I’m one of the few people who actually liked the remake for Halloween, it gave an interesting, although, cliche backstory and the characters felt like they were developed well. My only issue with the film was Sheri Moon Zombie as another “sexy” scene and the last 30 minutes(which this was the part of the film that was actually a remake).

Now on to my review for H2, the biggest disappointment is that we know that Rob Zombie is a talented director, The Devil’s Rejects was awesome and fell in the category of being a sequel that surpassed the original(House of 1,000 Corpses), so how can he go from that to making one of the worse sequels and one of the worse remakes ever?

First off, this film was all Rob Zombie, aside from a sort of nod to the original Halloween II(the opening hospital scene)95% of the film is an original thought from his mind. The film seems to go anywhere and everything, with little bit of a cohesive story being told, but many being told. The character development of Annie and Laurie is a high point in this film, as it does focus a good deal on the aftermath of the previous film in a real way, what did suck however was the backup underdevelopment of Dr. Loomis, I love Malcolm McDowell, he’s a great actor, but his Dr Loomis I felt was so bland and just not endearing at all(in both films), whole Donald Pleasance played the character as someone who wanted to stop him, Malcolm’s begins that way and just goes further and further away from that noble person.

In the previous film and the films before it we see Michael as a person who kills out of necessity, not just because there are people to kill, in this film it seems like everyone is fair game, even if they aren’t even in his way(there is a scene with one of Laurie’s friends and an unnamed lover, for example), this always bugged me because it really isn’t needed, its like a test screening was done and someone complained at how there was no sex scenes(in comparison to the last film, which was like a softcore porn).

I didn’t mind the name that Rob Zombie gave Laurie when it is revealed what her real name was when she was a Myers, but what I dont understand was the “White Unicorn” I gave seen videos that try to examine it in a mentality sense, but if that was Zombie’s angle than his big mistake was assuming his audience was a psyche majoy. I did like the end with Laurie and hat happens with her, but like Halloween 5 went a whole new direction from what the last film did, I’m afraid a H3 may do the same.

I have yet to buy the Unrated Cut, but I will someday, just to complete my collection and hear Rob’s thoughts on where he was going with it.

–Eric Curto

I will start this post off by saying that I am one of the few horror fans out there that prefer Rob Zombie’s “Halloween” to John Carpenter’s “Halloween”. I know, it’s blasphemy and I will go down in horror hell for saying such a thing. But I personally love the back story that Zombie gave Michael and feel as though everything about the film (from the acting to the directing to use of music) was just about perfect. Everything about the film really worked for me and it was with appreciation that I approached the sequel. Going in, I had heard nothing but TERRIBLE things. I mean downright AWFUL comments. “One of the worst horror sequels ever made” and “Rob Zombie will burn in hell for what he has done to this series were some of the nicer comments. So is “Halloween II” really as awful as horror fans have made it out to be?

In a short flashback, Deborah Myers (Sheri Moon Zombie) visits her son, a young Michael Myers (Chase Wright Vanek), at Smith’s Grove Sanitarium. Deborah gives Michael a white horse statuette as a gift. Michael says that the horse reminds him of a dream he had of Deborah’s ghost, all dressed in white and leading a horse down the sanitarium halls toward Michael, telling him she was going to bring him home. Moving ahead fifteen years, after having shot an adult Michael (Tyler Mane), Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton) is found wandering around in a state of shock and covered in blood by Sheriff Brackett (Brad Dourif). Brackett takes Laurie to the emergency room. Meanwhile, the paramedics pick up the Sheriff’s daughter Annie (Danielle Harris) and Michael’s psychiatrist Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell), who are still alive after having been attacked by Michael, and take them to the hospital. Presumed dead, Michael’s lifeless body is loaded into a separate ambulance. When the driver has a traffic accident Michael awakens and escapes the ambulance, walking toward a vision of Deborah dressed in white and leading a white horse.

Michael appears at the hospital, and begins murdering everyone he comes across on his way to Laurie. Trapped in a security outpost at the gate, Laurie watches as Michael tears through the walls with an axe, but just as he tries to kill her, Laurie wakes up from the dream. It is actually one year later and Laurie is now living with the Bracketts. Michael’s body has been missing since last Halloween—still presumed dead—and Laurie has been having recurring nightmares about the event. While Laurie deals with her trauma through therapy, Loomis has chosen to turn the event into an opportunity to write another book. Meanwhile, Michael has been having visions of Deborah’s ghost and a younger version of himself, who instructs him that with Halloween approaching it is time to bring Laurie home; so he sets off for Haddonfield.

I know that most horror fans seem to despise this movie but I find it to be a beautiful shot, misunderstood gem of a horror film. I admire Zombie for not doing a straight up remake of the original sequel and I like how you actually are able to see the emotional grief that the first travesty has caused its characters. We are able to see Laurie and Annie as real, flesh and blood characters that are each trying to deal with this travesty the only way that they know how. It’s not a perfect film (the horse imagery is out of place to say the least) but it is an ambitious film and that’s more than you can say about most horror movies today.