Halloween II Reviews

John Carpenter's 1978 'Halloween' is wholly deserving of its status as a horror classic. To this day it's still one of the freakiest films personally seen and introduced the world to one of horror's most iconic villainous characters Michael Myers.

Its numerous sequels were wildly variable, with 'Halloween H20' being the only above decent one for me (the fourth one was also watchable but not much more) and 'Halloween: Resurrection' being proof that the series shouldn't have been resurrected and that it should have ended at 'H20', a perfect place to stop. Something that was further felt in Rob Zombie's awful first 'Halloween' outing from 2007. His second 'Halloween' film, this one, is even worse and even more pointless than its predecessor.

The only real good thing here is the make-up which is pretty good. Brad Dourif comes off best in the acting department and does his best but he deserves better and has been better too.

Everything else fails...and not just by a little. Catastrophically. The rest of the acting is scarier than Michael Myers himself (at his least creepy here) in how bad it is. Scout Taylor-Compton, in an embarrassingly appalling career-killing performance, and Sheri Moon Zombie, who should be nowhere near in front of a film camera, are especially bad. The film also brings the worst out of Malcolm McDowell, actually a good actor wasted in a very poorly written and used role.

All the characters are bland, annoying or both, nobody is remotely likeable here or worth rooting for (even those intended to be) and the dialogue down there with the worst of SyFy and The Asylum, and worse. The production values are too gimmicky, Zombie continually seems to think taking a self-indulgent smug approach to his directing is being cool and the music is constantly at odds with the mood and the action, nothing atmospheric or appealing here and more outdated attempts at being cool.

Overused and a vast majority of the time gratuitous expletives, artificial gore and sickeningly brutal violence completely get in the way of a coherent or engaging story, that's instead paper-thin, unintentionally silly, nonsensical, dull and contrived. As well as tension, suspense, chills or terror (none in sight). The whole Deborah and white horse stuff was not needed, felt completely misplaced and just added absurdity to the story, while the ending is as slap in the face a joke as it comes.

In summary, awful and had no point to it whatsoever. 1/10 Bethany Cox

Dear Rob Zombie,
Not your best work. I loved the Halloween remake, but this one, not so much, I watched it 3 times so I could finally gather all the information to make up my mind about it, it was good, but it wasn't great, like I had expected.

Tyler Mane as Michael Myers
Scout Taylor Compton as Laurie Strode
Malcolm McDowell as DR. Samuel Loomis
Brad Dourif as Sherriff Lee Brackett
Danielle Harris as Annie Brackett
Chase Wright Vanek as Young Michael
Sherri Moon Zombie as Deborah Myers

Hey world, guess what? I'm Michael Myers' sister! I'm fucked!

After Laurie Strode is nearly killed by Michael Myers, her life is turned upside down, her parents are dead, her dreams are now being haunted, it can’t get any worse for Laurie can it? Wrong, it turns out Michael Myers is not actually dead and he returns to Haddonfield to cause havoc for Laurie who still is not aware of her true identity. Dr. Loomis is promoting his tell all novel about Michael Myers, and Laurie happens to pick it up, this is where she finds the truth about who she really is. She is angry at the world for keeping it a secret for so long, but they were only doing it for her own good. Everything comes to a climax when Michael Myers is holding his baby sister Angel Myers hostage in a barn, this is where Laurie/Angel fully understands who she is, and even comes to terms with it somewhat. The final scenes were really dramatic and well done, go and see it.

Horror films are difficult to review, because the thrills are usually cheap and the acting is usually terrible. That all went out of the window when Rob Zombie gave us his extreme look at Michael Myers, a man torn apart by a traumatic childhood. Zombies look at the life of a well known fictitious serial killer was brutal. He hired 6’9 Tyler Mane to portray the character, and Tyler doesn’t speak one word as Michael Myers, but his performance is still menacing to me atleast. However the Scout Taylor Compton delivered great performances in both the Halloween flicks that Rob Zombie made. Her character of Laurie Strode changed in this film, she was broken and didn’t know who she was anymore, only to find out that she in fact never was Laurie Strode, but all along she was Angel Myers. Good performances from Mane and Compton as well as McDowell as the arrogant, self righteous Dr. Loomis. It was great to see that Rob changed Loomis from the hero to the arrogant know it all doctor who nobody seemed to take seriously.

For me this film should stand as the conclusion to Rob Zombies homage to the great John Carpenter classic, because if they continue to make new Halloween flicks, they will ruin the brutal force that Michael Myers had and the authenticity of the new Myers character that was created. And to me after the thrilling final scene this film included it would be a disaster to go and ruin that with another film.

Spoilers from this point.
There were a few scenes that really stuck out.


4. Dr. Loomis Book Signing- To me when the father of a young girl brutally killed by Myers approached Loomis it was emotional. He felt like Loomis was the reason that Michael escaped from the institution in the first place and he baled Loomis for the reason that his daughter was killed.

3. Young Michaels Unemotional response to his Mother’s death- To me this scene really gave an insight to the insanity of Michael Myers. He didn’t even flinch or get emotional when Loomis told him that the only person who cared for him was dead. All he said was “She will be back” He couldn’t seem to grasp what Loomis was telling and he almost wouldn’t let it sink it that he was getting older and things were changing.

2. Annies death scene- This scene was brutal to be fair. Michael broke a helpless young girl, by savagely killing her. This was the breaking point so to speak for Laurie. Annie was the only one would could completely understand what had happened, because he had been torn apart but the insanity of Michael Myers. She and Laurie were the best of friends and understood each other’s pain and suffering.

