Rob Zombie's Halloween II Discuss/Grade Thread

[Ward Fowler]

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[Spaceman Spiff]

T'Baio wrote:

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What did you think of the first one, just for a frame of reference?

There was a lot wrong with it, right from the premise. I'm not an anti-remake guy by any means, but filling in Michael Myers's backstory was pointless. No matter how effectively it might be done, it still humanizes him, which makes him less of a boogeyman.

That said, for the most part, the first half of the remake was decent. It doesn't work for the Michael Myers/"The Shape" monster, but Zombie almost cobbled together an interesting story of a more lifelike serial killer. I never bought into it as the story of John Carpenter's characters, but aside from a few problems (a random patch of white trash in the middle of Haddonfield?), it was at least interesting enough to watch.

As soon as it gets to grown-up Michael and becomes an abridged version of the original, though, it falls apart. I didn't care about any of the characters--in fact, as soon as Laurie Strode did the finger-in-the-bagel bit, I actually disliked her.

The second half almost felt totally disconnected from the first. Zombie spends all that time developing Michael as a more realistic character, and as soon as he's grown, he's no different from the Michael Myers we've seen in all of the other films. That makes the whole first half seem pointless.

Because the backstory is lumped together with the abridged retelling of the original, the movie's way too long, to boot. So the movie somehow manages to drag on while feeling too rushed at the same time. That's some feat.

Yeah. So that's the first movie, and I liked it much more than this one. How am I doing so far?

[Mr Nighttime]

The movie sucked like a starving hooker.

[Timby]

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

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Yeah. So that's the first movie, and I liked it much more than this one. How am I doing so far?

You pretty much summed up all of my thoughts, too.

Regarding Zombie's sequel:

Why did he go to the concert and just happen to kill a random friend?

Why did he then go to the policeman's house, which was in the middle of nowhere, instead of sticking around the concert and picking off more random people? There was no reason for him to go there - this wasn't his old house, he didn't follow Laurie to her new house - he should have no idea Laurie was staying there at all. There was no Halloween 2-type news announcement that Myers just happens to hear, saying 'Laurie Strode, who is living with the sheriff, says happy Halloweeen!' He just "appeared" where he needed to be to put the main characters in danger.

Combine that with Loomis "appearing" at a random shack with no location given, where every earlier indication was that he was in another state (or at least hours away), and you say, "Wait a minute." You can try to excuse things individually, but when you have a bulk of silly bullshit happening in the movie, it is harder to apologize things under the rug. Even in a horror movie, where silly bullshit is to be expected.

If you say he "just happened to go to the concert," then too much "just happened" that happened to get the plot to where it needed to go. If there was a purpose, it was an undeveloped/explained purpose, which is also bad.

The movie seemed to maybe indicate that it was because Michael's mom told him to kill all of Laurie's friends (and her old boss) to turn Laurie. But then again, this makes Michael's mom supernatural, which is introducing a supernatural element halfway through the movie out of nowhere.

Guh. Rob Zombie, you are not a good filmmaker. Cut your losses with The Devil's Rejects (which is barely mediocre), and go back to making shitty music.

[Ethros]

Why is this out now, and not, you know, Halloween?

[Timby]

Because the Weinsteins are functional retards.

[JacksonArcher]

I may see this tomorrow. Emphasis on may. I'm at least curious to see if it's as bad as everyone is saying.

[T'Baio]

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

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Yeah. So that's the first movie, and I liked it much more than this one. How am I doing so far?

You pretty much hit the nail on the head, there. Funny thing is, I don't even remember it all that much, and it was only, what, a year and a half ago? You mention Laurie and this finger in the bagel bit...I'm drawing a total blank. I just remember Malcolm McDowell acting like a crazed retard...badly, at that...some hot naked chicks, hot Sheri Moon Zombie somehow being, I don't know how, very fun and interesting (she always seems to be memorable), and a cool death scene in a truck stop bathroom. Then I remember some sort of quasi "faithful" adaptation of Carpenter's Halloween, which was strange in itself only because the first half was so weird and the 2nd half was a total remake.

I think Rob Zombie has talent. He's got an eye for the interesting and bizarre. House of 1000 Corpses was visually interesting and somewhat frightening and I thought The Devil's Rejects was fantastic. But Halloween was so bad, I haven't had much of an urge to see this one, and you're definitely not convincing me I should!

I'm hoping projects that are more up his alley, like Superbeasto and Tyrannosaurus Rex, are at the very least more interesting. But The Blob remake with no Blob? Not so sure about that one.

[Daneel]

JacksonArcher wrote:

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I may see this tomorrow. Emphasis on may. I'm at least curious to see if it's as bad as everyone is saying.

Yeah, I'm kind of morbidly curious about that as well, but I think I'll wait until it gets to the second-run discount theatres before I see it... it might actually be close to Halloween by then too!

[Timby]

It takes the weird, supernatural elements of Zombie's Halloween and elevates them into a ridiculous hodge-podge of bullshit. Do not waste your money on it. For the love of God, wait until it hits Netflix.

[Dar70]

Ethros wrote:

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Why is this out now, and not, you know, Halloween?

Halloween is next month. So its not that unusual for it to be out 2 months before.

[nx1701g]

^ With the box office returns it could be on DVD by then.

[Aragorn]

Halloween III is going to come out... next year! It's great when sequels come out the very next year. You're guaranteed high quality filmmaking like with the Police Academy, Saw and Friday the 13th franchises.

Patrick Lussier (My Bloody Valentine 3D, Dracula 2000 and its two sequels, White Noise 2) is directing.

[Spaceman Spiff]

They probably didn't want to release it in October because it'd have to compete with the next Saw film. That's a sad commentary on studio horror movies, but considering it was beaten by The Final Destination, it was probably a wise move.

As for Lussier, he could be okay. It all comes down to who they get to write the thing. I have no idea where they'll go with it next. Myers got his head cut off in that crappy Halloween: Resurrection flick, and there's not much of a chance of him bouncing back from this one, either.

I'm still going to come back and break my foot off in this thing's ass, but I need to get something to eat.

[JacksonArcher]

^Actually, Myers got his head cut off in Halloween: H20, which was then debunked when it was revealed in Halloween: Resurrection that it was a decoy, which sent Laurie Strode to the mental hospital where she was finally killed by Myers. I believed he died of electrocution in Resurrection only to have him shown alive -- of course -- before smashing to credits.

Don't ask how or why I know all that.

With apologizes to Tim, I relented and saw Halloween II with a friend. We walked out about an hour in and saw District 9. However, the hour that I did see wasn't horrid. Zombie does have a knack for visuals. I mean, there were some gorgeous shots. Overall, from what I saw, it was just too weird. Malcolm McDowell was even worse this time around, with the pompus attitude making him almost unbearable, which sucks because I love Malcolm McDowell.

Oh, well.