Calling the 1978 horror classic “Halloween” beloved might sound a little warped, but considering the local ties with writer/director John Carpenter, that statement isn’t a stretch.

Now almost 30 years – and seven sequels – later, Rob Zombie tries to do the unthinkable by remaking Carpenter’s original.

He darn near pulls it off.

Zombie’s version – more of a reimagining than a shot-for-shot remake – features a fascinating opening hour, but ultimately falls apart in the second half, with too many scenes failing to live up to the high standards of the original.

“Halloween” tells the story of Michael Myers, a disturbed young boy who brutally murders his sister and stepdad when he is 10 years old.

Michael is sent to a mental institution, where Dr. Samuel Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) tries in vain to figure out what made him snap.

After 17 years, Loomis decides it is time to move on. But he’s drawn back to Michael when he escapes and heads home, determined to continue his killing spree.

This is Zombie’s third feature film and I have to say he has taken great strides since his dreadful directorial debut, &#8220House of 1,000 Corpses,” in 2003. Zombie seems to have a keen eye and an affection for the horror genre, and his skills continue to improve.

I really enjoyed Zombie’s decision to dig deeper into Michael Myers’ early years – he devotes nearly half the film to this. The early scenes are an intriguing look inside the mind of a very disturbed young man, made even more relevant by recent incidents like the Virginia Tech massacre.

Zombie even manages to create a touch of sympathy for the killer, creating an anti-hero much like he did in “The Devil’s Rejects.”

But as good as the opening hour of “Halloween” is, it all falls apart when Zombie is forced to retread the same material as Carpenter in the second half. Zombie does everything he can to stage some menacing and scary death sequences, but the film never achieves its lofty goals because the bar was set so high by the original.

The biggest problem is that the victims just don’t get the same amount of depth and development as Michael and his family, so there really isn’t much rooting interest. Part of that stems from the fact that the cast isn’t really that good.

McDowell fills in admirably for Donald Pleasence and Zombie’s real-life wife, Sheri Moon, is pretty effective as Michael Myers’ stripper mother. But Scout Taylor-Compton is no Jamie Lee Curtis, with the three names being the only similarity between the two actresses. The rest of her teenage co-stars fair just as bad (with one exception – Hannah Hall as Michael’s sister Judith).

Compared to recent horror films, this &#8220Halloween” isn’t really that bad, but when you put it next to the master, it pales in comparison.