1.The Final Scene- When Laurie/ Angel was being held in the barn and she could see the twisted vision that Michael saw of his younger self it was wrenching to see this family back together in such unusual circumstances. Then when Michael is raising his knife to kill Laurie but drops it and she says “I love you brother” and stabs him allowing him to go and be with their mother. Then Laurie walks out of the barn with the mask on her head, and she takes it off falling to her knees. To me this was Laurie finally coming to terms with who she is. As messed up as it was, she was the sister of Michael Myers and they were a family as weird as that sounds.


Rob Zombie crafted a solid film, a good horror flick. Let’s hope his thrilling conclusion is the last of a two part series that has shocked and amazed

Rob zombie returns to direct Halloween 2 , the inevitable sequel , to his powerhouse re-imagining of the original John Carpenter film. Halloween 2 starts right where the first film left off. Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton) now living under careful watch of sheriff Lee Brackett (Brad Dourif) and his Daughter Annie Brackett (Danielle Harris), who too survived the wrath of Michael Myers.
This film like the original is predicable as any horror film can be. Although interesting at times , director rob zombie manages to explain why Michael Myers wants to kill his sister and more so why he killed in the first place using his mother (Sheri Moon Zombie) as the source of his problems. Dr. Samuel Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) is not involved at all with the main story and is just simply just living off the success of his first novel, and doing promotional events for his second. Sadly enough Halloween 2 is simply bland and lacks the character detail of the first film . There is cameos from Mark Boone Junior and Dayton callie (sons of anarchy).

Rob Zombie's second go at an already spectacular franchise is iffy to say the very least.

While his first remake may not have been perfect, it was still pretty good, and had some originality. A very different perspective was put upon us viewers. A darker and much more gruesome one at that. Instead of being frightened by the very thought of Michael Myers, or his unpredictable whereabouts, Zombie brings him to life, maybe too much.

Looking back at the 1978 classic, you notice the director John Carpenter's take on horror is much more terrifying, and definitely got the audience spooked in the right kind of way. It's the fact that the Boogeyman is indeed keeping track of your every move, and has all his moves planned out far ahead of time. He kills person by person with no regrets, no emotion (Well he has a mask on, but you know what I mean), and he keeps it on the down-low. Not that he would even have to kill to be a scary icon. It's his appearance and movements that do the trick.

Unfortunately, That just happens to be the complete opposite of Rob Zombie's version. Which also happens to ruin the series!. Though I did rate his first remake fairly high. The current look of Michael Myers is brutal, and pretty shocking at that. His mask is banged up, dirty, and downright wrong. I did get used to it and started to enjoy it after a bit of time, but it didn't have to be changed so drastically. To put it into simpler wording, and to break it down, I am saying that Rob Zombie made his version Much more violent, and A lot more brutal. The only really bad thing about that is, is the fact that I am not as scared of Michael Myers anymore, nor do I look at him the same. Just having the classic, and sticking to that one, would have done wonders. Zombie did good for what he set out to do, and for that, the movie isn't bad. The Devil's Rejects, and House of 1000 Corpses is Rob Zombie territory however!

The plot is so-so, delivering nothing special, and nothing short of some creative kills and a mentally unstable Laurie Strode. She did well as one though. Dr. Loomis has a huge part, as he promotes his book through the duration. His book illustrates the life of Michael Myers, and why he became what he is. That book plays a key part in the film though, so don't underestimate it. I would be lying if I stated that I did not enjoy watching Myers kill his victims. Though predictable, and pretty same-old, they are still probably the main catalyst in Rob Zombie's remakes. I wish I could compliment him more, but he sure loves his violence. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just his style. Micheal Myers roams Haddonfield, still in search of his sister Laurie, and killing a few people along the way in order to complete his mission. There isn't really much special or unique about it. It just entertains. Not to mention most of the scenes you can see coming from miles away. Once in awhile a movie like that is good though. Personally, I have no idea where is movie was going. The story didn't develop a whole lot, other than a couple things that I won't spoil for you. I think Zombie either shouldn't have made this, or revised it so the whole Halloween story develops a lot more. Maybe more character connections would have helped, or a plot that told you more.

Overall, I still give Rob Zombie credit, because he took a huge risk, and didn't do half bad! Halloween II isn't necessarily a must watch, but definitely a vital addition if your a die hard fan like myself.

6.2/10

The return of Michael Myers as portrayed by director Rob Zombie and shot into over 100 minutes of canrnage as terror comes home to unite the Myers family. I went into this film not thinking of it as an installment of the infamous Halloween series, and for doing that i actually enjoyed it throughout; as a horror movie. The depth put into the character of Michael Myers was way too unnessacary, and could have been used for an original flick as shown in the skill put into the two films rob put out before the Halloween remakes. However, the film was made and the show must go on. The direction was good, though Myers himself must have walked miles to get back to Haddonfield, and damn that cow for getting in the way and starting the mess known as the second Halloween. Sherri Moon Zombie's character was also not needed, but after hearing her input on Howard Stern's interview while promoting The Devil's Rejects, I knew she had Rob where she wanted him and would assume the role of lead or secondary lead character in every one of his future projects. The death scenes were ok, not sure if sat too close to the screen but they seemed to zoomed in on to get the real damage that's being done to the victim. I hope as good as people thought the idea is of Rob Zombie being the one responsible for a Halloween remake, (don't get me wrong, I woulden't have wanted anyone else to remake it, or it to be remade at all for that matter) he is done with the series and starts writing some original scripts, getting back into his sadistic awesome film making, comon... Who doesn't wanna see the prequel to House of 1000 Corpses; Get the Firefly Family back together man!!!

Dr. Samuel Loomis: [in a press conference] Let me make this clear: Michael Myers is dead! D-E-A-D!