I think I know now how those ambulance drivers felt..
Halloween 2 (2009)
Directed By: Rob Zombie (Halloween, The Devil’s Rejects)
The Prologue
Rob Zombie never wanted to make Halloween 2. That’s not a rumor, he really didn’t want to do it, he even refused until he saw that they were going to go forward with it anyway and he just didn’t want anyone else messing with his “vision” of the film. Now I could understand that, I also could understand it more had Halloween 2 didn’t completely shatter the vision of the first film even with Zombie behind the camera.
See when Halloween 2 came out it kinda bombed at the box office, people were going on and on about how much the movie sucked. I didn’t think much about that considering that people said the first one sucked and I just so happened to have liked it. So I wait for the DVD, and the so called superior cut (The Director’s Cut) of Halloween 2 and I have finally given the film a watch.
I kinda wish now that I hadn’t.
The Movie
If you recall the plot from the first we are picking up right after that (and as a result I’m watching this after re-watching the first). I’ll happily admit during the first like, 20 minutes of this film I was amazed!..No, really I was. There is some very gruesome things going on early that I loved seeing because it was just so cool looking and gory. Michael is in pure pissed off mode and the rage is showing through by his violent actions. Laurie is in bad shape but trying to survive, the tension is building, then BOOM!….The movie falls off, WAY off the grand path it was on.
You know folks, I had issues with Laurie from the first film, I was a little mixed on her but I’ll admit to you in this film I HATED Laurie and it’s not a good sign to hate your final girl, much less when that girl is supposed to be THE Laurie Strode. I can understand why Laurie may be a little messed up in the head, that’s normal. I however can not see any reason what so ever why Laurie all the sudden is a bitch..and a dumb one at that.
Now sure this is 100% Zombie here but why on earth would someone who went through what Laurie did in the first film have a Charlie Manson poster hanging above her head over her bed now? Call me crazy, I mean I’ve never had anyone try to gut me like a fish but had it happened I don’t think I’d all the sudden get some sorta fascination with serial killers..or cult leaders..or whatever the hell you want to call the man.
Also, Jesus H. Christ! Rob Zombie what you have done to Dr.Loomis in Halloween 2 is horrible. Not only is a 180 from the Loomis we seen in the original series it’s a 180 from the Loomis we saw in the last film! Dr.Loomis is obsessed and should be obsessed with stopping Michael Myers, not just assuming he’s dead and being obsessed with cashing in on the whole thing. I think out of everything that’s what I hated the most about this film, you don’t screw with the character of Loomis like that. It’s just something that not some five minute redemption at the end could fix. It’s almost like Rob is just pissed he’s making this movie and as a result pissing on every loved character in the film…Which brings us to Michael…
EMO Michael Myers folks! He walks around without a mask for a good hunk of the film, he talks to the ghost of his dead mommy who has a white horse through the ghost of his 10 year old self (which the recast of that is just weird looking when watched back to back of the first) he even speaks once! But the worst thing of all about Michael in this film is the son bitch acts like he’s having a orgasm every time he kills someone..Very bad..very distracting.
You know the only characters done right this time is The Bracketts. Danielle Harris at least gets to turn Annie into the most likable girl in the film this time around and her Daddy Lee Brackett is the most likable person in this whole film over all, you really do feel bad they are caught up in what is going on inside the film.
So what can one say to sum it all up? If the rest of the film had been like the first 20 minutes this could have been a 8, 9, or better. It was heading in that path before Zombie made everything take a sharp turn for the worse. I’m happy it’s gory, I’m happy the dumb dialogue isn’t as bad here, but Laurie and Loomis need to be the most likable people here not the The Bracketts. Why Rob felt the need to do what he does here I have no clue. That handling of those guys bothers me, the weird stuff with the horses and all that is minor to that.
The Conclusion
I can’t fault Rob for trying something different and I think that really could have worked had the white horse stuff been toned down a bit. Now I didn’t see the theater cut but I don’t think it would be different enough to change my opinions on this one.
The more I think about it the lower I want to give this movie for a few different reasons, but I think the first 20 minutes and the gore is enough to make it slightly recommendable..But if there is going to be a part 3 then the poor bastard doing that film has a LOT of stuff to clean up from this.
The Rating (6/10)
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