Review: Halloween II

Set two years after the first film, Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton) is still troubled and tormented, and now living with Sheriff Brackett (Brad Dourif) and his daughter Annie (franchise veteran Danielle Harris). She’s also now in therapy with Margot Kidder, of all people as her therapist (Good luck, there!). Meanwhile, glory-seeking shrink Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) is on a publicity tour for his new Michael Myers book which reveals an interesting link between Michael and Laurie, which just further upsets Laurie. As Halloween approaches, the presumed-dead Michael is indeed still alive and ready to pick up where he lift off. Case Vanek plays the younger Michael Myers, while Sheri Moon Zombie is his mum.

 

The 2007 remake of “Halloween” surprised me. It was the best film to date from writer-director-rocker Rob Zombie (“House of 1,000 Corpses”, “The Devil’s Rejects”), and its first half was an interesting back-story on the genesis of Michael Myers, before inevitably turning into mostly a re-tread of the John Carpenter original. It also featured an entirely incompetent performance by Scout Taylor-Compton and a re-imagining of the Dr. Loomis role, that I wasn’t entirely happy with. This 2009 sequel from Zombie does not really attempt at any point to be a remake of Rick Rosenthal’s “Halloween II” (aside from a few scenes set in a hospital). Instead, this is all Zombie. And it is a complete and utter disaster.

 

Zombie, in conjunction with cinematographer Brandon Trost (“Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance”) have managed to churn out what is, in my view, the worst-looking major horror film I’ve seen in at least a decade. I’ve been a strong opponent of certain modern trends in cinematography (particularly the use of filters and gels/colour correction, etc.) especially as it relates to the horror genre, but this one takes the cake. It looks positively unwatchable, and is most horribly under-lit. Hasn’t anyone in this film ever heard of turning on a light? I understand the concept of darkness in horror films, it can prove an invaluable tool, but only when there is sometimes light to contrast it with. This is all murky darkness all the time. There’s one or two cool shots in the film involving foggy light and darkness stuff, albeit with a blue filter, but one or two shots is all. There’s even some uber-pretentious time-lapse photography and later, strobe lighting, both are among my least favourite cinematic devices ever. Hell, even one of the major murder scenes is botched. Not only is it mostly off-screen, but it’s so incompetently lensed by Mr. Trost that even when we do see it, we can’t see a damn thing! The film also features a surgical scene in which Mr. Zombie thought it would be a great idea to have the camera shake wildly. For a surgery scene. Rob Zombie is kind of a dumb arse.

 

Sadly, the incoherence and irritation are not limited to the cinematography, the film is also incompetently edited and written. The structure is annoying confusing and jumps in time way too many times in just the first twenty minutes. It’s a terribly disjointed set-up, in my view, the film should’ve started at ‘October 29’. Anything before that is just not necessary. The screenplay is appalling, with the revelation of Laurie’s relationship to Michael being done disastrously here. In terms of the dialogue, Mr. Zombie has a favourite word and it starts with F. He uses it a lot here. Zombie’s pop culture references, whilst potentially amusing (I’m a bit of a fan geek at heart), are mostly inappropriate here. Kidder, co-star of “Black Christmas” is a welcome addition and ironically cast, and I loved the ‘Weird Al’ cameo, random as it was. But the rest? Not so much fun, and those two and Dourif are the only ‘Oh my god, he’s got _____ in his movie!’ moments, sadly (unless you count Caroline Williams from “Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2” but I didn’t recognise her). I’m all for a musical plug, by why did it have to be The Moody Blues, with their wrist-slitting anthem ‘Nights in White Satin’? And ‘Kick Out the Jams’, Mr. Zombie? What characters Laurie’s age are going to have even heard of that obscure hard rock classic? And do youngsters today even know what “Rocky Horror” is, let alone want to pay homage to it via a theme party? If, as is evidenced by a scene here, these characters have never heard of 1965’s “Cat Ballou”, I find it a bit hard to believe they’re “Rocky Horror” fans. I know “Rocky Horror” has a big cult following and “Glee” probably paid homage to it at some point for all I know, but let’s face it, Gen Y (myself excluded, I’m Gen X at heart and barely scrape in as Gen Y anyway) aren’t all that up to speed on cultural references from 1975 let alone 1965 when “Cat Ballou” came out. And then we get to Zombie’s attempt at artistic cred, with the inclusion of some mumbo-jumbo involving a white horse and Laurie/Michael’s mother (Sheri Moon Zombie) who may or may not exist in reality. I have no freaking clue what this nonsense was about (Was she alive? A ghost? An angel/demon?), I just found it obnoxiously pretentious. Just point and shoot, dude, it’s just a slasher movie, not Ingmar Bergman! (Wes Craven aficionados can calm down, I’m well aware of “Last House on the Left”).

 

The film’s pretty violent, but those who find it repulsive (and I’ve heard there are many) are reacting more to Zombie’s OTT camerawork and editing, which is really in-your-face and so badly done that you can’t see a thing. This, in conjunction with some admittedly nice, squishy sound FX, have one thinking the film is more violent than it actually is. I won’t criticise Zombie for making such a violent film when John Carpenter’s original didn’t need so much violence, this is a sequel so that discussion is over as far as I’m concerned. I also still approve of Zombie’s hulking vision of Michael Myers, as played by Tyler Mane. I miss the white-out Shat mask, but this interpretation of Michael is really brutal in a good way, just at the service of a terrible film.

 

The cast and characters are actually a mixed bag. Right off the bat the film screws things up by re-casting the young Michael Myers. Apparently Daeg Faerch went through a growth spurt and thus has been replaced by the singularly unimpressive Vanek, who just seems too ‘normal’ for the role, in my book. Scout Taylor-Compton, one of the worst actresses currently active is still pretty bad as Laurie/Angel, but a bit better than the previous film. She’s certainly less obnoxious this time around, but I really do think that Zombie has flat-out killed her mainstream movie career by allowing her to act so badly in two films (in addition to her poor work in “April Fool’s Day”). It’s no surprise to me that she’s mostly found work on TV since. He should be taken out and shot for getting her to act out a Stanley Kubrick close-up towards the end, ala “The Shining” and “A Clockwork Orange”. McDowell is still unimpressive as Dr. Loomis, but it is mostly due to the way this character is interpreted by Zombie. Zombie sees Loomis in a negative light and that is the wrong choice. I find this interpretation frankly insulting and ultimately pointless. However, I will say this: Zombie has definitely stamped his own mark on these characters, for better or worse. Laurie is different, Loomis is different, and this whole film in general is on a different plain of existence to anything Carpenter-like, outside of a few seriously lame attempts at a Carpenter-esque score by Tyler Bates (“300”, the remake of “The Day the Earth Stood Still”) and a horrendous botch-job on Carpenter’s Halloween Theme over the end credits. The film has a totally different vibe. This is all Zombie, and all suck. Actually, not all of it sucks, as Harris and the reliable Dourif give OK performances, whilst it’s always good to see Howard Hesseman, even in a (terrific) one-scene cameo. Other than that, though, this is an unmitigated disaster from an overly (self) indulgent filmmaker.

 

This is a very sad step-down from the previous film, which whilst uneven, showed at least some merit, especially early on. I shudder to think what “Halloween III” is going to be like (apparently without Zombie at the helm), given the original “Halloween III: Season of the Witch” is one of the worst films of all-time.

 

Rating: D-