[Halfcan]

I was excited to see this having watched the original in 1978, back on Chanel Z, the first cable station around here. When you go into a "horror" movie you expect to suspend belief in certain situations between scary parts, but this was too much. The writing and plot were so bad in this one it pretty much overruled what was good about it.

Spoiler!

The movie showed promise with the reporters and JLC character being a shut-in now. If it would have stayed on this trajectory it would have been a classic. Instead, it veered off into huge plot holes, terrible acting, and a ridiculous timeline. This ended up being one of the worst Halloween movies yet.

The reporter angle was very interesting- except how did they get his original mask? Kinda dumb. I liked the first scene where MM was chained in the square. That would have been the time for an escape- but NO, they did the old transport bus scene again for the 50th time in a movie. This starts the downhill slide into the ridiculous.

A. How did he escape? The guards are up front in a caged protected area- so how did they get outside? The scene with the kid and old man was very dumb and made zero sense.

B. The Old man goes out to see what's up, which nobody would ever do. Of course, MM kills him. So the kid gets out of the running car and checks to find a guard still alive (outside) and shoots the doctor- who miraculously recovers later. Meantime, MM has killed the Dad, somehow circled back around behind the kid and did the old hide in the back seat trick- another movie cliche. Why would he not just take the car? Oh and how exactly does MM know how to drive after spending most of his life inside a mental institution?

Then MM conveniently happens to pull into the exact same gas station in broad daylight as the reporters. Laughable. He gets out with his white crazy clothes still on- Male reporter does not notice, or anyone else. And then MM proceeds to bend time again.

A. As the woman reporter leaves the office, MM goes into the garage and kills two guys without the cashier noticing, changes into a jumpsuit, kills the cashier and extracts all of his teeth, then slips back out of the garage without dumb male reporter hearing or seeing anything and gets into the bathroom while the woman is still doing her business. Pretty efficient. Of course, it is all set up so MM can get his mask- the Ahh Hah moment of the movie, like Indiana Jones putting on his hat or Superman changing into his cape. Poor writing all around this scene.

JLC daughter is annoying, obnoxious, terrible actress and would never shut up. Her husband, who looks like he could be her Dad, is not politically correct, annoying and even dumber. Is the Dad really suppose to represent all the middle-aged men in this country? Burned out old partiers that have to have a woman do their thinking?

I really liked the black kid being watched by the babysitter- he was the most real and funny character in the movie. The toenail clipping line was priceless. Also when he says- "Dave, you are going to die" and runs out of the house. The movie needed more of this. Movie Cliche #3- clothes on the line on Halloween at night?


Now the movie works backward to get MM trapped into the basement where JLC has planned to kill him for 40 years. Nothing makes a bit of sense from this point on.

A. The Doctor turning killer- dumb- used to get MM to the house where JLC was waiting.

B. MM smashing the doctor but not touching the girl after he wakes up- girl runs into the dark woods instead of to the cops a few blocks down? MM somehow kills both cops- drives to the house ( why THIS house) he had no idea JLC was inside? Which leads to C.

C. MM suspends time again. So he drives the car to the house- the dumb dad watches it on the screen while playing with a yo-yo (who does that) and by the time he looks out the window, the car is pulling up. So from the window until the Dad opened the front door- MM has planted the dead cop in the front seat and then high-tailed it around the side of the house- so when of course- the dumb dad is fooled and comes out of the safe house- he can sneak up from behind and kill him. MM later in between attacking JLC- goes back out in the yard and plants the Dad in a closet, tucked neatly on a shelf. laughable. Such an elaborate set up to trick JLC instead of chasing her around the house.

JLC proceeds to keep the house dark of course, and has every room rigged with a caged door- except the one MM is somehow hiding behind some mannikins. JLC get stabbed in the gut and thrown off the roof- then does the disappearing trick on MM that he pulled in the original. Even after all that, she is unhurt and strong enough to fight MM again.

MM takes a direct headshot- the dumb daughters only contribution in the movie. Then they get MM down into the TRAP! And burn the house down.

The granddaughter flags down a passing car and the three jump in. But somehow the girl went back into the burning house and got the bloody butcher knife, so the director can do a slow pan and set up the next horrible money grab.

They had 40 years to write this and failed miserably. Rob Zombie made the best one since the original and the series should have ended there.