Synopsis:

By cutting out a lot of the bloat, bad dialogue, and evening out the distribution of Michael Myer's backstory, this edit creates a much leaner (and meaner) version of Rob Zombie's 2007 Halloween remake.

Intentions:

I didn't find Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween to be as horrendous as some did. That said, there was a better film hidden in there and I did my best to dig it out.

Change List:

Director's Cut: - Corrected slight aspect ratio issue with Dimension Films logo. - Added fade to beginning of Dimension Films logo. - Cut quote from Dr Loomis and title. - Added new "Haddonfield..." title card. - Cut roughly the first 11 minutes of the film (breakfast, the altercation in the school bathroom, etc). - Cut Ronnie referencing Michael having killed animals. He now says "Hey clown...that is some faggoty-ass shit." - Cut "Love Hurts" montage of Michael sitting outside and Deborah stripping. - Cut Judith and her boyfriend in the bedroom. - Cut extra shot of Judith's boyfriend after Michael kills him. - Cut Michael stroking Judith's leg before he kills her. That's your sister, bruh. - Cut Michael putting down his knife/removing his mask and saying "Happy Halloween Boo" to his baby sister. - Cut Deborah leaving work. - New opening credits sequence after Michael is shown in the police car. - Cut immediately to "Smith's Grove - 17 years later" after credits. Theatrical Cut scenes used: - Used the theatrical version of Michael's escape, IE no more rape of the inmate. - Removed the scene just before this of the guards hanging out before they move Michael. Return to Director's Cut: - Inserted shortened version of Loomis's first interview with Micahel. - New title title card added: "Sixteen years earlier." - Shortened Loomis's talk at the school. - Cut the majority of Ismael's death. - Trimmed the call from Smith's Grove after Michael escapes. - Inserted next segment from Smith's Grove flashback after Loomis hangs up. Cut Ismael from this sequence. - Cut Grizzly Joe telling Michael they have a "failure to communicate." - Cut Laurie fingering the bagel at breakfast. - Cut the first part of Loomis at Smith's Grove after the breakout. Scene now begins with him and the doctors outside. - Cut Lynda telling Laurie about her being suspended from the cheerleading team. - Cut reference to that in the following scene right before they see Michael watching them on the sidewalk. - Cut reference to previously removed bagel incident while Laurie and Mrs Strode are fixing the skeleton. - Cut shot of Michael approaching the Strode house. Let's not be hasty, now. - Inserted third flashback after cemetery scene with some trims. - Trimmed the sex scene with Lynda and her boyfriend. - Cut scene of Loomis buying the gun. - Cut Michael killing the Strodes. - Cut Annie talking to Laurie about Ben "not featured in this movie" Tramer. - Inserted the fourth (and final) flashback in Smith's Grove right after Annie leaves with Paul. - Cut nurse making fun of Michael. - Inserted Loomis's final assesment of Michael ("shape of a human") right after Deborah kills herself. - Cut Brackett asking what Loomis thinks Michael will do when he finds his baby sister. - Cut the second part of Annie's encounter with Michael (after she tries running out of the house). - Cut close-up of Michael squeezing Loomis's eyes. - Added Aztek Fanedit Classics credit.

Additional Notes:

When I decided to take on this project, I didn't really intend to cut as much as I did, but as I went on and as the running time continued to shrink, I realized just how much bloat the film really had. That's not to say I thought it was a bad film. I wouldn't have taken the time to edit it if it hadn't been worth it. The main issue was that the film is front-loaded with Michael's backstory leaving the remainder relatively light on character development. Now, there wasn't much I could really do in terms of fleshing out Laurie and her friends as there wasn't enough material to work with and the deleted scenes were of sub-par quality. Instead, I sprinkled Michael's backstory (mostly his sessions with Dr. Loomis) throughout the run time to try and even it out. My biggest gripe with the director's cut (and this is purely a matter of personal taste) was the alternate escape scene. For this, I inserted the escape scene from the theatrical cut (upscaled and level corrected to match the rest of the edit better) which keeps the pace up better than the alternate scene, in my humblest of humble opinions.

Special Thanks: