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- 17/10/2009 2:23:16 PM

paul.mccluskey

Posts: 4940
Joined: 15/4/2007
From: Port Glasgow, Scotland, UK

Sequels. They are inevitable, there will never be an escape from them. The same goes for remakes. Here we have a remake of a sequel to the remake.

Rob Zombie is back in the director's chair to bring us a psychological study of madness with his follow-up to his disappointing opus that was the "re-imigining" of John Carpenter's Halloween.

It turns out, Michael, once again played by Tyler "X-Men" Mane, didn't get shot in the head, and has spent the past year living in hiding with a hallucination of his mother, in a bizarre appearance by Sheri Moon Zombie, while Laurie Strode is trying to pick up the pieces of her life. But, like a bad penny, Michael returns for the scariest time of the year.

Halloween II is miles superior to the first film. Zombie can deliver the scares and frames shots well, and throws in gritty camerawork and editing to enhance the experience.

Most of the cast from the first film are back, with veteran actor Malcolm McDowell adding a touch of ham and black humour to his role as Dr. Loomis, now a greedy author. Scout Taylor-Compton gives an otherwise sympathetic performance, but Brad Dourif is the best of the bunch as Sheriff Brackett, who delivers a quiet and dignified performance. Danielle Harris is the only flaw as Annie Brackett, who is given very little to do except verbally abuse her father and his officers.

Overkill is the word in terms of the brutal murders that are carried out, and the film won't please every fan of the Halloween franchise, but Zombie's conclusion to his Michael Myers saga is an enjoyable ride.

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Post #: 31

RE: - 18/10/2009 9:45:59 AM

Osric

Posts: 107
Joined: 3/9/2006
From: Hebden Bridge

er, is "it was all a dream" quite right about the hospital scene? yes she's dreaming it, but i took it to be a flashback memory of what actually happened.

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Post #: 32

RE: RE: - 18/10/2009 4:50:00 PM

UTB

Posts: 8967
Joined: 30/9/2005

Anyone else find Newman's reviews to be a bit pointless these days? It's almost as if he is bored of reviewing films.

What poor review. I'm not disagreeing or agreeing, but his reviews could easliy be one line long these days. Put some effort in, for once.

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Post #: 33

RE: RE: - 19/10/2009 3:50:49 PM

Goodfella

Posts: 15007
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: North Devon

quote:

ORIGINAL: UTB

Anyone else find Newman's reviews to be a bit pointless these days? It's almost as if he is bored of reviewing films.

What poor review. I'm not disagreeing or agreeing, but his reviews could easliy be one line long these days. Put some effort in, for once.

It was a bit of a sloppy review. Obviously he thinks it was shit and a complete waste of time (of which I fully agree) but he seems to think the best way to counteract that is to take the same stance with his review.

Get Mark Kermode in...

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Post #: 34

Halloween Poo - 24/10/2009 2:59:04 PM

Deckystrikesback

Posts: 6
Joined: 24/10/2009

i loved rob zombies halloween reimagining,me and all 6 fans of it around the world probably agree,this tastless vulgar crude dark humorless affair is an atrocious film with no redemption.its a highlander2 style sequel in that its so bad,if you like the first,this will shatter your rose tinted specs.and malcolm mcdowell,how could you sign up for this.did u read the script?they destroyed what little humanity you had,therefore taking away the only trace of heart the film had!

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Post #: 35

Strong Contender For Worst Film Of The Year - 29/10/2009 1:57:17 AM

CIRVIRUS64

Posts: 51
Joined: 20/12/2008

Spot on with the review Kim, this is absolutely atrocious. Unengaging, unexciting and completely pointless. Surely movie-making doesn't get any worse than this?

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Post #: 36

- 12/11/2009 9:51:26 AM

ryanboulton

Posts: 2
Joined: 12/11/2009

I had high expectations for this film, I can't say I was dissapointed with the film because I think it's really good. The only 'put off' for me was the Ghost of young Michael and his Mother... What was that all about? I think the kills are more gory now as well, old school Michael used just his kitchen knife, but now his kicks faces in!
I like the modern Halloween, but the old school films were more based on suspense, something Halloween II lacks.

