There are very few horror remakes that terrify Empire as much as Rob Zombie’s forthcoming retread of Halloween. On the one hand, Zombie’s first movie, House Of A Thousand Corpses, was absolutely appalling. On the other, his semi-sequel, The Devil’s Rejects, was no less grotty and morally bankrupt, but a much, much better movie, showing that – hey! – maybe a heavy metal rocker can make good horror flicks after all.
But the original Halloween isn’t just any old horror movie – it’s not, say, The Hitcher, or The Amityville Horror. You know, fair-to-good fright flicks that can be ‘improved’ and ‘augmented’ for a ‘modern’ audience. John Carpenter’s Halloween is the stuff of horror Holy Grails, the best slasher film of all time and so Zombie had better make damn sure that his version ends up closer to the quality of Zack Snyder’s remake of Dawn Of The Dead (another so-called ‘untouchable’) rather than Marcus Nispel’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre revamp.
Well, it was today revealed (ok, actually on Saturday, but we were off) that Zombie has finally completed casting on his Halloween with the addition of an actress who’s going to fill Jamie Lee Curtis’ shoes (and capacious, shrieking lungs) in the role of Laurie Strode, the innocent Miss American Pie babysitter in whom mask-wearing, knife-wielding loon, Michael Myers, takes an unhealthy, stabby interest.
Step forward, then, America’s new Scream Queen: Scout Taylor-Compton, an actress-slash-singer who will be dodging Myers’ knife-slash-slash. You may remember Taylor-Compton from a seven-episode stint in Charmed. No? Well, how about her four episodes of The Gilmore Girls? Still no? But surely you haven’t erased her seminal performance as Gym Girl in one episode of Frasier from your mind? Well, please yourself – after all, she was uncredited in that one.
To be fair, her IMDb biography claims parts in 13 Going On 30 and a horror film (aptly called Zombies) that don’t show up on her IMDb resume, so it’s possible you may have seen more of her than we’re giving you (and her) credit for. And we’re sure that Rob Zombie has found the right girl – but until we hear her open her mouth and emit a scream that could shatter a lightbulb at 20 paces, we just won’t know for sure.
Taylor-Compton joins an ever-growing cast for Halloween that’s virtually packed with horror icons (perhaps indicating that Zombie’s version will be a post-modern affair). No sign of the actual Jamie Lee Curtis, yet, but the cast so far does include (deep breath): Adrienne Barbeau (star of John Carpenter’s The Fog!), Brad Dourif (it’s Chucky from Child’s Play!), Ken Foree (Peter from Romero’s Dawn of the Dead!), Dee Wallace Stone (her from The Howling!), Clint Howard (erm… you know, from Ticks) and, in a neat nod to previous instalments of the franchise, Danielle Harris, who played Michael Myers’ psychic niece Jamie in Halloween 4 and 5.
Malcolm McDowell will take over from the late, lamented Donald Pleasance as Myers’ nemesis, barking mad shrink, Dr. Sam Loomis, while X-Men star Tyler Mane will ensure that this version of The Shape is even more physically imposing than Nick Castle’s. And we’re betting that he’ll prove just as difficult to kill…
So, what do you think, readers? Are you excited about Zombie’s take on Halloween? Or are you already covering your eyes with your fingers – and not in a good way? Do let us know…