This trailer is for the sequel to the 2007 version of Halloween, both made by Rob Zombie. I've seen the original, and Zombie's remake which is the one i prefer. This trailer shows the film's legendary character Michael Myers rampaging through a hospital, slashing his way through everyone that gets in the way of his main goal; his sister. Halloween as a franchise has a good name amongst slasher films consistently making films better, with a few exceptions, than other films in the genre. The narrative in this trailer displays the hatred Michael has for his sister and the pure evil driving him to end her life. The structure however doesn't appear to be linear in this particular trailer as it has a few flashbacks to the 'beginning' of Michael's story, back when he was a kid. The shots are all shot using very low key lighting creating a very dark and sinister atmosphere especially surrounding Myers. Perhaps as expected, the trailer even shows a few gruesome shots, obviously keeping it PG rated but preparing the audience for what is almost guaranteed to be a no-holds-barred blood fest.
At the end of Rob Zombie's remake the main character Lauren is seen on top of Myers stabbing and shooting recklessly; as seen in the trailer with a monochrome effect to signify the fact it was a flashback. This film appears to carry on literally hours after that incident with Lauren walking down the road, injured from her bloody battle, murmuring the words 'i killed him' to the policeman. This direct link the other remake is a tactic which i think could possibly draw in the audience of the first film to see exactly what does happen to Myers. Sound wise the trailer is very ambient, sticking to non-diagetic sound drenched in reverb and consistently using simple motifs containing harsh dissonance putting the audience on edge. Diagetically the sound is very broad, ranging from creepy whispers during tense moments to loud screams and shouts when Myers is on a rampage. Unsurprisingly the non-diagetic and diagetic sound work together during the sequence with loud industrial sounding bangs in action filled clips but devilish whispers where important dialogue is present. Conventions of the horror genre are played upon heavily throughout the sequence from the crashed of thunder as lightning strikes illuminating a gory scene, to the apparently abandoned hospital from which there is no direct escape route. The main reason i like this trailer is because they appear to be doing everything well; from the disruptive narrative to the cinematography, it all appeals to me. This could be, however, because i fit into the target demographic of 15-24 year old males which they are obviously marketing the film towards.
Interestingly the two directors, John Carpenter (original) & Rob Zombie (remake) do not approach the character of Michael Myers and the Halloween franchise from the same angle. John Carpenter's approach was to keep the town where the dreadful events are taking place very atmospheric and gloomy, sustaining the suspense throughout the film to the 'final battle'. Carpenter also keeps the character of Michael Myers very secretive. No motives are given, no back story is uncovered and no emotions or words are emitted from the character. Keeping a level of mystery behind the film, and giving Myers a supernatural monstrous persona that is never broken one bit. However, Rob Zombie takes a much more direct 'Hollywood' approach to the film going for constant action with tiny sections of suspense built around Myers and his attacks. Myers's motives in the original remake were almost completely uncovered by telling the story of his troubled childhood. His Mum was a stripper and his Dad was a wife-beating stay-at-home alcoholic, both of whom argued aggressively consistently and gave no kind of attention the Michael, who was a baby at the time. The dialogue shows the lack of love for Myers with words such as 'it' and 'thing' used to describe Michael who Zombie is positioning the audience to empathise with. This is where the two films differ; Carpenter positions the audience into thinking he is a plain psychopathic killer. Zombie prefers the disturbed killer with a destructive personality forced on him due to his dreadful childhood. The interesting thing about this trailer is the exact motive for Myers is said to be 'revealed' by the narrator who has the most dramatic and deep voice in the history of the human race. This in particular will definitely gather interest in this particular movie in the franchise which, as of yet, never told the audience why Myers was killing anyone. Perhaps more interestingly, the secret to why he is trying to kill his sister will be revealed.
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