Halloween Sequel Loses The Mask

Posted by on April 8th, 2009   Filed under: Horror, Remakes, Rumours
Source: Shock Till You Drop

Not content to tweak horror fans with his drastic reimagining of the first Halloween, Rob Zombie is stepping up his game by discarding one of the most distinctive elements of the franchise; Michael Myers’ mask. Make-up artist Wayne Toth has confirmed that Myers will spend the majority with his face uncovered until he finally dons a succession of masks that, while supposedly based on the one in the previous film, will still be strikingly different.

I’m all for directors taking existing horror properties and moving them in a new direction. My problem with Rob Zombie’s take on Halloween is that he seems to be forcing the franchise to match his vision rather than finding a way to use his skills within the context of the property in a way that benefits them both. Unlike most people, I’m more dismayed that the restrictions that come with Halloween are holding Rob Zombie back rather than ruining a franchise that has had more hits than misses. The Devil’s Rejects was one of the best horror movies of the past decade, and it’s a shame that Zombie is allowing himself to be tied down with a character that doesn’t seem to suit his sensibilities when he could be making something worthwhile, like Tyrannosaurus Rex. Is Zombie twisting Halloween beyond recognition, or is he doing what he can to breathe new life into a dead franchise?



  • rick

    HE’S WHAT!!!!

    How can you not use the michael myers mask?

    your lettin me down Rob!!! your lettin me down!!!

  • It WILL be used, it just says that it won’t be for about 60% of the film, which is the same as the first, and I had no problems with that. This will be another case of fanboys way overreacting to something because they’re looking for excuses to hate on it.

  • swarez

    I don’t give two shits either way. Never liked these films.

  • evan_au

    2 words “the shape” how can you make the shape have a face with expressions???
    this is ridiculous first the score then the mask you have lost my vote mr zombie and i bet you are going to include your whore of a wife in there somehow even though she and her horrible acting died in the first (read 9th sequal) film.
    you cunt

  • I have no idea how this will work with the public, let alone the fanbase. I know I’m not glad he’s discarding such an iconic symbol of the Horror genre.

    Then again, we probably should be glad he’s backing off that same symbol as people won’t have to tie in the mask to the awful (I hope I’m wrong here) remakes of the series.

  • What concerns me is not the lack of the mask, but the fact that Michael Myers now just looks like a homeless dude. I guess that’s *kinda* creepy… ?

  • Shine on you crazy diamond. I like it. That guy looks pretty friggin scary to me. The only thing that will turn me off is if he tries to “humanize” MM. I don’t want some generic “my parents didn’t hug me enough” motivation for him becoming a maniac. H eshould just be a maniac. Period.

  • Justice

    It doesn’t matter, he’s a hack. House of a Thousand Corpses just may be the worst movie ever made. And his music sucks now too. He’s a disgrace to Carpenter.

  • Rob Zombie could have Michael Myers dancing around in a fur suit and I could care less. There is nothing left to add or subtract from this franchise to hurt it in any way–the sequels did a fine job of that. Zombie can do whatever he wants and we’ll end up with another night of 2 hr work that is incapable of giving me nerd rage no matter how shit it becomes.

  • Have zero interest in this re-take on Halloween, but I do agree with you, Steve, that THE DEVIL’S REJECTS is one of the better horror flicks of the past 10 years.

    Unfairly written off, and ridiculously re-watchable, it is new and old and always interesting. It was the one film that should have transcended the torture porn label, yet curiously only has a very small cult following at the moment.

  • Right on, Kurt. Nice to see someone else into the Rejects. I have to say, though, that I never quite understood the whole ‘torture porn’ label.

  • I have to agree that the Halloween series has been violated beyond repair at this point anyway, so why not try something new and different?

    The problem is, it does kind of take away the essence of what Michael Myers is, however it sounds like he has a valid explanation of how he comes to take the mask on.

    I’ll give Zombie a chance with anything though. His ingenuity and obvious affection for the genre has my respect.

  • Trent

    So He’s Breathing new life into the franchise by using his same old Beareded Redneck mUtha Fucka style of filmaking.

    Im a huge halloween fan…and it’s not the fact that he doesnt have a mask for 70 percent it’s the idea of him looking like rob Zombie in stilts.

  • Grundy

    As long as he only kills people with the mask on.