Brand new factory sealed 3-disc unrated collector's edition is loaded with extras. Has a cut-out mark thru the upc code on the back from the factory. This is done to indicate a title that is Out Of Print and is no longer being manufactured. Disc one has the unrated Director's Cut of the feature; disc three has a 4 1/2 hour long documentary on the making-of; disc two has all the other special features.

To say that this project was anticipated with controversy would be to put it mildly: die hard fans of John Carpenter's 1978 original announced their supreme displeasure well before so much as a single frame of the Zombie remake was shot, while others were eager to accept such a project in lieu of yet another convuluted sequel (of which there had been six).

Zombie accepted the task but refused to limit himself to a simple restaging of the story. Zombie's HALLOWEEN would spend most of it's time "re-imagining" the back story of young Michael Myers (Daeg Faerch), whose psychotic tendencies emerge during his hellish childhood.

Michael's stepfather figure (William Forsyth) is an abusive drunk, his sister Judith is promiscuous and neglectful, and while his mother (Sheri Moon Zombie) truly loves him, she causes him indirect further humiliation by making a living as a stripper for the Rabbit In Red lounge. The only living being for whom Michael has true affection is his baby sister Laurie, whom he calls "Boo". Before his fateful HALLOWEEN night murder of Judith, this Michael has already beaten a school bully to death with a tree branch and slit his sleeping father's throat, and his rampage sends him to the sanitarium under the care of Dr. Sam Loomis (Malcolm McDowell).

Though initially quite willing to speak (a first for the series), Michael's continuous murderous behaviour and obsession with masking his face drives his mother to suicide, and his descent into speechless catatonia causes even the sympathetic Loomis to abandon him (though Loomis is happy to cash in with a book deal in the wake of his failed treatment). Michael's only friend would appear to be Ismael (Danny Trejo)--an orderly who treats him with kindness while his colleagues feel free to abuse him. It isn't until the second half of the film that the adult Michael (professional wrestler Tyler Mane) breaks free of the sanitarium and embarks on a deadly quest to find his surviving sister.

Scout Taylor-Compton (an actual 17-year-old at the time) is deliberately cast as the antithesis of Jamie Lee Curtis' repressed babysitter Laurie Strode--bright, happy and full of rude humour, but still not as sexually active as her friends Lynda (Kristina Klebe) and Annie (Danielle Harris, known to series fans as young Jamie from the fourth and fifth 'Halloween' entries). We're also given Dee Wallace and Pat Skipper as Laurie's adoptive parents, who get caught up in the mayhem as the returning Loomis takes up the traditional paces with sheriff Brackett (Brad Dourif).

As this summation might suggest, the first half of the film builds up the most interest and tension as it takes its time with unfamiliar material. The characters, have indeed, been freshly interpreted and get to do more than the built-in audience expects from them--but, once Michael escapes and acquires his new outfit from trucker Big Joe Grizzly (Ken Foree), the climactic action (though often intense) seems like a parade of distracting cameos ("Look--it's Richard Lynch! There's Sybil Danning! Hey, that's Mickey Dolenz!"), though the Director's Cut and deleted scenes demonstrate that Udo Kier originally had a more sizeable role as parole board head Morgan Walker.

Zombie veterans Bill Mosely, Lew Temple, Sid Haig (as the cemetery caretaker) and Leslie Easterbrook all put in appearences, as well. Commendably, the fade-out defies the conventions of the series by not going for the obligatory sequel hook, but rather as a one-shot story.