6 out of 6 people found the following review helpful:
YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT DEATH IS!
MAVERICK from ,
11th October, 2009
In 2007 Rob Zombie gave us his rethink of John Carpenter's 1978 classic. Avid fans of the original were up in arms, and hated it because somebody had the balls to mess with a classic....how could they? I am a massive fan of the classic original, but to honest I thought the 2007 version was very good, and the new brutality of it was a welcome addition after the hit-and -miss sequels to the original. Two years have now gone by, and Zombie again directs this sequel. The film picks up moments after the 2007 version ended. Don't be fooled that this is a remake to the original 1981 sequel, but it does pay homage in the first twenty minutes with it's hospital bound setting, but this film then takes a totaly different path of destrustion.The film then fast forwards a year with miss Strode trying to pick up with whats left of her life, and now living with the town's Sherrif and his Daughter who Michael also raped the year before. Michael after his bloody escape has been living life as a Psychotic Hobo, until he gets the calling from his long dead mother via his psychotic imagination, then it's time to head back to Haddonfield to finish what he started a year before. The film again is gob-smacking in it's portayal of deaths, throats gets slashed, heads get pulped, and also sliced off in very grizzly fashion, but for all the sequels merit's it's a very uneven film, as the suspense and sense of dread of the 2007 version never comes to the front, until the last twenty minutes. Also the sequences with Michaels Mother's apperitions are very confusing, and seems out of place with the rest of the film. There is little story in the film, and most of the characters are very underwritten. Scout Taylor is again good as the seriously unhinged Lourie Strode, and Malcolm McDowell again is good value, if very under used as Dr Loomis. But when Director Zombie finally pulls out the stops the movie become a very good slasher, but it's a case of too little too late. The iconic music score is also missing that Zombie made present in his 2007 rethink, but is substituted with some very disturbing sounds. The ending is uncompromising and good, and is the only time Carpenter's iconic electronic score is present as the end titles roll. Halloween II is a very frustratig film , as although it is not as good as the 2007 remake there is still much to enjoy, including a great in joke as Loomis goes on a chat show with other guest Weird Al Yankavych where Weird Al askes if Michael Myer's is the same guy who was in Austin Powers....well I thought it was funny! This film will be loved and loathed as much as the 2007 version, If you hated the remake, then stay clear, but if you enjoyed Zombie's version give it a go, as although frustating, it's still going to be one of the best Slasher's this Halloween season, and when you take into account it's got to compete with the never ending SAW series, Halloween II would still slash Jigsaw, and most of the sequels to John Carpenter's original to ribbons!
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