Halloween **1/2Cast: Malcolm McDowell, Brad Dourif, Tyler Mane, Sheri Moon Zombie, William Forsythe, Scout Taylor-Compton, Danielle Harris
Director: Rob Zombie
Running Length: 1:49
MPAA Classification: R

Michael Myers (Faerch) is a kid destined for trouble. His mom (Zombie) and her boyfriend (Forsythe) are terrible parent figures. Pushed to the brink, he eventually snaps. One Halloween, he dons a mask and attacks a school bully. Then he heads home to kill his family. The only survivors are his mother and infant sister Laurie. Michael is committed to Smith’s Grove Sanitarium under the care of Dr. Sam Loomis (McDowell). Loomis eventually realizes he is dealing with pure evil in Michael. Fifteen years later, on Halloween, Michael (Man) escapes from the sanitarium and heads home to Haddonfield to find his sister, and finish the job he started years before.

“Halloween” does some things really well, and some things really poorly. The result is an average movie that in no way eclipses the original. The good includes Tyler Mane as the grown up Michael. Finally played by an actual actor, Michael is menacing and really scary. It’s also nice to see familiar scenes from the original. That, along with the original’s music makes the film feel close to the original at times. Unfortunately, with 45 minutes devoted to backstory that took about 10 minutes in the original, the meat of the story feels compressed and rushed. There is no building up to the final showdown. It feels like the movie is one continuous murder after the other. Lastly, the ending is terrible, without any of the creepiness of the original. Yes, it has been changed, and not for the better. Rob Zombie’s “Halloween” is an interesting take on the original, but is deeply flawed. If you want to see a great “Halloween”, go rent the original directed by John Carpenter.