"Halloween”: It is not possible to discuss this Rob Zombie written and directed movie without also discussing the 1978 John Carpenter classic it re-creates.

Whereas the 1978 film presented audiences with an enigmatic and seemingly immortal killing machine, the 2007 version gives Michael Myers a character. And this makes the movie in some ways more frightening than the original.

The tricks and tropes that made Carpenter’s “Halloween” could not work as successfully today as they did in 1978 because audiences are now familiar with them. Even if the audience hasn’t seen the Carpenter version, chances are they have heard of it and seen some other “slasher” horror film influenced by it. Besides, with movies such as “Scream” and “Scary Movie” parodying it, a new version of “Halloween” could never succeed by merely refilming the original.

We all know what to expect. We all know the story.

Or we thought we did.

This is Rob Zombie’s greatest contribution to the new film — he tells the story we never heard: Michael Myer’s story. Of course he changes a few things along the way, but that is OK because the effect is chilling, in all the right ways.

Carpenter’s Michael Myers murdered his sister at age 6. He is not seen again until years later, when he escapes a mental institution for the criminally insane, having been declared “evil” by his doctor. He returns to his hometown and begins wantonly killing teenagers on Halloween. And apparently he cannot be killed: Repeated stabbings by Jaime Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode with knitting needles, clothes hangers and knives do not stop him, nor do the gunshot wounds inflicted by his former psychologist. At the end of the movie he is missing. This is all very creepy and, as filmed, tense enough to make the audience jump and scream repeatedly throughout.

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Yet, this Michael Myers is a monster — no more realistic than monsters under the bed. How, if he is so unstoppable, can he be believed in? The nice thing about this Michael Myers is that one can watch him, have fun being scared, and then go home knowing he is just make-believe.

Rob Zombie’s Michael Myers is no such phantom. By giving him a back story, by showing Michael’s descent into his own psychopathic tendencies and by setting him in hostile and volatile home and school situations, it is easy to see that Michael Myers the murderer is all too real. He may be an extreme example, and he may still have some of the superhuman strength of his previous incarnation, but the driving force is no longer abstract evil.

One need only recall Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy to know that Malcom McDowell’s Dr. Loomis is right when he says that a “perfect storm” of internal tendencies and external situations can create a killer. This then is the scariest thing about Zombie’s film: His monster is more human.

And a riveting tale it is. Even knowing the ultimate plot line, the new emphasis on character makes the story freshly fascinating.

This doesn’t mean that there are no gory slasher moments. Plenty of promiscuous teens meet ugly and untimely deaths in scenes that cause starts, jumps and screams.

The signature music of John Carpenter’s original score is retained, though modified by Tyler Bates. And those strains are just as creepy and chilling this time around. Other songs such as Nazareth’s “Love Hurts,” and Blue Oyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” play at significant moments, adding a touch of irony.

Scout Taylor-Compton is sweetly believable as the innocent Laurie Strode. And though she will not be taking over the title of “Scream Queen,” she does have a good set of lungs on her. Her Laurie is not so different from Curtis’ — she is still smart and refreshingly unjaded compared with her friends, and when confronted with the implacable Michael, she is a scrappy survivor.

As a genre piece, “Halloween” does remarkably well. All too often horror movies substitute vivid gore for story, confusing shocks and jolts with tension and suspense. But “Halloween” ably avoids these pitfalls by centering the story first on the development of a killer and then by focusing on what this damaged killer will do once free of his cage.

There are not many really good horror movies out there, but this one should join the ranks of its namesake as one of the few that make the genre worth watching.

(Three stars out of four.)