Laurie (Compton) and Annie (Harris) have somewhat gotten over that Myers Halloween Treat they went through a while back. But hey, it’s Halloween again, and you know what that means, Mike back in the house and cadavers hitting the floor….HARD! Oh and did I mention some hot dame and a white horse? No? I’ll leave it at that…

I'm Michael Myers' sister. – Laurie Strode

ROB ZOMBIE seems to be a love or hate filmmaker. For every person that calls him a genius, you got somebody dropping the hack elbow behind his head. I personally opt on the sharp side of the blade. I loved Rob’s HOUSE OF A 1000 CORPSES and THE DEVIL’S REJECTS and was half and half on HALLOWEEN (theatrical cut). And now I got HALLOWEEN 2 to deal with. So here we go! After glancing at some of the ratings out there, I quickly figured out that I’d be in the f*cking minority once again (its comfy here, come on over with booze and hoes if you want to join up). Yup, I liked the flick a lot. Now, before I go into it, let me put my pants on. Gimmee a sec… okay I’m back. In my world there are FOUR ERAS of Michael Myers. Era numero 1- HALLOWEEN and HALLOWEEN 2. 2- HALLOWEEN 4, 5, 6. 3- H20 and H8 (my least favorite era) and finally numero quatro the ZOMBIE era. So you have to understand that I totally separate all four of them. So I didn’t expect faithfulness to the world that John Carpenter created, Jamie Lloyd or Busta Ryhmes when stalking into the theaters to ring H2’s neck; I expected a ROB ZOMBIE film and that it’s exactly what I got.

With H2 Rob has totally detached himself from the original HALLOWEEN 2 (a little sly nod to the fans aside via the opening of the film) to take his own demented war path. I knew I was in for something different the second that “white horse in a dream” definition faded in onscreen off the bat. I like different – especially when it comes to dealing with a franchise that is 31 f*cking years old. For me, to see Michael Myers (Played by a uber threatening and grunting Tyler Mane) and his world approached in such a psychedelic and visceral kind of way totally cranked my dial to F*CK YEAH. Nope, it wasn’t too difficult for me to let go of what I knew about Haddonfield and embrace what was and what was to come. Props to Zombie for having such a big pair of balls with this follow up. He turned his back on a conventional sequel and instead went the auteur way. I respect that! Visually, talk about trippy and transfixing stuff! The color motif, angles and lighting here whooped my ass in their aesthetics. Much closer in vibe to HOUSE OF A 1000 CORPSES (my fav Zombie film BTW) than say DEVIL’S REJECTS. Same went for the score and sound design which spelled LIVING NIGHTMARE to me. I was hypnotized! And what about the violence you may ask? Well, I actually got uncomfortable a few times in terms of how BRUTAL this flick was. For the love of roofeys and head jobs – Myers wasn't playing here, he be angry and went out of his way to skull f*ck anybody in his way. SWEET!

Character wise, there was some good shit here, much deeper than usual in terms of the world of Halloween. Laurie (brilliantly played by Scout Taylor Compton) was very likable (even though she swore like a sailor on leave, F-Bomb madness) and watching her downward spiral as the film progressed made for a guttural and compelling watch to say the least. But the heart of the film for me was the relationship between Annie and Sheriff Brackett. Danielle Harris did a fine job in the role while Brad Dourif stole the show with his intense, sympathetic and emotional display. Shite, at a certain point I even felt vaclemp due to Dourif’s performance. WOW! What a showcase for the dude. Add to that a f*ck you new spin on the beloved character of Loomis (chewed fervently by Malcom McDowell) which will surely have fans talking, a spooky score by Tyler Bates, random potent suspense and unintentional/intentional (who knows) rips on HALLOWEEN 4 (won't say which part) and 5 (Michael showing his face) and you get a HALLOWEEN film that totally stood out.

On the downside, some clarity would have been nice in terms of Michael's motive. I mean really, why does he want to find his sister so damn much again? What do the ghosts that drive him want with her anyways? Her sweet ass (hey, that's my job)? And if it’s so important why is Mike going OUT OF HIS way to kill random peeps when he should stop wasting time and just get to Laurie already. MINOR SPOILER: There’s a scene in the flick that had Michael crash a Halloween party where Laurie is at. He kills some whore and then... well...then he goes away. WHA???? Dude Laurie is right there man! Nab her already and roll them credits! That made no sense to me. END SPOILERS Moreover, Michael’s second sight also annoyed me. How did he know where Laurie was all the time? How did he know who her friends were (being that he winds up killing all of them)? Sure I can assume this, and assume that, but it’s a filmmaker’s job to TELL me. I’m not the one getting paid to tell a story here yo! Finally the vulgar/white trash chick dialogue ("Hey dick lickers"... sigh) got on my nerves but thankfully, it wasn’t as prominent as it was in the original hence all was well in my little corner of hell.

All in all HALLOWEEN 2 was not what I thought I would be in for and in this case, that was okay. Instead of a generic slasher sequel, I got something that aimed to be more. Sometimes it failed, other times it nailed it on the head; but on the whole I appreciated the effort. Count me in on the director’s cut if it’s ever released, because I be craving more of this crazy shit!

I wouldn’t say the flick was overly graphic but it was definitely MUCHO BRUTAL., When Mike killed he meant that shit! I’m talking vicious and repeat stabbings, some dude's noggin bashed in by a healthy foot, a head rammed in a mirror again, and again, and again…and more! Myers was f*cking peeved here! LOVED IT!

We got titties to the left, titties to the right, titties all over and Arrow's feeling aight.

HALLOWEEN 2 was far from a conventional Myers tale and that will of course divide peeps left, right and center. But I for one appreciated its audacity, its schrooms inclined audio/visuals style and it’s in depth approach to its characters. It’s Michael Myers taking a ride on the Lynch train! Never thought I’d ever say that about the Halloween franchise, but hey, I just did! Granted the flick had some problems: it was too vague for its own good, sported lapses in internal logic and the hipster whore dialogue was like whacking off with a handful of glass. With that stabbed, the brutality of it all and the fine acting somewhat made up for that. HALLOWEEN 2 was a weird film, one that went against the grain but I’ll take that over 1,2,3 by the numbers any day. Cast all the stones ya want! I’m wearing a helmet! Booya!

Rob Zombie also wrote the script to this one. Not sure what he was on when he did, but I want some!

Look out for cameos by Margot Kidder, Weird Al Yankovic and more!

Scott Taylor Compton auditioned for lead roles in The Messengers (2007) and Friday the 13th (2009). She was also in the running for the lead in Prom Night (2008).

Daeg Faerch), who played young Michael Myers in Halloween, grew up too much by the time H2 got the green light so he was replaced by Chase Vanek.

STALK THE H2 WEBSITE HERE