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* 1/2 STARS

To say I am disappointed by Rob Zombie’s re-make of “Halloween” would be a big understatement. I put this film on my top ten most anticipated films of the summer and the wait/pay off wasn’t worth the excitement. All of this movie geek excitement was based on the love I have for Zombie’s last film, “The Devil’s Rejects”. That movie is a modern day horror movie classic. There were so many lost opportunities to make this film really good, it pisses me off that this movie wasn’t much better.

This movie tries to unfold in a clever way, but in the end it is just unnecessary. The first half of the film is a depiction of Michael Meyers childhood and about the beginning of his killing spree which started on Halloween night when he was 12 years old. The set up is your text book serial killer fare, an abusive stepfather and a poor upbringing are given as reasons for Meyers early homicidal cravings. The depiction of a kid killing his family, and then a nurse in the hospital ward are a bit exaggerated, silly and just plain too morbid to come off as “real”. It is much better left as the mythology of the character than to see it depicted on the screen in my opinion.

The second half of the movie is the first “Halloween” movie on speed. The second hour feels rushed and too familiar. Zombie doesn’t do much to breathe new life into this half of the movie except add more numbers to the body count. Rob Zombie has love for the character Michael Meyers that is obvious, but he doesn’t do anything new here. The over blown gore, gratuitous boob shots and relentless stabbing isn’t scary, or gross, it becomes boring. What else could be a kiss of death for a horror movie but a boring last half? As you can see this movie made me sad and angry. How could such a big opportunity been blow creatively? Even though it is already considered a hit, this movie failed in my eyes.