Watched this last night. I don't know if I disliked it as much as you, but I definitely disliked it. I didn't remember your reference, but I almost immediately recognized this as a Halloween rip-off. Interestingly, I think the first correllation was the soundtrack/sound effects. The synth style is also almost a direct rip-off of Carpenter's soundtrack (which I love and own, BTW). There was no exposition of the plot at all in this movie; events seemed to happen just because things like that happen in a horror movie - and we, the viewer, are just supposed to accept that. I totally agree with the reveal of the killer, but I will also add that they had to explain who it was with a flashback - not a good sign. Honestly, the part I found most interesting was the African-American FBI (?) guy reading through the journals at the end of the film. Add some of those events as exposition, and it may have been a better film.
One positive I will mention though: The sound was very good. The thunderstorm at the beginning sounded incredible on my system and some of the ambient sound effects were also very good. The fact that I noticed these things is also indicative of how bland the movie was.
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. ... The piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.
~ Howard Phillips Lovecraft