The early numbers are in and to absolutely no one’s surprise around here The Final Destination is murdering Michael Myers at the box office this weekend. But the battle of the confusingly titled horror installments — The Final Destination is actually the fourth chapter; Halloween II is the ninth – was never really a fair fight to begin with. Why? Read on…
Halloween II’s Rob Zombie is a good director (maybe even a great director, if you go back and watch the last five minutes of 2005’s The Devil’s Rejects), but even the most talented auteur couldn’t possibly make Michael Myers scary (or hip) again. It’s time to face the fact that no matter how you try to reboot the Shatner-masked slasher franchise, no matter what kind of new backstory or shocking new pinnacles of gore you want to ladle onto it, Halloween is over. Dunzo. Deader than Jamie Lee Curtis’ promiscuous high school gal pals. Ditto with Freddy Krueger…and Jason…and Chucky. In fact, they should all move into the same retirement home together, park their tired bogeyman butts around a card table, and play some Canasta.
The Final Destination, on the other hand, actually gets what teenagers and twentysomethings want to see on a Friday night. Namely, other teens and twentysomethings who are better-looking than they are and who serve up snappier comebacks than they do getting offed in fun, awesomely clever, byzantinely unexpected new ways. The first FD was a giddy joyride in which the acne-free cast (including Heroes‘ Ali Larter), who somehow managed to escape the grim reaper’s clutches on an airplane, scrambled until death caught up with them. It was fresh, funny, and, thanks to some slow-boil suspense that would make Hitchcock smile, actually scary. And unlike Halloween and its male, Fangoria-reading demo, it appealed equally to guys and gals. The second FD smartly moved the action to a new, equally gooseflesh-inducing setting — an insane, Rube Goldberg-ian highway accident that lets you know you’re in good hands in the first 10 minutes. And the roller coaster fiasco in the third FD proved that the sick bastards behind the franchise hadn’t run out of ideas yet. This time, not only have they added a 3-D hook (inspired, but what’s even more inspired is that folks will pay more to see it in 3-D), but they also knew how to stamp their brand of gruesome giddy-up on a Nascar race, a swimming pool drain, and a car wash… What 18-year-old wouldn’t cough up 10 bucks to see that? Heck, what 38-year-old wouldn’t?
If Hollywood studios want to keep getting kids to fork over their allowances and babysitting money for their bloody hijinks, they’re going to have to get more inventive than just nostalgically trotting out the same old masked maestros of murder and mayhem that they’ve been trotting out since the Reagan era. The Weinstein Company’s decision to hire Rob Zombie to re-energize the Halloween brand wasn’t a terrible idea. But the belief that it was a franchise that people still cared about was. John Carpenter’s 1978 original was an awesome film. Revolutionary, even. But in 2009, it feels as ancient as Nosferatu. What’s worse is that the indie studio thought it made sense to open Halloween II on the same weekend as FD (a game of chicken they can’t possibly have thought they’d win) instead of a few weeks later, or even…call me crazy…closer to Halloween. But maybe the biggest misstep was that by opening their film this weekend, the Weinstein Company siphoned off potential ticket buyers from their other film, Inglourious Basterds instead of giving Quentin Tarantino’s WWII epic some more room to breathe and rake in as much dough as possible. Forget Michael Myers or Final Destination. For my money, that’s the scariest thing that happened this weekend.
More from EW:
Halloween franchise will continue — in 3-D
Photo credit: Jim Sheldon
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Very good article. But still, the Final Destination series was starting to get old as well. They still have those inventive death ideas, but it’s still the same thing. What made The Final Destination brutally murder Halloween II at the box office is the new 3D thing. Everyone loves 3D. Also, Halloween II didn’t exactly put up the best advertising campaign.
Final destination is too fun to be called horror. It is the most fun I expect to have at any movie this year. I am fine with the formula as long as they stick to their intricate mouse trap/domino deaths. if that gets stupid its over.
Do you know what’s “fun”? Watching people die in horrible ways. What? Did I miss a memo?
It’s not watching people die in horrible ways that’s fun, it’s watching teenagers enter deadly mousetraps. It’s comical, it strangles nerves, and it is absolutely anticipated. I respect Zombie’s music and art, but he is the last person I want going near Halloween or The Blob. I want him to stick to his own material-and only his own material. Quit taking franchises down please.
If not for EW.com, I would not have known there was a Halloween 2.
Zero commercials for it here in Miami.
Everyone loves 3D? Everyone who? I don’t get the appeal of it. I experienced 3D in the 80s (Remember Jaws 3D?) and wasn’t impressed. And am not impressed by 3D twenty years later. So something pops out of the screen? BFD! I also don’t get movies where you know everyone is going to die. Where’s the suspense? In HOW they’re going to die? I think y’all are some sick bastards to be interested in how someone is going to die. Humanity really hasn’t evolved that much, has it?
