I adore the original “Halloween” but after the abysmal sequels and appalling rip-offs such as “Friday The 13th”, it’s easy to forget just how great it is. I went into this remake from director Rob Zombie (“House Of 1000 Corpses”) with mixed expectations. While it is not exactly a good movie, it is better than most of the sequels.

This new version of “Halloween” spends the first third focusing on the child Michael Myers (Daeg Faerch “Hancock”) and what led him to kill his family. Years later, we see a grown Michael (Tyler Mane “X-Men”) escape from a mental institution and return to the town of Haddonfield to restart the killing.

Michael Myers was a cold and intelligent murderer in the original while the sequels made him into sloppy but unstoppable killing machine. There was always mystery surrounding the character because he never spoke, he was almost always behind a mask and we never knew what made him snap. I think the decision to show him as a child takes away from some of the mystery but at the same time, it helps make this new version its own thing. Malcolm McDowell (“A Clockwork Orange”) is really good as Dr. Loomis, who was played by Donald Pleasance in the original.

The new “Halloween” is a shlock horror film and it knows it. The violence, the acting and the dialog is all over the top and at times, it’s almost funny. There are plenty moments where the characters make dumb decisions, the fact that it takes so long to get him back to Haddonfield makes the second half feel rushed and there are some questionable uses of the great theme music. However, I still enjoyed this a lot more than I was expecting to. It’s a lot more watchable than other horror remakes such as 2009 “Friday The 13th” and 1998 “Psycho”.