Overall 4/5.

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Post #: 37

Halloween 2 - 7/2/2010 7:47:27 PM

deppfanatic

Posts: 103
Joined: 18/9/2009
From: Bicester

I was extremely disappointed by this film especially from Rob Zombie who has done brilliant films in the past. To me there wasn't much of a story compared to the orignal, which made it scary physically and emotionally at the same time.In the remake Michael just kept killing i would call it pointless killings just like any other crazed killer in horror films now a days. A big thumbs down!

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Post #: 38

RE: Horrible and nasty movie - 5/3/2010 12:01:49 AM

Posts: 33
Joined: 21/1/2008

As remakes go, I thought his remake of Halloween was not that bad actually. The sequal, however..is abysmal. It does not help that we have absolutley no sympathy for Laurie who is whiney, annoying and bratty and you really could care less if she lives or dies. The violence in isolation is very brutal, especially the death of the Annie character, but because uit happens so much and so needlesly, you find yourself being quite desnsitised to it all. There is some very bad acting in it too...malcom McDowell and Sheri Moon being the worse offenders. Brad Dourif actually plays the Sherif/ Chief of police quite well but everyone else is B movie grade at best.

The most interesting thing about it is that Michael actually goes unmasked several times in the movie and actually speaks at the end. If the movie had explored this side of things more rather than just beign a sterotypical silent slashe boogie man, it might have made it more engaging...otherwise its a very poor film indeed.

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Post #: 39

What the HELL!! - 9/3/2010 6:43:48 PM

mclovin74

Posts: 5
Joined: 6/2/2010

Right first of all i am an avid carpenter fan Halloween is the movie that i grew up getting scared shitless but loving getting scared shitless. I hear the Zombie is given the keys to remake halloween and i get hinm the benefit of the doubt and honestly i enjoyed what he came up with. Actually showing Michaels life as a child and why he did what he did. THEN he makes this pile of smouldering shit......... what the hell was going on in his mind when he was making this. The characters became totally idiotic pains in the ass and loomis.... what a knob, i for one did not like that mcdowell was cast as loomis i never liked him and i didnt like him in Halloween and i liked him even less (if thats possible) in this rubbish. The fact that he turned Michael into a 6:8" gorilla didnt bode well with me or indeed with many halloween fans and that fact that he makes annoying grunts as hes stabbing everything with a pulse and shouting DIE as he stabs Loomis done my head in BIGTIME so if i could get my hands on zombie id throttle the git........... If you havent seen this movie stay the hell away from it and savor the origianal and the sequel which to me was so good it was like watching one long horror gem . ZOMBIE GET BENT and stick to making original movies.

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Post #: 40

Rob Zombieland - 14/3/2010 7:28:15 PM

strangeone

Posts: 44
Joined: 10/3/2010

i am absolutely gobsmacked at how bad this film is. Firstly it doesn't make any sense. Michael Myers was shot in the head at the end of the first film, and he either killed, or horribly disfigured Dr Loomis as well, but both return alive and well, except Myers is now some kind of giant hobo lookalike for Zombie himself and Loomis has transformed into a complete asshole. It also appears that Myers is now psychic and can teleport, as he somehow knows the identity and whereabouts of one of Laurie's friends, despite having never ever seen her, and randomly kills her at a party only to appear at Laurie's house (which is presumably some distance away) straight after. Amusingly Doctor Loomis also manages a similar feat of defying time towards the climax.
But these lapses of logic aren't the worst things about this movie.
Not by a long shot.
The worst things in this movie are the characters. As i wrote above Loomis is now an asshole and Myers is a tramp Rob Zombie on steroids, but along with them we get a nauseating Laurie Strode who spends the entire movie either screaming at people, or crying, and not just because she's being chased by Michael Myers, she only does one or the other in every scene she's in. EVERY SCENE. It's also worth noting that bizarrely, for someone who has survived an attack from a serial killer, she has a Charles Manson poster on her wall, something you might think she would have an aversion to anyway, let alone after enduring what occurred in the last film, I think this symbolizes exactly how confused Zombie is when it comes to characterization. Besides the aforementioned (and a sympathetic turn from Brad Douriff) every single character in this movie is some kind of deviant hillbilly psycho, several of which inexplicably decide to pick on the seven foot tall, 300lb, beardy weirdo, tramp Michael Myers, who seems (unlike the original incarnation) that he would have otherwise passed them by peacefully. We have the crazy farmers who attack him for n

