Movie Review: Rob Zombie's "Halloween"

I would like to start this review by saying that the original "Halloween" is easily my favorite horror movie of all time. I was excited to hear that this movie was being made as I am a huge horror movie fan and enjoyed Rob Zombie's work on "The Devil's Rejects". Boy was I disappointed. Any fan of the original will tell you that what made it so scary was the atmosphere and suspense which Zombie has traded for blood and gore. Another negative aspect of this film is the fact that the first half of the movie was spent trying to develop the character of Michael Myers and give the audience some method to his madness. I don't know about you but I prefer the killer who is simply pure evil and that's that. Myers loses his identity as "The Shape" and gains more of a good ol fashioned psycho serial killer status. Before I go on there are some positive things I would like to point out. Tyler Mane who plays Michael, does as good of a job as any in the role and Malcolm McDowell, despite bad dialogue is fitting as Dr. Loomis. In the end though, we all know that Donald Pleasence is the true Dr. Loomis but sadly, he passed away before he could reprise his role. The blood and gore although very well done seemed a little out of place and over the top being in a remake of a movie that contained virtually no blood and zero gore. The main characters namely Laurie are underdeveloped to the point where you don't really care if they live or die. I personally was on the edge of my seat rooting for Jamie Lee Curtis to survive when I saw the original but that was not so in this version. William Forsythe and Ken Foree have memorable cameos but unfortunately not much screen time. I know this is a "re imagining" or whatever you wanna call it and no I didn't expect it to be a shot for shot re shoot of the original but it lacked the subtle intensity of the original and came off as more of a generic slasher flick. Some people are complaining about the amount of foul language and nudity but I don't really see that as much of a problem as it is a sign of the times and fits accordingly. So basically, the mystique of Michael Myers is gone, Dr. Loomis is not the mad man consumed and hell bent on stopping him and, the victim who you are supposed to want to see triumph over evil is un memorable. As a slasher flick it's effective as it employs many traits of those films such as gore, nudity, sex, brutal killings, and deranged serial killers but, as a Halloween movie it misses the mark by a mile. Now I will say this, I saw this movie in theaters twice and I did like it a little more the second time. Maybe it will grow on me as more of a separate entity but as I said before, is far inferior to the original. 5/10 My advice? Save your money and pick up the original.