I’ve got family visiting at the moment so i’ll have to be brief.
Myers was a f**king beast. So feral and brutal, (the head stomp - OMFG!) the kills were nothing but pure rage coming through, Tyler did a fantastic job. The hospital scene was amazing, gave me goosebumps, seeing Michael purposefully striding through the rain looking for Laurie was fantastic. Brackett was great, really felt for the guy, played the family man well. Loomis…well, sadly under used, took far too long to redeem himself, which was a shame. Laurie - what a nut job. Very nicely done, the nightmares/visions were disturbing! The profanity? Meh, didn’t even notice it, didn’t affect me one shred, even the joke about jam and jelly, pffft. Water off a ducks back. Nothing shocking there. Myers grunting? I thought it was great. The man is pure aggression, he’s venting out.
The one thing that was shocking though, was Zombie’s wife. Please. Remove her from this film! Totally ridiculous. No need for it what so ever. But, that said, that was my only gripe with this movie, well, maybe that and bobble head Strode at the end, heh.
As expected this is actually getting positive reviews from the UK/IRELAND audience. Maybe we’re just more open to change… who knows but I went with a friend last night who has seen all the Halloween movies once but has no special attachment to them so was approaching it from a general audience point of view. As the credits rolled the word he used was “Brilliant”. His only gripe was he felt the opening with Sheri Moon and Young Michael was unnecessary and a bad choice, as an opening scene should grab You and pull You in and he felt that scene was pretty badly acted.
He wasn’t bothered by the Hospital Nightmare as he felt it was a nice way to homage the original “Halloween II” and he said the final moments that Laurie and Annie share are very well done. Don’t know if I have posted this on here already but as I had seen it a month ago at a preview this is my review of it after I have had time to shake it up in my head…
SPOILERS…
In “Halloween 2” Rob Zombie returns to Haddonfield, Illinois the fictitious small town Americana whose residents are slowly recovering from the legacy of serial killer Michael Myers who’s trail of bloodshed one year earlier on Halloween night hangs over the town like a monument to death. The story picks up moments after Zombie’s original “Halloween”. Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor Compton) has survived her initial violent encounter with Michael Myers and is being rushed to the Haddonfield clinic along with her seriously wounded best friend Annie Brackett (Danielle Harris) and Myers Psychiatrist Dr Sam Loomis (Malcolm McDowell). We quickly discover that (Surprise of all surprises) Myers isn’t really dead and the first 25 minutes of the movie becomes an exercise in relentless terror and suspense as Myers slaughters his way through the clinic to find Laurie and finish off what he started. We then flash forward one year later. Michael Myers is now missing, presumed dead. Haddonfield and its populace are preparing for the Halloween celebrations and among these small town folk we find Laurie, Annie and her father Sheriff Brackett (Brad Dourif) cooped up together in the same remote farmhouse outside town. Dr Loomis is also in the area promoting his new book “The Devil walks among us” based on the previous years murders. Each character is dealing with the aftermath of last years massacre in varying self-destructive ways. Physically and emotionally scarred Annie has become a recluse and won’t leave the farmhouse. Sheriff Brackett has become a neurotic, thinly masking his anxiety for his daughter by playing happy families. Dr Loomis is wallowing in the escapism of fame from his best selling book and Laurie has become a functioning bi-polar individual who from frequent visits to her counselor (Played by the excellent Margot Kidder) we learn her troubled and disturbing nightmares are challenging her sanity. Michael Myers has now become a sort of homeless figure, shacked up in a remote dilapidated farmhouse and is having visions of his dead mother who is really just an extension of his deeply disturbed psyche. She prompts him to return to Haddonfield to find Laurie and promises him that by killing her it will bring them together again as a family. What Zombie has created here is a clever character study. He reveals to us a universe where nothing and no one is pretty. His characters muddling through disaster and loss are portrayed with such ultra realism and powerful emotion we care about them deeply so that by the time Myers returns to Haddonfield to kill again the tension is incredibly high while rooting for them to survive. Zombie could easily have taken the formulaic root, phoned this one in and dealt us a sequel that mirrors the original series. Instead he takes us into his world. This is His Haddonfield and His Halloween. A movie seeped in dreaded atmosphere and menace where the charming, wood framed shops and houses, the cutesy but creepy decorations of Halloween old sparsely hide the grim reality of what could actually happen when a violent killer targets an unprepared town. This movie is a work of art, especially compared to most of the “Halloween” sequels and most other horror movies of late. It’s intelligent, it challenges you to ask questions, doesn’t spoon-feed the viewer and has four main characters (Laurie, Annie, Brackett, Loomis) that are so realistically developed and driven by such diverse psychological responses to the same problem it almost feels like you’re watching a documentary on their lives. The spectre of Myers mother could very well be the spectre of death. We are dealing with folklore here also. Halloween is a time when it’s traditionally believed that the veil between this world and the so called supernatural world is meant to be so thin beings can pass from one to the other. It’s true she is meant to be one of Myers multiple personalities, his justification or rationalization for slaughtering those around him. This is what Zombie intended. Or is it? What if she is “pure evil” taking on the guise of someone Myers trusted the most. A demon manipulating him into believing that “Only a river of blood can bring us together”… This opens the movie up into a whole other world. After all, the character Laurie as she slips further and further into insanity starts to see her as well. Could Zombie be saying that the insane are closer to evil than we could have believed. This is a movie that leaves you unsettled long after the credits have rolled and is certainly not for the easily offended.