What a load of crap. Halloween isn’t played out at ALL. Most of the themes in the Halloween movies are timeless. Rob Zombie does an awesome job of reviving the franchise. This movie did not seem dated or played out at all. In fact, it was strikingly modern. Much scarier than the lame FD crap. Zombie also did a wonderful job of character development. The dialog is excellent, very real and fresh, much like the original was in 1978. FD is just a lame attempt to cash in on a tired and played out franchise. Despite the familiar title, H2 is very much a different and unique movie. Zombie takes a lot of risks and they pay off. This is not just another Halloween movie.
No!!! What Zombie did was put an awful spin on MM. Granted his remake and part 2 was way better than Halloween Resurection. He still messed up big by putting his wife back in the film with that dumb white horse. MM was never a mamma’s boy. Thank god Zombie is done. I prey the whole series is done. You can’t top the original. Please stop trying.
I agree with Michael’s comment.
Agreed! The only thing Final Destination has going for it is the gimmicky 3D. There’s nothing new there. I enjoyed the 1st one, but it quickly became redundant after that. Rob Zombie brings that old school horror feel back. I enjoyed all but the very end of his 1st Halloween and I fully plan on seeing what’s in store for his latest.
Super agreed! Now I feel guilty I didn’t get out to see H2 this weekend. Rob Zombie made his first one feel fresh again. Moody and tense. But I saw H2 was only playing at a theater I don’t usually go to and kind of forgot. FD’s car wash image was intriguing but I just got over that whole franchise after the first two. I’m a statistic proving that H2 just wasn’t on enough screens.
Both franchises are tired, but I definitely agree that “Halloween II” should be coming out sometime near October 31. I’m not saying that’s the only place for horror movies, but it just makes SENSE.
Rob Zombie said on Jimmy Kimmel that he releases it early only because after Halloween passes “noone gives a sh** anymore” True, but I agree he could have at least waited til the first week in October
The reason Halloween II isn’t out on Halloween is because the Saw franchise is hogging that day.
Good observation. And speaking of “played out”, what about “Saw”…?
Both films were targeting different niches. H2 the hardcore horror crowd (predominantly male) and FD the more general friday night/date crowd (female). FD won because women attend horror films at theaters more consistently than men do. H2 is still doing decently and will have a good life on DVD/downloads.
“John Carpenter’s 1978 original was an awesome film. Revolutionary, even. But in 2009, it feels as ancient as Nosferatu.” You, sir, clearly know nothing about horror. The original movie is still fantastic. The sequels and remakes are all pretty forgettable, but the original is timeless.
That WAS the author’s point. Nosferatu is still an “awesome” fantastic” “timeless” work, but it does seem dated. He is giving the same support to the first Halloween.
I absolutely agree with Mathieu. The original Halloween is and will always be my favorite horror movie, if not my favorite movie in any genre because it scared the crap out of me when I was a kid.
When I first heard about Rob Zombie remaking the original Halloween, I knew he would mess it up. First, the original can not be remade. It was a perfect film that came out at the perfect time. Other than that, I knew it wouldn’t work because Zombie doesn’t ‘get it’. He has tried to give Michael Myers a reason and there is no reason to his madness. That is what makes him scary to begin with.
With Zombie’s Halloween II, he destroyed any hope he had of making a good Halloween movie when he decided to make Michael more like Jason in that his mommy is now telling him to kill people. WTF Zombie?
I’ve seen all the Halloween movies and H2 by Zombie was a big disappointment, Michael being led by his mother is silly Zombie just needed to give his wife a job. Halloween was meant to be scary not gory Michael never grunted or even made sounds before that was his mystic, he was there to scare you not gross you out.
I saw the original Halloween movie once. Scared the living crap out of me – still scares the living crap out of me. “Horror” films today are just slasher films. I don’t find them interesting at all.
I agree… the original was like “Jaws,” and was totally realistic. I could believe someone like that would come into my home and try to get me. Nowadays you could cut off MM’s head and he’d stumble over, put it back on and resume killing. The entire franchise minus the original needs to be sh*tcanned.
In interviews, Rob Zombie seems like a cool and interesting guy but as a director he is a hack, pure and simple. As unwatchable as House of 1000 Corpses was, it was brilliant compared to Devil’s Rejects. DR tried too hard to be some 70’s bad ass cinema but it was just ugly, brutal, and very unsettling. The last five minutes Chris mentions actually asks us to accept the psychopaths we’ve spent the last couple hours watching as… heroes! This is after they’ve terrorized innocent people with molestation, murder, and other lovely crimes. Zombie’s 2006 Halloween made one of the lesser of the original series seem like John Carpenter in his prime. Hopefully Halloween II will flop and Zombie can crawl into a hole of obscurity.
Rob Zombie going back to music would be my idea of a perfect ending to his directing career but alas, he is set to remake “The Blob” now.
“What 18-year-old wouldn’t cough up 10 bucks to see that? Heck, what 38-year-old wouldn’t?” — Um . . . me. And . . . me!
