Halloween: The Shape Reborn

Updated
Halloween: The Shape Reborn
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Genre:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2007
Original Running Time:
121
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
91
Time Cut:
33
Time Added:
2
Available in HD?
Brief 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.
Intention:
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.
Release Information:
  • Blu-Ray
  • Digital
Editing Details:
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.
Cuts and Additions:
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.
Cover art by Aztek463 (DOWNLOAD HERE) image

User reviews

2 reviews
Overall rating
 
8.9
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.5(2)
Audio Editing
 
9.0(2)
Visual Editing
 
9.0(2)
Narrative
 
9.0(2)
Enjoyment
 
8.0(2)
Overall rating
 
8.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
7.0
Rob Zombie’s reboot of the Halloween franchise was dull, bloated, 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 film 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.

Enjoyment: Wanted to, but couldn’t. The young Michael, well cast, is truly repellent. His mom (Zombie’s sorry muse, Moon), is a witless, weak mother. And where in that mental institute is that kid getting materials to make masks, and who keeps allowing him to weak them? Guarantee you, old Doc Fred Chilton would not have permitted that.

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.

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

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
Overall rating
 
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
Very good edit! Big improvement over the original in my opinion. There is a lot of bloat gone from this, it really feels much better paced than the original. I really liked distributing the treatments as flashbacks throughout the narrative. I thought they were all used at really appropriate times thematically. Overall great job. This replaces the theatrical cut for me (although steFANedit's 2 in 1 will always have a place next to it on the shelf).

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
T
Top 50 Reviewer 114 reviews
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0