Halloween 2 (2009), Beware of Rob Zombie's "vision"

Halloween 2 begins at the closing moments of the first Rob zombie Halloween film. Laurie is taken to the hospital after the melee that ensued when she "killed" Michael Myers, who attacked her in Haddonfield, Illinois. Never being one to remain dead, Michael returns to the hospital soon after he is taken away in a coroner's vehicle. He murders several people in the hospital as he searches for his sister, who escapes his wrath yet again. Michael disappears for a year but he is back on track with his goal to find Laurie and begins his journey, killing everyone in his path, to her new home with the sheriff and his daughter. Laurie learns the truth that she is really Michael Myers' sister, Angel Myers, and must come to grips with it if she is to survive Michael's onslaught!

I like to begin this review by saying that I really wish Rob Zombie was not involved with this sequel because he really messed it up. I had my doubts about the first Halloween remake that he made but it really was not that bad. He was not going to do part 2 until he learned that the studios wanted to make it and then he decided to sign on so that his "vision" would remain intact. With this sequel, Rob goes against his own principles and his original vision seems to have disappeared. This sequel seems nothing like part 1; with so many changes, it does not even seem like the same movie series.

What is the deal with the White horse? I understand that a white horse is supposed to be when a rage becomes so powerful that it becomes real. This has no place in the Halloween universe. It is obvious that Rob used this concept in his movie in order to give his wife, Sheri Moon Zombie, playing Deborah Myers, a role in the sequel since her character is dead. Basically, Michael is guided, by a white horse, his mother dressed in white and a younger version of himself, to kill and to go after his sister. I guess that it is all in his head but a few parts are ambiguous -- like at the end, where Laurie is being held down by the young Michael, who is with his mother and the White horse. This concept really did not belong in this movie at all because it distracted viewers from the main subject.

While I always wondered what Michael did when it was not Halloween, where he would be and how he would travel, I never considered that he would be like a wondering hobo/drifter, traveling from place to place as if he was hiking. It is very boring to watch him walk for half of the movie, killing anyone who gets in his way. Don't get me wrong, killing is what Michael does but he doesn't usually kill strangers that are not really in his way. In the original movies, Michael mostly kills people who were in his direct path to Laurie and only kill the occasional stranger not directly in his path. In this movie, more than half of the people he kills could have been avoided if he just went around them, like does in the original. Killing people in a farm field and stripper bar really seems unlike Michael.

This brings me to my next point that I also brought up in my review of the first Halloween remake. I think that Rob confused Michael Myers with Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th franchise. As with the first movie, Michael Myers is played by Tyler Mane, who is nearly 7 feet tall, which is the normal size of Jason. Michael is usually just under 6 foot tall, making him more realistic. Why did Rob choose such a giant man to play Michael? As I've pointed out before, Michael kills indiscriminately in this movie, which is more like what Jason would do. At the end of Halloween 2, Laurie wears Michael's mask, just like Tommy wore Jason's mask in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning. It is the exact same concept! Basically, I like to call Rob's version of Halloween: "What would Jason do?"

Dr. Samuel Loomis' character is totally changed in Halloween 2. Whereas in the original Halloween series, Loomis is an honorable man, full of integrity and courage, seeking justice and not prestige or wealth. Rob's version of the character, played by the great Malcolm McDowell, is a big crook, only out to make money out of the Michael Myers case with a book and several TV appearances. He has no honor or integrity, making him a very unlikable character, very much the opposite of the original Loomis character played by Donald Pleasence. Why did Rob do this? Why did he turn Loomis into a Morton Downey, Jr.-like character? I see no reason why Rob should have done this. So much more could have been done with the talent of Malcolm McDowell.

The story is your basic Halloween slasher story but, unlike Rob's first Halloween movie, where we learn some interesting background story to Michael's beginning, the sequel bears little resemblance to the "vision" of the first movie. Halloween 2 is pretty much a straight up slasher movie, not original or unique. It feels like Rob lost much of his positive creativity and grew lazy, so he just threw the script together in a few hours. Anyone can write a movie about a killer, who travels around killing anyone until he gets to his desired victim.

Halloween 2 bugs me more than the usual slashers because it feels so unrealistic. How can a 7 foot tall man in a cloak walk around killing people for days without anyone noticing him? It's as if he's a ghost that can take shape just to kill and then become invisible, which is not the case with this movie. I have never seen a slasher movie, especially Halloween, where the killer is in such plain sight without really being "seen." Another thing is Michael does not wear his mask all of the time during this movie, very unlike the original. I am sure that his gory face would be unforgettable to anyone he meets. Also, it seems that Michael does not kill all of his victims the first time that they see him; in one scene, Michael is approached by two rednecks on a farm and one of them tells Michael that he told him not to come back on his land, which means that he saw Michael before. I don't think that Michael is stupid enough to allow himself to be seen a few times before killing his victims. Michael also appears to be selective in his killing -- he kills the hospital staff without hesitation but he only kills the redneck farmers after they beat him down to the ground; when did Michael become Gandhi?

