Halloween II (Unrated Director’s Cut)
Rob Zombie’s H2 (Halloween) picks up at the exact moment that 2007′s box-office smash, Halloween stopped and follows the aftermath of Michael Myers’s (Tyler Mane) murderous rampage through the eyes of heroine Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor Compton). Evil has a new destiny. Michael Myers is back in this terrifying sequel to Rob Zombie’s visionary re-imagining of Halloween. It is that time of year again, and Michael Myers has returned home to sleepy Haddonfield, Illinois to take care of some unfini
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The Night before Halloween (Reading Railroad)
“‘Twas the night before Halloween, and all through the house, All the creatures were stirring, except for the mouse. The monsters had gathered to plan and prepare, For the trick-or-treaters who soon would be there?.” Little monsters and goofy goblins take center stage in this silly, spooky spin on Clement C. Moore’s beloved poem. But what will happen on Halloween when the monsters come face to face with human trick-or-treaters in this fun-filled book by the author of The Night Before Easter?
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Laurie’s crazy and someone even hits a cow,
The Amazonites have spoken and this movie got killed, lambasted by some as ‘the worst Halloween movie’, though there’s no way it can approach the horror of the botched Curse or the Busta-Rhymes-was-the-best-part Resurrection.
I’m still not sure why this was given an August ’09 release rather than…October/Halloween. Presumably, they didn’t want to run up against the latest Saw offering, and perhaps they sensed the buzz of Paranormal Activity. Instead, they ran it against The Final Destination 3D, which still fared better.
Folks seem to love or hate the Rob Zombie Halloween excursions. Say this about Zombie…he is a horror movie fan and he tries something more personal this time around. Yes, we all know and (presumably) love the original Halloween II, where Michael Myers stalks Laurie in the eerily empty corridors of Haddonfield Memorial Hospital. And yes, we all know that it was revealed that Laurie was, in fact, Michael’s sister, a plot twist conceived by John Carpenter when he ran out of ideas. So what should we expect when someone remakes ‘re-boots’ or jump-starts a series and then remakes the sequel, too?
Yes, there are similar elements and plot points from earlier Halloween films, including the original Part II (the hospital, the sister angle, which we knew from the first Zombie installment, etc). But this is not a remake of the original Part II. Rob Zombie is going his own way with the blessing of the Akkad clan, and I think he does some interesting things story and plot-wise. There are clearly some expressionistic nods to Italian horror directors (Bava, Argento), and there’s a strong nod to the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder and general insanity after you’ve been chased by a knife-wielding lunatic. The early scenes—again, picking up right after the events of the original—are well done, if unsettling. There’s the frenetic activity of the paramedics and authorities, the hospital atmosphere, the loving close-ups of emergency surgery and various injuries, and the spooky recurrence of The Moody Blues on TV. There’s a very nightmarish feel to everything and the looks and sounds are appropriately unsettling. There’s a focus on the trauma—the screaming! the terror! The film is much more concerned with the idea that this Laurie Strode is losing her marbles, and is hardly the wholesome and pure Laurie of the previous series. Zombie prefers some of the more disturbing elements of the material over the ‘scary ones’…which in his world are nearly one and the same. There is always the risk of wallowing in the downbeat versus showing that the filmmakers actually had any fun making this. I think they did, but Halloween II definitely toes the line.
Like most horror flicks, this is not the sum of its parts, but I always give points for atmosphere and demented touches. Actually, the weakest part of the film is the stalking and slasher action itself. It is predictable, methodical, absolutely brutal, and dare I say…sometimes boring. Michael stabs…and stabs…and stabs…and then stabs again…and again…and again. We get it. Am curious what they cut, because it’s a hard R rating here. No, Mr. Zombie does not ease up on the slasher gore, and we get at least one close-up of a knife in the head.
The better elements are the psychological angles (exploring…well, insanity), and the Loomis plotline. This is not the same Loomis, tireless in his effort to stop evil on two feet, but rather a burnt out, cynical, media-obsessed sellout who may or may not have an ounce of altruism left in his shell. Again, Malcolm MacDowell is excellent if underused this time. There’s also a bit of plot-timeline fudging toward the end during the ‘final showdown’.
The movie is demented, and extremely violent and brutal…perhaps too much in that it distracts from the fresh or different elements that Zombie tries to infuse. I still liked this better than most of the rent-a-hack horror output that comes along. Give credit to a horror fan making horror films and trying something else. Of course, you can’t win in this genre. You will be condemned if you make the same old movie (which people want to see) or you’ll be condemned if you try something out of left field (because people want something fresh). If you want the old Part II, go watch it, it’s a different film. But lordy, this is a heck of a lot better than the latter stages of the original Halloween series.
The DVD looks and sounds great. I believe Zombie shot this on 16mm and converted it, so the images look grainier and darker…it’s a very stark and appropriate look for this film. The extras include a plethora of deleted scenes, most not essential but some interesting bits, plus the inevitable alternate ending. Note that the ending here differs slightly from from what you saw in the theater (if you were such a fanatic), since this is the ‘director’s cut’.
