QandAs: Buzz

What's the buzz on the new Halloween?

Answer:

Fans of John Carpenter's Halloween turned out in droves over the holiday weekend to see Rob Zombie's re-imaging of the classic horror film, pushing the film to No. 1 at the box office with earnings of $11 million on its opening day alone.

Critics, including this one, however, are not so thrilled. Zombie's films tend to fall under a category we kindly refer to as "Trainwreck," and Halloween is no exception. The new backstory is garbled and unconvincing. The acting is superbad. And the photography is gimmicky with odd angles and that annoying jiggle style that Zombie has imperfected over a career of bad horror films like "House of 1,000 Corpses" and "Devil's Rejects."

For all his bravado and arrogance in interviews about how his film would best the original, Zombie leaves fans and newbies to the Halloween series with a disappointing exercise in film-watching that replaces suspense and horror with violence and gore.

This Halloween is scare-free. Gone is the methodic stalking that made Michael Myers a superstar among an entire generation of movie-goers. In its place is a bunch of loud music and over-the-top gore.

The film essentially follows Carpenter's storyline but added what might have been a new gem - the backstory as to what made Michael Myers so evil. But the backstory is so unbelievable and so poorly executed that it adds nothing to the story. By the time we land on familiar territory - with Michael stalking babysitter Laurie Strode - any sense of dread that we might have about this masked madman is replaced with boredom at this troubled kid turned killer.

In this reviewer's opinion, it's now clear that sacred films like Halloween should be left in piece - and Mr. Zombie should stick to what he does best - being a rock star. Please, please, Mr. Zombie - leave the filmmaking to the professionals.

With no tricks or treats, this is one Halloween we're going to skip.