Same here. Some of us don’t do gratuitous violence in any form, including horror, as well as Tarantino films.
Not that you don’t have a right to be part of the conversation, but why are you reading this article if you have not interest in horror movies?
As an adult, I’m very sensitive to violence, but as a teenager I did like the gore. It’s normal to grow out of gore as you mature. And yes, I think you are abnormal if you derive pleasure from watching violence when you are 38 years old.
I note this because I don’t think Tarantino’s movies are not particularly violent, and I think it’s a shame if people don’t watch his films because they are under the impression that the movies are gore-y.
I agree. There is something very sad about enjoying watching teenagers getting murdered in interesting ways. And yes, we do get to express our opinion. What is lacking in these horror movies is that small bit of trivial detritus that we refer to as story. And then there is character development. As for FD, since you know, already, that every single kid is going to die — there really is no suspense. Just sadism.
Your article says that people are done caring about Michael Myers and then says:
“Ditto with Freddy Krueger…and Jason…and Chucky. In fact, they should all move into the same retirement home together, park their tired bogeyman butts around a card table, and play some Canasta.”
THIS IS GENIUS!!!! You’ve got the first half of an unbelievably fertile pitch!! Now tell me what happens next . . . WAIT!! WAIT!! I know, The retirement home gets bought by the guy from the Saw franchise and he starts systematically terrorizing the out-of-favor perps until they rise up together and get their revenge!!
haa I like..I like
You know what? I would pay money to see that. If anyone from Hollywood is reading this, make it happen within the next decade.
You are giving the FD series WAY too much credit; your making them sound like masterpieces!!
And comparing the suspense to Hitchcock… sorry, but don’t even go there. For suspense you need to have build ups which are subtle, and the FD films are far from subtle.
Truth is both are worn out series that should be stopped.
Having said that I cant help feeling on H2’s side as I think Rob Zombie is a way better filmmaker than the crew behind FD
The real reason Final Destination is making more money is the extra charge for 3-D glasses. When someone looks at actual ticket sales, they will be fairly close. But at 75 minutes, Final Destination feels like a rip-off, even for a discount show.
I don’t know for sure, but I imagine the charge for 3D glasses goes to the movie theater, not the studio, and thus would have no direct impact on the box office gross.
In a compromise with the theaters and the studios, the theaters footed the bills for the expensive 3d projectors used in the theaters to show the films, and the studios include x amount of 3d glasses at their own expense when they sell them the reels.
In fact, there was a huge dispute between studios and theaters not long ago where some were suggesting they would stop supplying the glasses and AMC (the number 1 chain in America) threatened to not show any 3d films by those studios. Must have been worked out, because i havent heard anything since regarding this topic.
I saw both films and thought FD was crapola on a stick. The gore in it was cheezy. The story was no different than the first three. It sucked. Halloween on the other hand, I thought was well done. The gore looked real, the story was different, and it was creepy as hell(which is what a horror movie should be.)I agree that Hollywood is on a band wagon of remakes,oops I mean reboots. But if they all came out the Rob Zombie’s Halloween, then they would be great!
FD was not even half as good as 1-3. It is like because it was 3d they thought they didnt have to spend anytime on the dialogue. I was lmao at some of the cheesy lines and predictable scenes. even the blood and gore looked so freaking fake. and I just didnt think the race track was as good as the plane crash, car crash, and roller coaster opening scenes from the previous ones. lastly, what the hell do I have to do to see a a awesome 3d movie, maybe I expect too much, but I see maybe a handful of things come at me, i just did not like it.
yeah every ones entitled to an opinion but just because you think horror movies like this are getting old does not give you the right to start abusing legendary characters like freddy, jason and michael myers, these guys are the leaders of modern day horror villains, PERIOD!!!!! bit dramatic and OTT i know.
Yep, and it doesn’t hurt at all that FINAL DESTINATION is distributed by New Line, which (like EW) is all part of the might Warners conglomerate. It helps when you can use the website as an in-house publicity organ, doesn’t it?
They still gave it a C+ though. Same as H2.
I think that this article brought up a very good point. Nobody wants to keep ponying up money to see some old slasher killers from the 70’s and 80’s in some newly revamped franchise. Let’s just accept the fact that there are certain franchises that just can’t be ressurected, no matter how good of an idea it might seem. However, where I disagree with Mr. Nashawaty, is the fact that nobody wants to watch slasher films anymore. That’s where you might be off Chrisy-boy. While now we’re looking for horror movies to be a bit more creative, there’s still some good in slasher films. Why not just create a slasher franchise that’s completely original and can kill people off in an imaginative way that the Saws and FDs have been doing, while still maintaining it’s slasher style? I think that it could work, I don’t know about you. Why not we give it a shot?
problem is that its hard to create a franchise when the originality finishes after the first movie. Saw 1 was good, FD 1 was good, their sequels, horrendous and unoriginal compared to their beginnings. It then becomes drawn out, boring and lame like saw 6…… and FD in 3d…… (face in keyboard)