Halloween 2, Written/Directed By Rob Zombie

Worst driver’s license
photo EVER.

Michael’s “body” disappears for one year (no one in town that was involved in the original bloodbath seems to be intelligent enough to leave town) and killings begin one year later. . . on Halloween.

Whereas Rob Zombie gave his audience much needed Michael Myers history in the first film and a wonderful use of soundtrack (Halloween opened with a shot of Michael’s house as Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear The Reaper” blasted), Halloween 2 is gore for gore’s sake.

The character development is fine. Malcolm McDowell returns as Dr. Loomis, Michael’s psychiatrist, only this time the good doctor is a narcissistic, egomaniac, best-selling author who fuels his celebrity with the souls of Michael’s victims.

Scout Taylor-Compton is once again good as Michael’s sister, but this time she is a damaged insomniac that wears Black Sabbath T-shirts and blasts The Misfits’ “Am I Evil?” from her white car (symbolizing the repetitive white horse references throughout the film, perhaps?).

The casting in the two films is B-character actor gold: Margot Kidder as Laurie’s therapist, Brad Dourif as the sheriff/Laurie’s “dad” (topnotch), Howard Hessman as Laurie’s burnt out hippie boss. The list goes on and on. This film is good as a game of “Did You See The Guy From. . . ” trivia for all the movie buffs out there.

I am not opposed to bloodbaths for the sake of a bloodbath. I have sat through all the installments of The Faces of Death series and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre sequel with Matthew McConaughey (now THAT was a real horror) and didn’t flinch. Halloween 2 is a different story, however.

Attention all units: I’m putting out an APB
on Rob Zombie’s directorial skills.

There was more then one instance when I had to look away as Michael stomped, stabbed, and ripped his way through the good townsfolk of Haddonfield, Illinois. It was pointless violence but then again, maybe that IS the point.

This film has everything a young, male teenaged horror fan would want in it: violence, hot girls hooking up with geeks (then dying), naked strippers, titties, killer music.

And yet, I felt empty. Maybe it was because I knew that Zombie had improved oh-so-slightly on the first film in my treasured series. Maybe it was because this movie has all the clichés of horror films (sex = death by psycho) but doesn’t bring anything new to the game. Maybe it was that, without realizing it, I had become a grownup and grown out of these movies. Or maybe it is because the next logical step is to “re-imagine” Halloween 3: Season of The Witch, the worst and least cohesive film in the original series.

Rob Zombie has said that this movie is his last Halloween in the director’s chair and asserts he feels fine stopping there because its closing ties up nicely. But he’s wrong; it leaves more doors open than closed. Things are implied which lead the audience to believe that the mask will be donned again. But I think this is a good place for Mr. Zombie to stop. He needs to leave the series while it’s better (and only slightly worse).

I’m not saying the movie is bad, it’s not. It’s actually quite good. It just could’ve been a lot better. If you like naked chicks, rock music, blood, violence, screaming, and a tense sequence in a hospital that could quite possibly give senior citizens heart attacks in the aisles, then this movie is for you.

But be prepared for clichés and corny dialogue. Halloween 2 has everything that made those 1980s slasher movies great.

Sadly, it has little else.

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