The story is not linear, which really irritates me. In Halloween 2, the scenes fluctuate between different time periods. We see Michael as a boy in a mental institution, last year when he attacked Laurie as an adult and the present time. It is very confusing to me how fast they switch between time periods. Is Rob trying to make his work appear to be more complicated than it really is? We also see several of Laurie's dreams about Michael, which even goes further to confuse viewers.

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this or if it's just me. I'm referring to the scene where the security guard, Buddy, at the hospital promises to protect Laurie, only to be killed by Michael at the door. Is Buddy real or just a figment of Laurie's dream? It made me curious because later on we see Laurie playing with a teddy bear and she calls it Buddy. If I heard right, then maybe Buddy is a pretend hero or protector of hers in her head. It's little things like this that confuse reality with dreams in Halloween 2.

A good thing about Rob's movies is that they usually retains most of the same original cast members. In Halloween 2, most of the original cast returns including Sheri Moon Zombie as Deborah Myers, Scout Taylor-Compton as Laurie Strode, Brad Dourif as Sheriff Lee Brackett, Malcolm McDowell as Dr. Samuel Loomis and Tyler Mane as Michael Myers. All of the cast does its roles well enough, considering Rob's direction and dialogue.

The best thing about Rob zombie movies is spotting all of the guest stars. In Halloween 2, we have Margot Kidder (Superman) as psychiatrist Barbara Collier, Howard Hesseman (Dr. Fever, WKRP in Cincinnati) as Uncle Meat, Daniel Roebuck (Matlock, Lost, Bubba Ho-tep) as Big Lou and 'Weird Al' Yankovic as himself. It's always a serious movie with 'Weird Al'! We also see 2 Sons of Anarchy stars: Mark Boone Junior (Bobby) as Floyd, a redneck farmer, and Dayton Callie (Chief Unser) as Coroner Hooks -- we just needed Ron Perlman and we could have had Michael versus Sons of Anarchy!

Going back to the dialogue, most of it seemed okay with a few parts that have really awful B-movie dialogue. One such scene is when the coroner's car carrying Michael's body crashes and one of the coroners is trapped and injured inside of the car. The coroner must have repeated the F-word about a dozen and a half times. This is really overkill even for Rob. The necrophilia joke is also very disturbing -- Rob seems to have a penchant for necrophilia. I think Rob really needs a professional writer to help him with the dialogue.

The music is okay but the original Halloween theme by John Carpenter is only used near the end of the movie. This is a disappointment for me but Rob said that the original song did not fit well with any other scene, which I find hard to believe. Some of the songs annoy me, like Nights in White Satin -- I thought I was in the 70s!

The special effects are very gory. There is a ton more blood and guts in this movie than any Halloween movie to date, including Rob zombie's first Halloween movie. Some might call it excessive but, it's a movie about an insane, evil killer or force, so gore comes with the territory. If you are squeamish, you better not watch this movie. However, gore fans will probably be more than pleased with the amount of gore in Halloween 2. Michael definitely puts the knives and other sharp instruments to good use in this movie.

I have one problem with the way the gore is caused. I don't mean by the actions of the weapons or the blood itself -- I mean the way Michael inflicts the stabs is a bit brutal. Almost with every stab, Michael grunts very loudly over and over, as if he is really emphasizing each stroke of the weapon. Fans of the original Halloween say that Michael also grunts but, even if he does, which I don't remember too well, I really doubt that he did it as much as Michael in Rob zombie's Halloween 2.

Overall, Halloween 2 was a big mess caused by Rob zombie. It was announced that he will not be doing part 3. I really hope he does not decide to return with more of his "vision" for the Halloween franchise because it's not really working for him. A friend of mine said that Halloween 2 is more like a music video and I think it is true; Rob zombie is a musician and he should stick to music videos, if he's not going to get someone professional to help him work on his films. 2.5/5

I will not tell horror fans not to watch Halloween 2 but they should go see the movie and decide for themselves.

Quotes

[from trailer]
Laurie Strode:

Deborah Myers: You know who I am, Angel. Now, repeat after me: I love you, Mommy.
[Laurie being held down by young Michael in her mind]
Deborah Myers: I LOVE you, Mommy.
Laurie Strode: [Laurie stops struggling and whispers... ] I love you, Mommy.