RHPSvegas

Remember Are You Afraid Of The Dark? from Nickelodeon in the 90s? Remember how cheesy and hokey those stories were? They were made for kids though, so it was fun and goofy. Now, imagine those stories, except aimed at adults with a bunch of overt and really fake-looking blood, guts and gore, but even more hokey and poorly-made. This "movie" was total garbage!! Everything about it was rushed, cheap and cliché to hell. "The October Society" should be ashamed for putting this waste of an hour-and-a-half together. I feel sorry for Barry Bostwick and Lynn Shaye for having to be involved with this trash. I hated Trick 'r Treat, and it honestly looks good in comparison.

Wow. That's all I can say. This movie is definitely NOT a remake of the 1980 original, even though every review and ad I read in the papers claimed it was. It's really nothing other than a badly clichéd 'horror' knock-off. I like the original. Yes, Jamie Lee Curtis is in it, but she's not even the main focus of that movie which many seem to have forgotten. Anyway, I digress...

This very typical, ordinary, plain and so-bad-and-cliché-you-can-say-what's-going-to-happen-before-it-does 'film' should have been direct-to-DVD, if even that. It's like a cable special that somehow made it to the screen. All of the actors are too old and not very likable/relatable. When they're offed, you could care less. It's crap masquerading under the Prom Night title.

When Rob was originally contacted, he was asked to make another sequel. He said he wasn't interested in making yet another sequel, especially after the last several have been so bad. He came up with a re-imagining (which is exactly what it is) of the original story, but before he did anything he contacted John Carpenter and asked for permission. Carpenter himself gave him the go-ahead!! Therefor, if anyone's p***ed at Rob's version, just remember: he got permission from the original creator to do it.

I, as an avid fan of the original Halloween, was totally against a remake. However, after I heard Rob was at the helm and that he'd gotten permission from John Carpenter, I decided to give this film a shot. I actually wound up liking it, as I didn't go in with any preconceived notions that it would suck. There are so many close-minded people who went in not wanting to give this movie a chance and therefor immediately saw flaws everywhere. I went in with an open mind not expecting a direct remake (which I usually hate) and went in with the mindset of, "this is going to be something different; someone else's take on the subject matter" and I was therefor pleasantly surprised.

This was not only a re-imagining, but also an update for today's audience's (which are, frankly, attention deficit). So far I've seen this film twice (once in LA, once in Vegas), and both times there were children in the audience, most of whom had sneaked in, some of whom had come with parents. The ones that came with parents were almost twice as ill-behaved because the parents kept talking throughout the movie with the kids chiming in! It's totally disrespectful to talk through a movie (unless of course you're at The Rocky Horror Picture Show). I feel that that also ruins the movie-going experience, leading many to conclude that it was a "bad film" because they missed so much of it due to the distractions of others. This is also an unfair was to analyze or criticize a film.

To sum up, what I'm saying here is: 1) respect the work on the screen for what it is (NOT a direct remake), 2) realize that the director/writer got the go-ahead from the original director/writer, 3) form your own opinions and do not let others' opinions or voices during the film influence you. Have an open mind about it and you may just find yourself enjoying it.