I for one, most definitely welcomed the change. Granted, there were flaws in this movie, but i thought it was very gritty and intense. Loved the stand off between Michael and the guy behind the Rabbit in Red lounge, the leaves blowing across the floor as Myers stared him down gave a great fall feel.
Agreed!! I noticed the leaves too and was thinking… I wonder is there someone turning on and off a fan to blow those leaves. Also the short Halloween night segment featuring the trick or treaters and the little boy was just nice enough to give off a great Halloween vibe. Glad You liked it Daveberg. I was hoping You would because I remember when it was released in the states and the mixed reviews flooded in, You were a bit skeptical but always optimistic. I also was glad the Halloween themes weren’t used. Didn’t need them in my opinion as the movie was well able to carry itself with the dark themes thay Tyler Bates composed.
Yeah, i must admit, the negative reviews did take their toll, but deep down i expected it from certain people here. Important thing is, i kept an open mind and waited to make my own decision, and i was totally immersed from beginning to end. Tyler Bates score was well suited to this film, very dark and chaotic. Although i loved the end scene where finally one of the Halloween themes kicked in, played out well.
i seen it 5 times and i am going to see it on halloween night again
and im a bit asamed to admit i have been searching for a torrent which im normally against
but i can not get enough of zombies versions of halloween i must have seen RZH 07 no lie 30 times and plan to do the same with the second
I refuse to watch downloaded films, the quality is poor, but i hear what you’re saying. I cannot wait to go and get a second helping of this film. Zombie, i’m not a big fan of yours, but thanks for Bringing Michael back to the big screen again, brother!
I would say that RZ’s H2 is in the top 3 of the franchise for me. Tyler Mane REALLY oozed psychopath in his performance! That one scene where he first goes into a barn and sees his mother first and then we see he’s hallucinating it. Mane looks around and theres a great shot of his eyes scanning the room. Brilliant!
The kills were brutal and psychotic…great stuff. Not to mention the beautiful colours and textures shooting in super 16mm attained.
Well done. Glad to see the fiends across the pond enjoying the film!
I went to see it yesterday evening and overall I thought it was an ok movie. There was a few things that I really didn’t like at all but there was also alot things that I did enjoy.
The opening in the hospital was brilliant I thought. I really did enjoy that aswell as the use of Nights in white satin. I will give credit where credit is due and that is there were some of the best autumn scenes in the series. One scene that comes to mind was when Michael is walking through the field in the early morning and it had a great overshot of the field. A really great scene.
Also i thought Brad Dourif did an OUTSTANDING job. One of my favourite characters in the movie.
Overall, the movie was ok. I think I might enjoy it more if I watch it a few times. But I’ll just have to wait and see when its released on DVD.
It’s an acquired taste, but it’s a movie that fulfilled my needs as a fan of Halloween for 20 plus years. I held out hope it would be far superior to previous movies in the franchise, and wasn’t disappointed. Carpenters vision it may not be, but enjoyable none the less.
glad to hear you finally got to see it man. i only seen it twice but its in my top 4 no doubt. like you said ther are a few things i didnt like about it but overall i thought it was a damn good Halloween film. very different, but good.
Thanks Embodied. I have to admit by the time it got to the night before general release, i was pretty excited about seeing it, and it didn’t disappoint!
I just got back from watching this for the first time. I managed to avoid all the spoilers so I had no idea what was coming…
I did indeed find it very different, but I think that is a good thing. I wasn’t a huge fan of the ‘ghost mum and kid myers’ showing up, but it helped to give the movie a unique feel.
I really liked the opening scenes in the hospital, and Myers’ escape from the van. It was certainly better than I had expected it to be. Very brutal and brilliant spfx. I loved that scene with Myers walking across the car park in the rain.
This had the most ‘jumps’ and ‘scares’ out of all the movies by far in my opinion. It was abit confusing in parts, but I really enjoyed it overall.
thanks for sharing your review bud and glad you enjoyed it. it is indeed the most different Halloween of the franchise but far from the worse. it has elements that no other Halloween has and by far is the most brutal in the series. i liked it quite abit actually. its for sure my 4th favorite in the series.
I really enjoyed it! I loved the change in direction. And Michael…BRUTAL!!
The only thing was, right at the end after we see Sheri and the White Horse again, my housemate (who came with me) turned around and said all he could think about was this:
