Movie Info:
Writer: Rob Zombie
Director: Rob Zombie
Cast: Sheri Moon Zombie, Chase Wright Vanek, Scout Taylor-Compton, Brad Dourif, Caroline Williams, Malcolm McDowell, Tyler Mane, Dayton Callie, Richard Brake, Octavia Spencer, Danielle Harris, Richard Riehle, Margot Kidder
Rating: Unrated
Studio: Sony
Release Info:
Original Theatrical Release Date: August 28, 2009
DVD Release Date: January 12, 2010
Online Availability: Amazon for $24.99
Donald Pleasence is rolling over in his grave. Dr. Loomis has become a substandard, loser and Malcolm McDowell ruins the vision Pleasence created for the character. Loomis is an important part of the original Halloween franchise. This new Loomis is a big joke. I wasn’t fond of McDowell’s portrayal of Loomis in the Halloween remake, though I will admit I respect the differences in Rob Zombie’s overall vision and new take on his remake of the original. However, McDowell becomes even more intolerable in Halloween II as the sellout, writing books about his experience with Michael and only caring enough to profit off of it, which already adds to a train wreck of a movie that derails any potential Zombie’s vision had.
Pleasence’s Loomis was the audience’s true connection to Michael. He studied this child for so many years and knew what he was capable of. His only goal was to keep the world safe from Michael, whom he knew was filled with pure evil. Nothing could have kept Loomis from doing what he believed was the right thing and that would not involve selling out. The new Loomis is so pathetic nobody in the film even likes him. Zombie said he wanted Loomis to change, but the changes he made ruined the character.
The one thing that makes sense concerning Halloween II is the role reversal between Annie and Laurie. In Zombie’s part one, Laurie is very much like Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie (though no one can top Curtis in the role). This Laurie is a bit prudish, a bookworm, and perhaps even a bit shy. Annie, on the other hand, is a party girl who is somewhat of a slut. In part two, after dealing with their own perspective ordeals (Laurie escapes and believes she murdered Michael Myers and Annie survives the mutilation and attempted murder by Michael Myers), Annie has become the homebody. She is responsible for Laurie and her father, the Sheriff, and she also dresses much more conservatively. Laurie lashes out, has constant nightmares, pushes Annie away, and has become a party animal with her new slutty friends. This makes sense based on what the girls have gone through.
The rest of the story makes no sense. Zombie, apparently, wanted a way to include his wife, Sheri Moon Zombie, in this second installment, so he provides the audience with an outlandish story that has nothing to do with the original films and is filled with ghostly encounters and white horses. Young Michael becomes a parody of the egocentric, unfeeling shell of pure evil incarnate Daeg Faerch created in Zombie’s new vision. Replacing Faerch with the whiny, unconvincing Chase Wright Vanek just added to my displeasure with this film. While Faerch captured the creepiness needed to make Michael a believable psycho-serial killer, Vanek acts the part of the dependent, mama’s boy who is only killing to bring his family back together.
Speaking of killing, despite the mama’s boy attitude of the young Michael, Tyler Mane’s Michael is a ruthless, brutal murderer. Part of what made the original Michael Myers so scary and successful as a horror villain was his matter of fact attitude when killing. Mane’s Michael is brutal and he puts his entire body into it. He is a frenzied killer who will stab someone 137 times in a flurry. The original Michael is methodical and demented, but there is no overkill. His deaths are gross, but he is not frenzied in the process. He knows he’s going to kill you so he just does it. He also uses a knife, while Mane’s Michael will use an axe, a gun, or he’ll choke his victims just for the fun of it. Isn’t Michael more fun when he’s knifing a victim to a door? I think so.
The change in Michael’s M.O. is a minor thing, but all of these bad changes add up to provide for a terrible story. I just want to add that Dominick, the king of all pottymouth’s, was not very happy with all the swearing. In some cases, it made sense, but his argument is that Zombie put in so many swear words it distracts from the story. The swearing is done to the point of overkill and some of the dialogue doesn’t need it. If Dom thinks there is too much swearing, there probably is Speaking of the dialogue, that was our biggest issue with Zombie’s Halloween. I can’t say much has changed. A lot of it sounds incredibly awkward, unrealistic and corny. Maybe teenagers talk like Laurie and Annie do, but it makes them sound stupid.
Overall, as you can tell, I wasn’t fond of what Zombie did with his second go-around in the Halloween franchise. While Zombie mainly wrote and directed Halloween II since the studio had decided to make the film and he didn’t want his new vision messed with, the way he sought to expand the franchise makes me wish they’d stopped with the original remake. I’m already dreading Halloween III.
The Halloween II Plot
The movie begins of a flashback in the Sanitarium where Michael Myers (Chase Wright Vanek) is being visited by his mother, Deborah Myers (Sheri Moon Zombie). Michael is given a white horse statue by her. Michael is reminded of a dream he had, a dream of his mother’s spirit walking a white horse and in it she tells Michael she’ll be bringing him home.
Fifteen years later, Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton) has just killed Michael Myers (Tyler Mane). Covered in blood, shocked and disoriented, she’s found by Sheriff Lee Brackett (Brad Dourif) and is taken to the hospital. Both Annie Brackett (Danielle Harris) and Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) have survived the attacks by Michael and they are also taken by the paramedics to the hospital.
