Halloween II (2009)

A Brilliant Conflict

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Killing the dog so brutally was terrible. Doing that and snapping frame into the vegetarian pizza discussion was ridiculous. Was that supposed to suggest meat is meat, whether Michael is eating a dog he murdered or a cop is eating a pepperoni pizza? Seriously? Between the cow getting smashed all over the road, the pot belly pig getting cuddled, and the numerous comments by the annoying girls about adopting a meat-free diet, this movie quickly becomes socially pathetic. But that's all on top of the core of why this is so bad. The very opening scene between the mom and the boy is painful to watch because the acting is so bad. Throughout the movie there are single scenes involving well-recognized actors playing characters you don't get to know or like. The casting was focused on face-dropping, and not on good acting. Classic all-time lovable characters Dr Loomis and Lori Strode are both written to be so annoying that you aren't rooting for them to make it. The one girl curses out and humiliates the poor cop sent to protect her, so the feeling when she's being slaughtered is not one of pity. Why would the filmmaker do that? Why make us not care who lives or dies? So with no one to root for, and so much overdone blood and gore that the movie loses its horror value, it is hard to stay interested at all. Also, just like the over-done blood, the dialogue is so laden with the curses especially the f word, that it alienates you from the writing. I'm not a prude, I curse, but not in every sentence I speak to every person every day. It's used here to cover-up the extremely poor dialogue writing, and because the writer has no idea how normal people converse. Not only was the writer unable to compose dialogue, he was unable to compose a coherent story, which is why we have so many irritating dream sequences to fill in all the huge gaps where there isn't a plot. If you want to make 2 really terrible movies, just go out and make 2 really terrible movies. Why soil the iconic film history legends Halloween and Michael Myers? I never would have taken the time to write a detailed review like this of a random bad movie. I did this in defense of the original Halloween and all its glory.

I think I prefer Rob Zombie's Halloween II more than his first attempt poking at Michael Myers's story. There's definitely a more artsy approach to the way Zombie presents the story which I somewhat appreciated. The most compelling and thought-provoking theme presented in the film that carried it graciously was the trauma in which the main characters were situated in due to the events of the previous film. This is something that hasn't been deeply explored and certainly not as tramautically exposed as other Halloween entries have tackled. What really set me off from really liking the film however, was the pacing and the carnage. This film feels way too long, and injects so many unnecessary portions, my intrigue was slowly declining as the film went along. Also, the "gore-porn" aspect of the movie was so over-reliant, that it took away from the more serious aspects the film was trying to flourish. I'm glad that Zombie's interpretation of Laurie Strode has increasingly improved in terms of the actress's portrayal and the character's "storyline purpose," despite us having to be constantly bugged by her abnoxious whining which is shown about 90% of the time she's on screen. Even though the movie's attempts to be deep feel a little too pushy and far-fetched, I much rather prefered the craziness of this wacko entry than a typical remake/replication that many of the Halloween sequels tend to eradicate. (Verdict: C+)

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

In era of countless horror movie remakes, Rob Zombie's 2007 version of 'Halloween' was a breath of fresh air; if not as spooky as its predecessor, it added a ton of background and character development that made its antagonist all the more intriguing to follow around. This sequel to the 2007 version on the other hand does little to up the ante and ultimately feels redundant - if effective every now and again. Indeed, the film is not a total waste with a gripping first 25 minutes of struggles and chases, plus there are some intriguing decisions, like having Michael drop the mask with his face gradually revealed in bits and pieces before full-on towards the end. The majority of changes are not for the better though. Malcolm McDowell's Dr. Loomis is suddenly an arrogant jerk more interested in publicity than helping Michael out, Laurie Strode is so whiny and emotionally unstable that she drains the energy of every scene that she is in, and many of Michael's attacks happen so quickly that it is hard to tell what is going on. Narrative-wise, the film is a logical progression of sorts; whereas the first film was more about Michael, this entry is more about Laurie, however, as she is nowhere near as fascinating a character, the movie is ultimately only ever as interesting as it sounds without anywhere near as many fun references to the 1978 original as in the 2007 version.