Rob Zombie's Halloween II Discuss/Grade Thread
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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. 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.
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!
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.
Patrick Lussier (My Bloody Valentine 3D, Dracula 2000 and its two sequels, White Noise 2) is directing.
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.
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.
^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.
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.
I think the first Halloween remake was released in August to avoid competing against Saw, but because it did so well I think they decided to try an August release again. I really liked the first remake. I liked the MM backstory part the best. It gave him more motivation. I was never a big fan of the original MM, except for the cool mask and the music. All the other great horror icons of the 80's seemed to have a motivation, something driving them, but I never quite got what drove MM in the old films-granted I only saw Halloween, Halloween 2, and H20, so maybe it was explained in one that I missed. In Zombie's remake I got a better understanding of who MM was and why he did the things he did.
Now, on to H2. I was majorly disappointed. I didn't care for the actress playing Laurie in the first film and I sort of tuned out when I realized she would be carrying the majority of the sequel. Others have pointed out some of the stupid plot points, but one thing that I thought about much later after watching the film was why couldn't anyone smell MM coming? I mean, he didn't look like he was the most hygenic person in the world, but yet he was able to sneak up on everyone. Overall I think that H2 was a pointless remake, the 'twist' ending didn't work for me either. I think that Brad Dourif did fine and I didn't have a problem with McDowell's new slant on Loomis though he was never as impressive as Donald Pleasance in either film.
Now, on to H2. I was majorly disappointed. I didn't care for the actress playing Laurie in the first film and I sort of tuned out when I realized she would be carrying the majority of the sequel. Others have pointed out some of the stupid plot points, but one thing that I thought about much later after watching the film was why couldn't anyone smell MM coming? I mean, he didn't look like he was the most hygenic person in the world, but yet he was able to sneak up on everyone. Overall I think that H2 was a pointless remake, the 'twist' ending didn't work for me either. I think that Brad Dourif did fine and I didn't have a problem with McDowell's new slant on Loomis though he was never as impressive as Donald Pleasance in either film.
See, that's my problem with Zombie's Michael Myers... he tries to humanize Myers too much. Carpenter's take on Myers was that he was evil incarnate, the embodiment of evil, and that there was no explaining why he does what he does. Sort of the ultimate boogeyman. I think that's a much scarier take. And even in Zombie's version we really don't get exactly what makes Myers tick. I mean in Zombie's remake he seems to kill his family because he's bored. In the sequel he's given much more definition and the idea of being haunted by your dead mother is interesting, but still kind of out there.
I saw the rest of Halloween II yesterday and it's clear that after the first 20 minutes the film just gets sloppy and dull. The best part of the sequel were the bits inspired by Rick Rosenthal's 1981 Halloween II. Whenever Zombie deviates it has interesting but unexplored potential. The idea that Laurie is seriously mentally unstable or becoming unstable is a neat idea but played very simply. Besides the single scene with the therapist played by Margot Kidder, we don't really get a sense at how fragile her state of mind is, or how the loss of her family really affected her. I mean the idea is very interesting but I didn't believe the transition.
However I do think this is the most interesting thing to happen to Laurie Strode since H20. I'm actually interested to see where this goes from here, if Lussier continues from where Zombie has left off.
I saw the rest of Halloween II yesterday and it's clear that after the first 20 minutes the film just gets sloppy and dull. The best part of the sequel were the bits inspired by Rick Rosenthal's 1981 Halloween II. Whenever Zombie deviates it has interesting but unexplored potential. The idea that Laurie is seriously mentally unstable or becoming unstable is a neat idea but played very simply. Besides the single scene with the therapist played by Margot Kidder, we don't really get a sense at how fragile her state of mind is, or how the loss of her family really affected her. I mean the idea is very interesting but I didn't believe the transition.
However I do think this is the most interesting thing to happen to Laurie Strode since H20. I'm actually interested to see where this goes from here, if Lussier continues from where Zombie has left off.
Rob Zombie seems to have interesting casting against type choices. Personally, if I were being chased by an evil serial killer, I would not want to be helped by Alex deLarge/Dr. Soran and Chucky/Grima Wormtongue/Lon Suder. I also would not want my therapist to be Margot Kidder.
^ Zombie's next film will be a balls-to-the-wall 80s throwback hardcore action film with Hugh Grant, Kate Hudson, Michael Cera, Zac Efron and Jon Cryer as the badass cops and Colin Firth as the ruthless crime lord.
I really and truly hate it when you do that.
As for the ending of this movie, do any of you guys buy into the interpretation that...
Laurie was committing the murders throughout the whole film?
I've heard that a few times on horror sites, but I don't think that works at all.
Umm... that's really off the wall. Nothing I've seen in the film or read through articles or interviews would seem to support that. Maybe in the next film, though. That I could buy.
I don't think so, either. The ending was already pretty dumb, but that would take the cake.
Yeah, I think people somehow put that together because...
... Laurie walked out of the shack with the Shatner mask on, which I thought was an obvious visual clueing in the audience that Laurie had finally become "consumed" by Michael, or had learn to accept the reality that he was her brother.
I don't think we need the spoiler code.
I'll admit that I had the thought that Laurie was Michael while I was watching the film a few times, but I was familiar with the original plans for Halloween Resurrection before Jamie Lee Curtis asked for a decreased part so I think that's clouded my opinions. If you didn't know the original plans for Halloween Resurrection (the one where Laurie was killed) ended with the lead character unmasking Michael to find that it was Laurie all along and that she'd become him after she'd killed him in H20.
I'll admit that I had the thought that Laurie was Michael while I was watching the film a few times, but I was familiar with the original plans for Halloween Resurrection before Jamie Lee Curtis asked for a decreased part so I think that's clouded my opinions. If you didn't know the original plans for Halloween Resurrection (the one where Laurie was killed) ended with the lead character unmasking Michael to find that it was Laurie all along and that she'd become him after she'd killed him in H20.
Yeah okay but maybe if the physical stature of Myers resembled a woman had that idea been executed that might have been conceivable on some idiotic, contrived level but does anyone buy Laurie Strode as a hairy hippie behemoth? I mean, seriously. Unless Laurie imagined herself as Myers but it still makes absolutely no sense given the context and reality of Zombie's story.
