If we are talking horror franchises then we MUST mention Halloween!

With numerous  films, as well as books and comic books, it is easy to see why Michael Myers and Halloween is one of the most popular and succesful horror franchises of all time!

If you compare Halloween with the other popular horror franchises— Nightmare on elm street, Child's Play, Friday the 13th,  the Hannibal series, Psycho, Saw, Scream and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween comes in at number 4 with Friday the 13th taking out the gold, Hannibal the silver and A Nightmare on elm street taking out the bronze!

While we are on the subject of Halloween - what did everyone think of Rob Zombie's take?

You know, I realize a lot of purists hated the Rob Zombie remake, but I didn't think it was so bad at all.  I don't know that it was better than the original by any stretch of the imagination, but I thought it did a few things better while the original did some other things better.  How's that for taking a stand cleanly straddling the fence?  

One thing that I thought made the original a bit better was the lack of explanation for Michael Myers murdering his family as a child.  In the Rob Zombie version they had all these explanations about why Michael Myers killed his family (his father figure was an abusive jerk, his sister was thoroughly indifferent, kids at school tried to bully him, etc.).  In the original, as I recall, he was supposed to be perfectly normal until one Halloween it's like a switch is flipped, and he proceeds to go on a murderous rampage with no rhyme or reason at all.  That's much more disturbing than Zombie's version--hell, I almost wondered what took him so long to get around to slaughtering people in the new movie.

Now in the new movie, I liked the treatment of Laurie Strode much better.  The new Laurie seemed much more likable and believable while Jaime Lee Curtis's Laurie in the original seemed half-dead to begin with.

Long story short, I like both movies and could easily see myself sitting down and watching both back to back. 

 Okay, so... I'm in love with Jamie Lee Curtis... and especially as Laurie Strode (well, I pretty much love her more as the disco queen in Prom Night) so I'm gonna have to differ on the Laurie Strode question. Not to say that Scout (wasn't that her name) wasn't likeable and all... but Jamie Lee she ain't.

I love the movie Halloween it was scary for its time back then in the 1970's. I can also say I like the Rob Zombie version too, he told us more about Micheal growing up then the original. I found myself rooting for Micheal to kill kill kill! I believe both versions are awesome in there on way and both should be enjoyed by all.

I 100% agree about the same story from a different angle, very well done. Yes, I do love the Halloween movies [minus III, which should have never happened in the Halloween series] and when I first heard of it, I was scared, for two reasons, House of 1000 Corpses was horrid but Devil’s Rejects was an awesome flick. Following his track record, his third film, Halloween, should be horrid, right. Boy was I wrong. Secondly, how could you possibly redo a classic and make it your own? He found a way. It did take a unique look at things and worked the explanation point a little more, but it was his interpretation on how Myers was and how he got that way. Two things I think he did better than the original is if a house is abandoned for all those years, it is not gonna be all pretty. And second, If you been in a nut hut for years and years, how are you gonna know how to drive in order to steal a car. Zombie did not include that seen, which was a plus for him. The original will always be great, but Zombie did put a whole new spin on a classic. I say yes, he did a bang up job.

The original Halloween makes my list of five best horror movies of all time.  John Carpenter gave a free clinic ( well not free -- you have the cost of a ticket or DVD) to all budding Horror movie directors on how to do it right.

Suspenseful and intense atmosphere that slowly climbed and climbed and a victim you could care about. 

The lighting and location work was great.  What can be said about that awesome music -- it's still the ringtone on my cellphone.  It's instantly recognizable still to this day. 

Even the little things that he was forced into by low-budget restraints.  From the William Shatner mask that has become , like the music, an icon of the whole Horror movie genre, down to the fact that they carted the leaves around from scene to scene to scatter on the ground because it wasn't autumn when they shot the movie.    Even the beautiful simplicity of the title:  HALLOWEEN.  Pure genius. The casting of Pleasance as Loomis. 