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Post #: 41

rob zombieland cont - 15/3/2010 9:59:18 AM

strangeone

Posts: 44
Joined: 10/3/2010

...reason whatsoever, the necrophiliac paramedics, and the drunk guy/bouncer who inexplicably returns to life toward the end of the film, maybe as a different character, but who knows. I know these "characters" are typical of Zombie's "work" (remember the ridiculously OTT orderlies in the previous film) but come on. It feels like he's watched Texas chainsaw and Deliverance far too many times, so many in fact that he's actually forgotten that he's remaking Halloween and thinks he's remaking one of them instead. Sherri moon Zombie also returns as Michael's mum, presumably just because he cant bear to make a film without her in it.
To sum up there is no plot, the characters are ludicrous, everything looks like a scabby version of the seventies. It's not scary, it's not even that gory. In fact it's not really a Halloween movie in my opinion.
i hate this movie and i hate Rob Zombie. Why does this guy get to keep making films?

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Post #: 42

RE: Halloween II - 18/3/2010 6:43:18 AM

sarkark21

Posts: 46
Joined: 17/3/2010
From: mumbai

Halloween II is good movie

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Post #: 43

RE: Horrible and nasty movie - 18/3/2010 7:58:13 PM

robwillphill

Posts: 393
Joined: 15/4/2007
From: Maidstone

Pretty terrible. I almost agreed with Kim Newman's review, but it was only just that bit better than the slating it received...

3/10

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Post #: 44

RE: Horrible and nasty movie - 22/3/2010 9:24:11 PM

TheSpleen

Posts: 1292
Joined: 11/7/2009

They're doing a third now but since Zombie said that was the last halloween film he'd do it's gonna be another 'reimagining'. Sigh.

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Post #: 45

Halloween II: Again Great But Too Much. - 26/5/2010 1:19:21 PM

LUCASLITTLEWOOD

Posts: 83
Joined: 12/3/2010
From: London

The story continues from the prequel but the gore gets worse. I am all up for gore in horror films but there is a point where enough is enough, Rob Zombie has past that point. Far too much gore but created well. The story I thought personally was stronger but I'm curious how Zombie plans to continue the saga. Let's just hope he cuts the gore and trades it for some juicy jumpy scenes and a gritty storyline.

< Message edited by LUCASLITTLEWOOD -- 13/6/2010 10:57:51 PM >

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Post #: 46

im sick of zombies... - 22/1/2012 3:41:15 PM

jackcarlin18

Posts: 84
Joined: 21/1/2012

lets face it, Rob zombie can make a great gore fest of a chiller but when it comes to Halloween, he really doesnt know how to perfect the magic we all used to love. too boring

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Post #: 47

What a waste of my fucking time. - 2/5/2012 2:58:11 AM

YouWillBeUnprepared

Posts: 61
Joined: 20/2/2012

I bought the film in a two pack with Zombie's first Halloween, and I'd already read the sypnosis of it on Wiki, and the ratings on rotten, but I thought that the first film was so good, that the sequel may actually not be bad, but nothing too special. But this entire film was a spit in the face to not even very high expectations. This film, only made the first film look better, but I can't watch the first movie now that I know what happens after it, especially due to it's open ending. Michael Myers doesn't eat RAW dogs, what the heck? Can't we just enjoy a psycho killer, in the real world, with out psychic connections, ghostly visions, or superhuman possessions? For the third movie, they should remake this movie and make a better sequel.

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Post #: 48

RE: Halloween II: Again Great But Too Much. - 2/5/2012 3:02:58 AM

YouWillBeUnprepared

Posts: 61
Joined: 20/2/2012

He won't be directing the third. Dimension films grimaced at the film just as we did. It's due next year and in 3D.

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Post #: 49