As horror fans, we generally are excited and despise remakes. That seems to confuse Hollywood as much as it confuses us. We were handed a stale storied / well acted Carrie in 2013, and 2014 looks to be highlighted (?) by another remake: Poltergeist. Another re imagining of Friday The 13th is slated for 2015.

In fact, most remakes seem to shoot for watchable. We love these movies/franchises, but it’s very rare that one of the remakes stands up to our expectations. It always surprises me that more films are scared to be sequels. In fact, sequels are generally well received as long as they add to the canon. Do we really need these multiple versions, or see the same scenes from the original in a better resolution? If a movie has to be remade, OWN it (Dawn of the Dead).

Scaretissue.com will be reviewing Blinky Production’s much anticipated third installment of its Krueger: A Tale From Elm Street‘s franchise shortly. It is a fan fiction film that explores our favorite razor fingered slasher’s life prior to becoming the thing that haunts our dreams today. It’s a helluva idea, and executed well. I’d love to see more major productions put the thought that went into this film into those projects, but, alas… (That’s why the independent scene is so great right now.)

I just discovered another fan film I’d like to share as well.

Halloween Awakening: The Legacy Of Michael Myers (Fuzz on the Lens Productions) is a direct sequel to Halloween: Resurrection and tries to explain what happened during the lull between Curse of Michael Myers and H20. It went from idea to production to completed all within a month (very short turnaround), and was an official entry into the HalloweenMovies Films Festival in 2012.

The movie focuses on a now 17 year old Steven Lloyd (Michael’s nephew/son) and Billy Brackett (brother of Laurie’s best friend Annie Brackett, son of Haddonfield’s sheriff). Steven has just begun a new job at Smith’s Grove (which has fallen into a state of disrepair since Michael slaughtered everybody) as a security guard, and works for Billy.

It’s Halloween night, and Jimmy (another security guard) brings the party to Billy and Steven. As the group wanders around the building, they are picked off one by one by Michael Myers.

The film is pretty long for a short film (47 minutes), but it is a great watch if you are a fan of the series. It manages to bridge the gap between the Curse of the Thorn story line through the two later films (H20, Resurrection) while staying true to the concepts presented. The directors understood and used many of Carpenter’s iconic shots from the original movies, and it works great.

Like most fan films, it is limited by its actors and budget. The film makes use of the piano key sound that haunts the series, but without a true score, it seems to lose its way during Myers’ scenes. I had read that the original Halloween felt the same way until the score was introduced. The death scenes are pretty good, tension is high, and the story works. Hell, it works more than most big movies I’ve seen (I’m looking at you NOES remake.)

Halloween Awakening: The Legacy Of Michael Myers is an awesome fan film that really works as part of the series. It’s a fun watch, and I expect big things out of these guys in the future.