First of all, congratulations to the Red Sox for being a great start to my Halloween celebrations.  And second of all, our first Horrorween has passed and gone and we have learned many things along the way, with the main thing being that different isn’t always a bad thing.  This can be seen by That Other Raimi Brother and I’s suggestion to watch Halloween 3: Season of the Witch, which was originally considered a terrible film by most of the horror community.  We’re not saying that it’s an amazing piece of cinema mind you, but it’s just decent, mindless fun.

The surprising winner of this year’s Horror Remake Bloody Bracket was Maniac, starring a very creepy Elijah Wood in a surprisingly well-made and artistic slasher opus.  Elijah Wood is making quite a career for himself post-Lord of the Rings, playing creepy roles in  Sin City, The Pawn Shop Chronicles and as a dude that talks to a dog in Wilfred.  The real winner of the Bracket, however, is Alexandre Aja who was involved in 3 of 16 films that all made it past the first round.  Hell, he was competing against himself as producer and director in the final round.  Could he be considered the new king of the horror remake?

Maniac is proof that being different isn’t always a bad thing and in the case of making a good remake, it is almost a necessity.  It included nods to the original film, while also going in a slightly different direction and changing up the perspective.  Also, while the original film was entertaining, it was nothing amazing, which is why it was hard for someone like Rob Zombie to try and top one of the most celebrated horror films of all time, Halloween, even though he made a great film in its own right.  Then you’ve got the remake of Carrie, which is basically identical to the original… a.k.a. LAME.

And finally, I would just like to state that Halloween appears to be losing some of its luster.  I remember the streets being filled with trick or treaters when I was a child and now this year, my street received less than ten kids the entire night.  Nobody TP’ed any houses.  Nobody smashed any Jack-O-Lanterns.  There was nobody going out of their way to terrify any children.  What’s wrong with the world today?  Just think of the KIDS!