Halloween II

Rating

Director

Rob Zombie

Screenplay

Rob Zombie

Length

105 min.

Starring

Sheri Moon Zombie, Chase Vanek, Scout Taylor-Compton, Bard Dourif, Malcolm McDowell, Tyler Mane, Danielle Harris, Margot Kidder, Brea Grant

MPAA Rating

R for strong brutal bloody violence throughout, terror, disturbing graphic images, language, and some crude sexual content and nudity

Review

Pushing the Halloween series further from its roots, Rob Zombie’s first sequel to his remake of the popular John Carpenter slasher, is a muddied mix of symbolism and excessive violence.

As a fan of horror films, having little problem with violence and gore, I must say that I was more than a little repulsed at times while watching Halloween II. The film seems to take great pleasure in the vast amounts of carnage being displayed on the screen. There’s an intense malevolence that wasn’t present in the original remake that permeates this exercise in intestinal fortitude.

Presumed dead by everyone, Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton) can’t help but continue to dream about her horrific altercation with crazed serial killer Michael Myers. Still unaware of her blood ties to the psycho, Laurie relies on a support structure that includes her best friend Annie (Danielle Harris), her father and Haddonfield sheriff Lee Brackett (Brad Dourif), and her co-workers at a small dive of a bookshop. That doesn’t stop the nightmares, which have pushed her away from her good-girl image towards one with a punk rock edge.

This transition seems entirely unbelievable as the psychological ramifications are never fully manifested. What brought Laurie to this point? We assume it’s being haunted by mass murder and the death of her goody-two-shoes parents, but we have no supporting evidence to back this up. Instead, we’re treated to a lengthy hospital chase scene between a leg-brace-bound, dizzy Laurie and an intent Michael Myers wanting to kill what he could not before.

Taylor-Compton doesn’t improve, but she doesn’t regress either. Her performance is still stronger than I might have expected, but most of the usual slasher expressions, situations and screaming seem to have increased dramatically. Malcolm McDowell is more conceited than ever and acts more as a distraction with all the time devoted to his egomaniacal ways.

The most enigmatic aspect of the film is the consistent use of the white horse dream motif. Usually accompanied by his dead mother (probably just an excuse to get Zombie’s wife Sheri Moon Zombie in the film), Michael Myers is constantly plagued by visions of a white horse. This follows an opening quote that reads: “WHITE HORSE – linked to instinct, purity, and the drive of the physical body to release powerful and emotional forces, like rage with ensuing chaos and destruction” which is listed as an excerpt from The Subconscious Psychosis of Dreams. The book itself doesn’t exist. If it’s a reference to a book written by Dr. Loomis, that fact is not mentioned in the film. It’s as if Zombie simply made the quote up in order to explain his consistent use of the motif.

Distracting is probably the most generous word to describe the perpetual annoyance these scenes cause. We’re supposed to be led to believe that Michael’s mother is driving him to kill, yet as portrayed in the original film, his mother was a kind, considerate woman, thus her presence as a driving force is entirely forfeit.

The film lacks serious narrative direction. Whereas the first Zombie film had a great deal of exposition, this second film is so far removed from the first that it feels like an exercise in futility. What praise I could give to Zombie for his work in the first film is trampled on by his feeble showmanship and lack of distinctive voice in the second.

Contrary to the producers’ hopes, Halloween II comes off as a boorish production that sounds as if Zombie is calling out to his own mother: “Look, ma, no hands!” And just like every kid screaming it in a crowded room, most everyone becomes quickly annoyed and hopes the kid will go home soon.

Review Written

September 18, 2009