Rob Zombie's Halloween II Movie Review
Rob Zombie Returns to the Halloween Franchise With a Strange Sequel
Sep 4, 2009
When Rob Zombie 're-imagined' John Carpenter's film "Halloween", many people were taken by surprise. The theatrical cut of that film was fascinating, well made, loaded with amazing imagery, and, at times, flat out baffling. One thing was clear: Zombie had a knack for making a film all his own, despite the affiliation with the Carpenter film and the obvious character takes.
The first film was brutal, intriguing, and at times even moving. The character of young Michael Myers was ably played by Daeg Faerch, bringing an empathy to the character that never really existed before. And as such, viewers were torn even as they watched the film. It was a confusing position to be in, relating to a character who is essentially evil, yet having been through Michael's childhood with him and seen through his eyes, the eyes of someone clearly misunderstood and under the thumb of an abusive authority figure.
In the first half of that film, Zombie painstakingly created a dark, stunning portrait of a young psychopath. Young Michael wore the mask of sanity before he grew into the mask of a psychotic stalker. Care was taken to develop the relationship between Myers and his mother (Sheri Moon Zombie), and even Myers and his intense doctor, the iconic Loomis, portrayed with convincing verve by Malcolm McDowell.
The adoptive family of Myers' baby sister Laurie Strode was explored just enough to also make the viewer empathize with the likable young Laurie, so much so that when the two met near the climax of the film, the emotional stake in each character was plausible enough to create a strange juxtaposition in the viewers' minds. Yes, we want Laurie to escape and be safe...but is there anything left of the young Michael inside of that monster with the mask, the pre-teen boy who looked out for little 'Boo' Laurie when she was only months old?
The film didn't connect with the entire horror community, but there was enough there to suggest to many that Zombie's next film could be a revelation.
Halloween II: A Sequel Unhinged
With the aptly titled Halloween II, Zombie eschews such disarming and in depth exploration of the characters' psyches in favor of disjointed dream sequences, over the top brutality, and a much more predictable overall direction.
One year later, and Laurie is now a disturbed teen, living with Annie (who, in an unpredictable move, made it out of the first film) and Annie's father, Sheriff Brackett (Brad Dourif in an extremely good turn). Laurie is torn between the nightmares of Michael's return and her desire to return to her everyday life. Meanwhile, Michael has escaped from custody (was he ever really dead?) and has been traveling since, apparently on a hopeful collision course with Laurie in an attempt at a family reunion of sorts.
Throughout Michael's journey, he inexplicably stalks from town to town mask-less. He stops to kill on multiple occasions, donning the mask before taking on his serial personality. Why he somehow now doesn't wear the mask at all times is never really explained, other than the notion that the actor Tyler Mane wanted to show off his sweet new beard (which, admittedly, is pretty awesome).
Throughout the film, the new adventures of Loomis are also visited. The doc is now hellbent on making money off of his status as Michael's onetime confidant. This persona finds him being humiliated on talk shows, and in maybe the single most interesting scene of the film, being confronted by the father of a Myers victim.
The rest of the film is a bizarre display of Myers' visions (his mother with a white horse walking alongside a young version of himself) and Michael basically destroying everyone in his path to Laurie.
The brutality of the film reaches astonishing caricature heights. In his efforts to make the film more realistic, Myers becomes almost a parody of himself. Every confrontation seems to end with Michael endlessly stabbing (and grunting loudly, Hulk-like) until the scenes aren't really horrific, but revolving between burlesque and tedious. Perhaps that was Zombie's intention, turning the table on the audience in an effort to portray the bloodlust of the film-going crowd and their eventual desensitized boredom. As such, it still doesn't work, because the film is never touched with the realism of the first and therefore doesn't retain the impact of that film's more violent scenes.
The characters are never really fleshed out, and Zombie seems to rely on the viewer recollection of the emotional impact of the first film for his punch throughout. It doesn't really work. The story doesn't feel like a true continuation of the first film, largely because the mood and pacing of the sequel are so different. The least interesting character in the film is Michael himself, a huge change from the first film.
That's not to say that there aren't some good things in Halloween II. Much of the imagery is rich and beautiful, in particular a grotesque sequence featuring pumpkinheaded people eating in a cloudy, dream-like surrounding. The shots featuring Michael's mother (however unnecessary some of them have been deemed to be) are lovely and extremely well filmed.
Brad Dourif, as mentioned, plays the stand out role as the sole likable character, Sheriff Brackett. He plays the role with a sweet subtle realism. His reactions and situations are believable, and he's outstanding throughout. The rest of the actors vary in competence, though most are adequate for the requirements of the film.
Halloween II: Ambitious but Unsatisfying
Zombie's Halloween sequel is strange, intriguing, and ultimately unsatisfying, though his ambition has clearly not been stilted. His direction is even handed and warrants further filmmaking opportunities. His vision is still clearly not the vision of a more mainstream director, which is probably a good thing. If his apparent nihilism has been exorcised through his first four live action films, he could probably benefit from exploring a different aspect of the human condition.