The coroner believes Michael is dead. His crew loads Michael up into an ambulance to take him to the morgue, but when the ambulance hits a cow, Michael, who is not dead, escapes and kills the surviving paramedic who is trapped in the ambulance. Michael then sees his mother’s spirit with the white horse again. Walking in that direction, he heads down the street to the hospital where he begins a new killing rampage. Laurie has hurt her foot and has to escape with an injured leg. Just as Michael is about to find her, Laurie wakes up and realizes it was all a nightmare. Michael is dead, so they all believe.
It is two years proceeding the events of Halloween. Laurie lives with Sheriff Brackett and Annie, who has recovered physically, but still has scars from her attack with Michael. She has calmed considerably and is a bit of a homebody who takes care of Laurie and her father. Laurie is out of control, mean and unpredictable. She is going to therapy with Barbara (Margot Kidder), but she doesn’t want to be there, has become addicted to the meds proscribed to her and she isn’t getting the obvious help she needs.
Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) has decided to reflect on the tragedy in another way. He’s making a profit on his relationship with Michael and the book he’s written about it. A book tour that includes television appearances and seminars show the media isn’t exactly friendly to Loomis, who they believe is a sellout. Loomis insists Michael is dead, but the media speculates that he is alive, further harming his cause.
The media, of course, is right. Michael is alive and he’s living in the past. Urged on by visions of his mama, Michael heads back to Haddonfield, to claim the sister he never got the chance to take. Of course, Laurie is too busy partying with her new, wild friends and getting drunk to realize her life is still in danger and Loomis is too pompous to consider he is wrong.
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Audio/Visual:
When assessing how good or bad a films visual qualities are, one of the things you need to ask yourself is if the filmmakers image is how they wanted it to be. Halloween II is a prime example of what I am talking about. You see, the film image here is not always pretty. At times, the 1080p, 1.85:1 transfer is muddy, gritty, and altogether darker than it needs to be. It is a movie that shies away from the clear picture you expect from Blu-ray and instead offers something disturbingly grungy. The dark scenes are incredibly dark, leaving something to be desired at times. However, Zombie has a way of making grunge look good. This type of grainy, washed out cinematography works for a horror movie like this one. It wouldn’t suit all films and it’s not going to offer the clarity you expect in a Blu-ray, but it’s not worth complaining about because it does work on many important levels.
While some people might think that the video for Halloween II fails as much as the plot, they will not be able to say the same thing about the audio. This DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack offers the best that Blu-Ray offers without a doubt. Everything from the soft subtle background noises to the forceful stabbings and the powerful supporting music is delivered with relative ease. Sounds come through as real as possible. The thunder and rain sound as if they are coming from outside your window. Try as I might I cannot think of any complaints where this audio is concerned. The surround sound was robust, the music sounds excellent, and the dialogue remains clear throughout. Subtitles are available in English and Spanish.
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Bonus Features:
There are a few special features that accompany Halloween II, though much like the movie there isn’t a whole lot here to be interested in. Things get rolling with a commentary track courtesy of Rob Zombie. This is one of the best offerings in the special features. Zombie is well spoken and entertaining throughout. He occasionally has some dead air, but he is passionate about his movie and it’s obvious that he is a talented, dedicated filmmaker. He is candid about things like the white horse, problems that occurred on the set, and the connection between the films.
After the commentary, fans of Halloween II can enjoy 23 deleted and alternative scenes. I personally didn’t care much for the movie, so it’s hard to find the value in some of these. Some are better than others, but you would need to really care for the movie to find excitement in this area. A smaller blooper reel is also available that lasts for around five minutes.
Ten minutes of audition footage is available for many of the actors including Jeffrey Daniel Phillips, Mary Birdsong, Octavia Spencer, Richard Brake, Chase Wright Vanek, Chris Hardwick, and Angela Trimbur. There is also a few minutes worth of make-up test footage that is available. A collection of routines entitled Uncle Seymour Coffin’s is also included. Six music videos wraps things up. The videos include Honky Tonk Halloween, Macon County Morgue, Dr. Demon & the Robot Girl, Zombie A Go Go, and Redneck Vixen from Outer Space.
Trailers for a variety of movies are also included in the previews section. The previews all appear to be in high definition. They include District 9, Zombieland, Black Dynamite, Universal Soldier, Blood: The Last Vampire, Moon, The Boondock Saints II, Michael Jackson’s This is It, 2012, and The Stepfather.
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Bottom Line:
Halloween II is a terrible film. While the action looks good because this is Blu-Ray, I still wouldn’t recommend this film, in any form, to any one. If you like the direction the first Halloween remake went in, there is no guarantee you will like this film. It strays from that vision and becomes more absurd than a horror movie should become. If you hated the first remake, you will hate this remake even more. I wouldn’t recommend you even bother renting Halloween II. This is just one of those releases you need to ignore and move on without checking it out.
Overall Rating:
Technorati Tags: Halloween II, Rob Zombie, remake, horror, Blu-Ray, Review, Michael Myers, Sheri Moon Zombie, Scout Taylor-Compton
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Written by Ashtyn - Visit Website
Ashtyn Evans is a writer, advocate, free thinker, and all around cynical person. Always quick to find the negative in anything pop culture, she loves being a part of that which she despises. Ashtyn and Dominick own numerous blogs together, as well as a full-time writing business. In her spare time she is a full-time college student studying History and Psychology. She plans to one day give up her freelance career and be a full-time blogger, novelist, and domestic goddess. She can be contacted for writing projects, fan mail, or just to say hi. She really is friendlier than we make her look.
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