OK, now Im a looooooooong time Halloween fan, Ive seen the good, the original and its immediate sequel, the bad, Halloween Resurrection and the Ugly Halloween III.

So where does Rob Zombies version sit on this pantheon. Well first a little backstory. The other day I was handed a dvd that a friend of mine burned off the internet, now I am totally against piracy. I believe a persons work is thiers and not to be stolen via the internet. But being that I was going Opening night irregardedless, this one time I made an exception and am I glad I did.

The dvd that I was given was what they refer to as a screener copy. This is an original print of the movie that is sent to theaters for a group of people to preview for feedback purposes. After I viewed this I was very disappointed in the vision put forth, many key elements were left out. Now I realize that Rob did not want this known as a REMAKE, but if you are looking at the Myth that is Michael Myers there are certain elements of his character that had to be kept in tact, in the screener many of these were not there. I will not get into them here, but suffice to say I left watching the screener depressed.

My wife and I on the way to the theater tonight talked at great length about what we were expecting, she saw fragments of the screener and asked what I thought all I could say was I really hope that Rob took the advice that I know I would have given from the fans in the crowd that saw it and went back and rehot material. Now I was aware that he did do several reshots. And from watching the screener two were obvious right away. neither Bill Mosely or Sid Haig were in the screener copy...they were art of the reshoots, and the shots they were apart of one stays true to the original the other saved a scene. In the screener for lack of a better term Michael more or less just walks out of Smiths Grove after two bumbling guards rape a patient in his room. The whole sequence was really lame. AS I watched it all I could think was this is NOT the way Michael Myers is supposed to leave Smiths Grove hes supposed to break out not stroll out the door. The reshoot solves that thank god.

Ok onto the movie.....the backstory started off kinda lame typical Rob Zombie obscenity laced bs. But it does provide some insight into what is to come. The young boy chosen to play young Michael does so with great ferocity at times and stoic Michael Myers in others. It also shows some clues into his relationship with Laurie.

Dr Loomis was fairly well played by Malclom McDowell...but its so hard to get past the great performence/s that were given by Donald Pleasance. Rob goes into some of his time with Michael. One omitted scene in the screener it explains why Michael never speaks, but in the theatrical version he just clams up..

The movies blows through original material to get to the crescendo...I will not get into the differnces between the screeners but trust me when I say the changes were for the better. The best advice I can give any Halloween fan is this...dont go into the theater expecting a COPY its not a copy of the original. I think the film stands on its on along with the original.....go in as if youve never seen John Carpenters HALLOWEEN and youll enjoy the movie, it was for me quite enjoyable.

If you walk in expecting anything else youre in for a letdown...remember the key to all of this Rob said all along this is not a remake its a reimagining......