John Carpenter and Company MADE ONE OF THE BEST HORROR MOVIES OF ALL TIME.  In my opinion I can't state that enough.  The scenes when Michael gets up from the floor, or appears behind her or at the end when he's gone -- great visionary work by a great director. Just the whole feeling of being stalked by the most relentless and remorseful killer to ever appear in a horror movie up until that time.  Until Myers, who had shown that much single-minded determination to simply kill you? 

I know it has lost some of it's ability to scare nowadays.  Everyone knows it by heart and has seen it a billion times.  But it still holds up.  I saw it in theatres, lured in by the radio ads for "The night he came home" and Myers got to me more than Anthony Perkins' Psycho and Chris Lee's Dracula.  Far more.  And I love Hitchcock and Hammer.  Myers created terror on the level of Romero's original ghouls.  I never thought Freddy or Jason captured it.  To me they were always also rans.  And sorry Rob -- you should know I love you and I think your one of the bright shining stars for the future of Horror.  Living Dead girl makes me lust and House of 1000 Corpses is great.  I play your music everyyear at the great Halloween bash.    I think your grown-up Myers was very intimidating and brutal -- very savage and scary and I'll give him relentless too.  But I thought your young Michael and most of the rest of the cast were just simply annoying shits.  Honestly I don't think your version holds a candle to the original.  And folks it's ok to disagree and I know alot of people, including friends do.  But I like it when we're raw and honest.

For reference:  I think the 5 best horror films of all time are in no order:

Night of The Living Dead

Halloween

The Exorcist

The Shining

Jaws

Aliens and Psycho are damn close.

It's obvious that I love the original, but Rob Zombie's remake was a mess in my opinion. The main problem I have with it is the complete lack of terror and suspense. By showing us so much of Michael Myers, it takes away the mystery of the character. The back story was useless. I'm no prude, but I think that the amount of foul language in Rob's version is almost ridiculous. The dialog was terrible and the acting was amateurish. I didn't care for Michael's long hair, but that's just me being nitpicky. The rape scene was sick and pointless, it had no other purpose other than giving Rob some sick jollies. The only things about the movie I liked was Joe Grizzly (he should have his own prequel) and seeing a grown up Danielle Harris return. In conclusion, John Carpenter did it a thousand times better on a fraction of the budget. I'm not one of those people who protest every remake made. Plenty of them are good (examples: Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Thing, The Fly, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, etc), but Rob Zombie's remake is not among them.

I've watched Halloween--the original about a total of 8-10 times in the last couple of weeks while working on my homemade re-make.  (it's still coming anyday now but I've had production delays and distractions)

There are several scenes that I nowadays take for granted because I know they don't amount to anything.  But if you were someone watching it for thre first time, they would have been very intense.  For example when he stares at little Tommy through the fence and then follows him--  hell the first time you're seeing it would be very suspenseful.

Makes me wonder how many other movies contain stuff that I'm missing when I re-watch movies.  At what part in the movie is my mind already fast-forwarding to the next "significant" moment that I remember. 

I saw 30 Days of Night in the Theater as well as 28 Days Later.  Both were very intense with some real edge-of-your seats moments.  In fact the person I went to see 30 Days of Night with is no stranger to horror movies and somewhat jaded, but it scared the hell out of her.  But when I bought the DVDs and watched them, although they were still very good, I just couldn't capture that intensity.  There's just nothing like that first time.  Makes me envy horror virgins.

Claire from Heroes would have frustrated the hell out of Michael Myers--the victim is not supposed to sit back up.

 Absolutely. Two of my all-time favorite movies are The Exorcist and Jaws. In each case, when I read reviews of them, I can often tell that the reviewer has not just watched them for the first time--especially the flippant guys, who are trying to pretend they were no big deal because they have some axe to grind. I'm sorry, but there's simply no way to watch either of those movies for the first time and not be glued to your fucking seat. It's just not credible to say, "Oh, they weren't scary. I was filing my nails the whole time." But you can do that after you've seen them a few times, since you already know everything that's coming. 

exactly.