Well, insomnia's vicious, fickle hand struck again. Being up at 2:30 in the AM, the only logical genre is horror, and today's choice was Rob Zombie's remake of
Halloween 2. I absolutely love the original 1977
Halloween, and merely enjoyed the 1981 sequel. Writer/Director Rob Zombie has shown his love of the horror genre with his first two films:
House of 1000 Corpses and
The Devil's Rejects. His remake of the original
Halloween had me skeptical, but once I saw his reboot of the franchise, I was impressed. He looked much more deeply into the psyche of Michael Myers and it took the role from a cardboard cutout to a developed character, who was shaped and driven to being a serial killer. I really liked it a lot.
Halloween 2, like its 1981 predecessor, was nowhere near as good as the initial installment, but unlike the original sequel, was a blast to watch. Zombie again delves into Michael's mind to show the audience what drives this Boogeyman, but because of the passage of time and the continued deterioration of his mental faculties, we see his reality has become even more skewed than in the first film. My main complaint was the handling of the character of Dr. Loomis. In the first movie, he was concerned with recapturing, studying and keeping the public safe from Michael. In the sequel, he's become a fame-hungry, opportunistic, self-serving joke of a psychiatrist without a shred of concern for his role in the slayings. Donald Pleasance is probably turning over in his grave.
Malcolm McDowell returns as Dr. Sam Loomis, but, as I said before, his role changed dramatically. It was clever of Zombie to crib lines for McDowell from one of his most famous roles (Alex Delarge from
A Clockwork Orange), but it really didn't add anything to the diminished part. Tyler Mane was, again, a very convincing Michael. His sheer size and stature are enough to scare the crap out of a lot of people. Sheri Moon Zombie also returns as the matriarch of the Myers clan, as creepy as ever.
Rob Zombie pulls a lot from his bag of horror tricks here, just not as well as he did with his first films. Even given the shortcomings I pointed out earlier, I really liked this. It closed up Zombie's chapters of the
Halloween franchise well, even leaving it open for another (honestly, hopefully not) sequel. I just can't believe he had the guts to swipe a shot from the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. I will add this though: don't see this without having seen the 2007 version, as this begins as soon as the first ends. Oh yeah, see the 1977 version too while you're at it, it's one of the greatest horror movies ever made. As for this one: 6/10.
See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!
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