Halloween II (Unrated Directors Cut)
[Blu-ray] starring Scout Taylor-
Compton, Tyler Mane, Malcolm
McDowell, Sheri Moon Zombie,
Chase Wright Vanek
Halloween II (Unrated Directors Cut) [Blu-ray] starring Scout Taylor-Compton, Tyler
Mane, Malcolm McDowell, Sheri Moon Zombie, Chase Wright Vanek
Rocker turned writer-director Rob Zombie returns to the horror field with
this visually ambitious and aggressively brutal follow-up to his 2007
reinvention of John Carpenter’s seminal slasher Halloween. The 1981
sequel to the Carpenter film is completely ignored here (and for good
reason) in favor of an extension of the central focus of Zombie’s
Halloween, and all of his films, for that matter: the corruption at the heart of
the nuclear family. Here, Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor Compton) is
attempting to heal the psychic wounds from her previous encounter with
brother Michael Myers (Tyler Mane) by bonding with Sheriff Brackett (Brad
Dourif, a pleasure to watch as always) and his daughter Anne ( Danielle
Harris, herself a vet from the original run of Halloween sequels). Her
previous surrogate father, Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) has forsaken
his connection to Laurie by exploiting his connection to Michael with a tell-
all book; meanwhile, Michael himself roams the lonely outskirts of
Haddonfield, driven by visions of his mother (Sheri Moon Zombie) and a
single-minded urge to bond with his sister at any cost. Aesthetically, H2 is
striking, thanks largely to the ashen color scheme by cinematographer
Brandon Trost (Crank 2: High Voltage), which underscores the doom-laded
spiral track each of the main characters seem to travel in the film. And
Zombie is to be commended for venturing outside of his comfort zone--the
grimy, pop-culture ironic, white trash environment his characters frequently
inhabit--with the scenes between Michael and his mother. But again, his
ambitions don’t meet with his abilities--Moon looks impressive, but her
apocalyptic mutterings ring more silly than spectral, especially when she’s
forced to play opposite an enormous pale horse (insert heavy -handed
Biblical imagery here). Most fans will find these moments more tedious
than inspired, and a distraction from the murders, which retain Zombie’s
preference for mayhem. He succeeds in this department, but if the end
result is a menu of ugly killings, the point of revamping the Halloween
franchise is somewhat moot, since the threadbare follow-ups to the
Carpenter original already achieved that goal. Zombie’s knack for offbeat
casting remains his most inspired talent: Haddonfield is filled with cult
icons like Caroline Williams (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), Margot Kidder,
and Daniel Roebuck, who jostle for space with rough-hewn character
players like Duane Whitaker, Mark Boone Junior, and Dayton Callie
(Deadwood) and left-field cameos by Howard Hesseman and “Weird Al”
Yankovic. --Paul Gaita
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