cursing so much as it just seems silly and unnecessary,… and trashy.

I get annoyed w Bustah Rhymes cursing all the time in pt 8 as well. It seems cliche and cheesy (and sort of plays into a stereotype).

Hearing ignorant language repeatedly gets pretty old pretty quick.

16

I quite like his H1, although his humanising of Michael is completely at odds with Carpenter’s intentions. His H2 (apart from the hospital sequence) is crap though.

17

I did not not like them at all. I did enjoy the first 20 minutes as him as a child. the rest it just didnt grab me. Tyler mane was way to big as Myers. He just looked awkward to me. The second part was total garbage for me. Now James Jude is the man in my opinion he was just off the charts.

18

I will admit…while I vehemently do not like both of these films, the second half of RZ H1, basically when the movie becomes a remake of H1 1978, I can sit down and watch it and appreciate the similarities.

I do not like the back story of Michael Myers. I do not like getting to know him as a child (plus I do not like the casting of young Michael). I do not like hearing him speak as a child. There’s no more mystery to Michael anymore.

I do not like the white trash portrayal and the dialogue. Every other word does not have to be “fuck.” I do not like the way Laurie and Annie were written…their dialogue and mannerisms are terrible. Do people actually talk and act like this?

Michael is too big. Is he scary? To a certain degree yes, there is an intimidating element to Tyler Mane’s portrayal of Michael simply because he is so big. I think what makes Nick Castle’s or Dick Warlock’s portrayal of Michael more scary is they are both average size men. You don’t expect an average looking person to be so evil.

I do think the viciousness and brutality of Michael in the RZ films helped pave the way for the viciousness and brutality of Michael in the 2018 film…I see a lot of similarities there.

Other than the hospital chase in RZ H2…I do not understand this movie. It is way too far out there for me. I don’t like the mask and the fact that Michael has turned into a hobo.

But hey, art is subjective. This is just my opinion. Everyone is free to like and dislike what they want :slight_smile:

19

This is spot on IMO. Michael didn’t need a backstory, it takes away “why” he’s evil. Also the fact that nearly every character was nothing but white trash rednecks with vulgar mouths, just didn’t feel like Haddonfield. It was more like something from HO1C or TDJ’s.

As for part 2, the first 15 mins in the hospital was really good… after that the whole white horse, ghost Mom, and Laurie screaming non stop was just horrendous.

20

There isn’t much mystery left in his movies and leaves nothing for the viewer to think through during a movie. I found his movies very boring. Violence without tension is worthless.