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|Could have and should have been better,
After watching the remake, I was looking forward to the sequel. It has elements from the original sequel, but goes off in various directions. I was not thrilled with the casting of young Michael in the first film and even less with the updated version. The depth taken to reveal more of young Michael was unnecessary and distracting. As were the spirit sequences with Michael’s mother; which to me seemed forced to give Mrs. Zombie more screen time. In addition, the older Michael just didn’t seem like Michael. It’s definitely more gory and dirty than the first; overall long and disappointing.
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|Rob Zombie’s rambling fan-fic continues…,
First we are treated to a 20 minute psych-out as Zombie creates a homage to Rick Rosenthal’s original sequel, leading us to think this may be another rehash, but no it’s all a dream. Boo.
However, you think things might be ok, since Zombie appears to be wanting to go his own way this time and create something original. Unfortunately he has almost nothing original to add.
Zombie tries to go artsy with these visitations from Myers dead mother. (glowing white like some sort of angel and being followed about by a white horse) I’m assuming this is just Myers mental state and not a real ghost…since I have no idea why Myers mother would come back and direct her son to kill people…unless Zombie just couldn’t help channeling Jason Voorhees once again into this thing. In fact, the more I think about it, the more it seems that Zombie really should have done a Friday the 13th reboot. He seems to love those mother-son/abusive childhood elements.
Otherwise he throws in a lot a elements that are cobbed from the various bad sequels: The psychic link between Myers/Laurie (mirroring the psychic link between Myers/Jamie from Halloween V), The bizarre “vacation” Myers takes between Halloween holidays (from Halloween IV & V. What is he doing all that time?! Apparently he`s eating dogs all year and no one seems to notice)
The one thing Zombie does add that is his own is his treatment of the Dr Loomis character: he destroys it. This more than anything reinforces my belief in Zombie’s obsessive love for the Myers character. Zombie is now not just happy with making the original film’s villain the hero, but turning Dr Loomis into the films villain! Here, Loomis is just another exploitive, selfish element of the society that Myers rages against. It’s no wonder Myers went bad, he didn’t even have good doctors treating him. The whole character could have been excised, but I’m assuming Zombie got a thrill out of corrupting the hero.
Brad Dourif does a good job as Sheriff Brackett, surprisingly being an authority figure that doesn’t seem to represent Evil Society, (breaking from Zombies usual theme) However, rather than representing an oppressive or exploitive authority figure, he actually seems to represent the incompetent authority figure. Of course this all comes crashing down on Brackett’s head as his own daughter becomes a victim of Myers, aka Zombie’s personification of rage against society. The implication being that if people like Brackett had been able to do their job right, such forces would not be unleashed.
As far as the killings go, Zombie indulges in soulless violence. He seems to think that SFX and quick cutting are enough. Simple brutality is supposed to awe us here. What Zombie does not realize is that that era is over. Audiences are so desensitized now that it’s not enough. He does not seem to have an inkling that creating a world we can believe in and characters we can care about are how one creates an emotional response.
The ending is a convoluted mess I don’t feel like explaining in detail…suffice to say that Zombie rips off the ending of Halloween IV. He just takes way more time and tries to cover up the simplistic idiocy of it all with gobs of cryptic nonsense.
What are we to make of all this? That Hollywood has given up and decided that fan-fics are the way to go now? How long until some internet goober’s Halloween fan-fic porno is considered worthy of a film treatment? Is the film industry really going to stop allowing artists to make films and just allow talent-less panderers hold up a mirror to the audience?
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|FUN HALLOWEEN BOOKS,
My 2 1/2 year old just loves Halloween. He was born Oct. 28th so he’s definitely a Halloween baby and he loves everything to do with the holiday including seeing pumpkins, bats and spiders. This delightful book by Natasha Wing is a Halloween takeoff on “Twas the Night Before Christmas” following the same pattern except that in this book various ghouls and goblins are preparing for Halloween and for the children who will soon be knocking at their front door. The Illustrations by Cynthia Fisher perfectly fit the fun tone and pace of the book and my little loves reading this one over and over…
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The Night Before Halloween is wonderful , colorful and cute.,
The idea of the monsters getting ready for Haloween was great. I loved the book. I bought 10 copies and gave them to friends and relatives. They had received the Night Before Easter Book and were looking forward to the continuation of the next Night Before series. We are anxiously awaiting The Night Before Valentines Day.
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another halloween favorite,
My 4 year old is OBSESSED with halloween, so trust me – we’ve read just about every halloween picture book and early chapter book that we can get our hands on.
“The Night Before Halloween”, is told in the same rhyming verse as “The Night Before Christmas” story; and follows the monsters as they prepare for Halloween. The verse is easy for kids to follow and the illustrations are colorful and detailed. This book has become a quick favorite for us to read at bedtime.
I would absolutely recommend adding this to your Halloween book list. Also check out “Room on the Broom” by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler – this is another of our favorites this year.
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