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We had a Halloween double bill over the weekend. Yesterday night we watched the original 1978 Halloween. Will had the DVR record it earlier in the week when IFC was showing a widescreen, uncut version. I hadn’t seen this all the way through in years and it was nice to watch it again. John Carpenter made it more of a suspense film than a horror film. And, of course, it was Jamie Lee Curtis’ first film and she was quite the good screamer.

Watching the original was a preamble to going this afternoon to see the Rob Zombie remake. It was pretty good. Will wasn’t sure I should go since I can be pretty wussy in horror films. I justified it since I already knew the story line, so it shouldn’t be too scary. I held up pretty well only jumping twice. The first was just a loud sound cue more than anything happening on the screen. The second was a reaction to one of Michael’s attacks that I just didn’t see coming.

This film isn’t a straight forward remake. It’s split up into three parts. The first act delves into Michael’s past and what made him into a psychopath. It could be a warning to all the bad parents, this could happen to your child as we see is poor excuse for a home life. We also get to see the year’s he spent in the asylum leading up to his bloody escape. The second part is a pretty faithful remake of the original film. It was fun to see what parts of the Carpenter screenplay Zombie used and which he cast aside (to his credit, Zombie used Carpenter’s way cool original score though much of the movie). The third part was the showdown between Laurie and Michael. This changed significantly from the original, and to me it felt like it went on a little too long. There was, however, a thought-provoking moment of brother/sister bonding that was almost touching… until Laurie stabbed him in the neck. It appears Laurie got the ultimate victory at the end… begging the question is this a reboot for the series or was it a one-off? Given how it all went down, Laurie could actually be the next psychopath.

In all, even with it’s lackluster reviews, it was a good time at the movies. I am curious though why this came out Labor Day weekend instead of holding a couple months so it could be released with its namesake holiday.