Halloween: Shape Reborn (the 2007 Rob Zombie one) - Aztek463

Rob Zombie’s reboot of the Halloween franchise was dull, overstuffed, and unnecessary. I have a relative who believes this director is a true artiste, and he keeps sending me DVDs as holiday gifts, thinking I will “see the light.”
Aztek, who did fine work combining 300, chopped a quarter of the film in trying to fashion a rougher, no nonsense experience.
The result is a lean narrative with a hammer down pace.

Video - 1280 X 720p MPEG4. Editing slick throughout. Despite the high resolution - better than this film deserves - the look is still grainy. To be expected in the night sequences, but interiors seemed gauzy. Not Aztek’s fault, most of Zombie’s films look this way. Blacks solid.

Audio - 6 Channel AC3, 448 kbps. No Subs. Again, high end sonically - better than this film deserves - and the sound design very clear. From whispers to howling, a lot of howling (more later). Aztek’s cuts and trims are well thought out, efficient, and professional. Range is not too dynamic, so you can likely play this in another room over your speakers without irritating others.

Narrative - One might think the story would be savaged with so much purged. Not so. This edit really holds together, though it does get wearying after an hour. The tale is itself essentially a padded one, what with a backstory featuring way too much gabbing, then a seemingly endless dark chase finale.

I wanted to enjoy this, but couldn’t. Young Michael, well cast, is truly repellent. His mom (Zombie’s sorry muse, Moon), is witless. Where in that mental institute is that kid getting materials to make masks? Who keeps allowing him to weak them?
The young actor, to be fair, is damn creepy. The chase finale went on and on and on and on, however. All the screaming, screeching, whimpering sounded like someone kicking a bag of cats.

Possibly worth a look for the curious, especially fans of RZ. For the uninitiated, caveat emptor.