Halloween II

[Bourne101]

http://l.yimg.com/k/omg/us/img/54/42/3164_4581632940.jpg?y=660&x=616&q=75&n=0&sig=hS32jCXsVNeNtNfzRUYGWA--

Directed by Rob Zombie

Written by Rob Zombie

Genre: Horror

Tagline: Family is forever.

http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/still/h2_14.jpg

Plot Outline: Picking up right where the first film left off, Laurie is taken to the hospital after supposedly killing the man who was responsible for the deaths of several people in the town of Haddonfield, Illinois. However, her stay at Haddonfield General becomes very brief when a very much alive Michael appears once more, brutally murdering everyone in the hospital to find his sister. Michael disappears, and Laurie survives the infamous Halloween massacre, but is still haunted by it years later. Laurie struggles to come to terms with her dark past, or at least forget it. But the supposedly dead Michael Myers has other plans, and as the anniversary of his massacre approaches, he returns to Haddonfield once more, with a family reunion planned that Laurie will never forget.

http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/still/h2_11.jpg

Starring: Scout Taylor-Compton, Tyler Mane, Malcolm McDowell, Brad Dourif, Danielle Harris

Rated R for strong brutal bloody violence throughout, terror, disturbing graphic images, language, and some crude sexual content and nudity.

Runtime: 101 minutes

Looks pretty bad, and I thought the remake was decent. I'll check it out though.

[FireCaptain4]

I'll check it out if I get around to it. I don't hate the remake as much as others do, though it was nowhere near the glory of the original film (how many remakes are?). I can stomach Zombie most of the time and the recent trailer made me a little interested. Maybe RZ will pull a Devil's Rejects with this sequel (keep those fingers crossed, people!).

[Tweek]

Looks like it'll be the best comedy of the year.

[Jig Saw 123]

I thought the remake was a pile of utter crap and his one looks like it falls very far from the Halloween mythology. I wasn't interested in seeing this until I saw the leaked uncut trailer yesterday now I definitely wanna see this next weekend instead of The Final Destination. Yet it still looks pretty funny in certain scenes I've seen from the trailers and not intentional humor either.

[Lazy Boy]

I liked most of the Halloween remake, even if ended up failing in comparison to Carpenter's original. It had enough brutal moments to make me cringe, not often I do that with horror films, so kudos to that. Zombie still has too many bad aspects as a director (mostly his writing, dialogue) but he's improved in many ways since House of 1000 Corpses.

Not really interested in this, but I'll see it if I'm bored.

[FireCaptain4]

Looks like it'll be the best comedy of the year.

Sheri Moon acting all ghostly puts me in stitches.

[Bourne101]

Just watched that trailer that was leaked yesterday, and it was surprisingly pretty good. I still don't think it'll be all that good, but that trailer certainly raised my limited anticipation a few notches. Why the fuck wasn't that the official trailer?

[TheJadedGamer]

Looks like complete shit. Will be watching The Final Destination instead for 82 minutes of horror fun.

[MisterTwister]

Although I'll be unable to check this out opening weekend I'll be seeing it soon after.

[ilovemovies]

Looks like it'll be the best comedy of the year.

I was going to say something similar. Not the BEST comedy of the year but it looks like the FUNNIEST comedy of the year!

[MidnightAngel]

I'll wait for the unrated version on dvd. Any possible workprint leak like the first one?

[LordSimen]

Can't freakin' wait. Movie looks fantastic. :D

[Sigur509]

Im actually very excited to see this one, and I wasn't too big on the first one.

[dellamorte dellamore]

Looks like Zombie fashioned an amalgam of parts 1 , 2 and 4 , with a sprinkling of 5 for good measure .

I'm not going to run out to see this , it looks like a fairly pedestrian effort , but entertaining nonetheless .

I felt the remake was subpar ( like how they lifted the idea of how he escapes from part 4 ,he breaks out inside the asylum instead of breaking out while he's being transported in the ambulance ), there wasn't anything to distinguish it from any other modern day slasher , i grew tired of it after the 1000th slashing ( although seeing Ken Foree in action again was a highlight ) .


The thing that really gets me is that Zom is doing a Schumacker with this franchise , he's made Myers not only extremely strong but herculean , he can lift cars now , oh jeez . This will be what Batman and Robin( a flamboyant classic it is ) was to Batman Forever, he's supposedly made the film he really wanted and has jumped some sperm whales along the way ( kind of like how Schu went totally bonkers when he was given total control )

[Heisenberg]

This looks 'meh'. The unreleased trailer was cool. I'll be checking it out, but I don't have high hopes for it.

[Danger^Cart]

I really liked the first, so I'll be seeing this next week. I'm not that big a fan of the JC's original, though. *gasp!* What'd he say?! Can he say that?!

[visual_tension]

Saw a test screening of this last month. I'll go see it again to see if any changes were made.

[athf1980]

i might see if im truely bored

[Earl Bonds]

That trailer is absolutely amazing. No matter how much u hate the original, there's no way that that trailer didn't make your teeth grind if your a true horror fan.

I'll be in the front row opening night

[TheJadedGamer]

That trailer is absolutely amazing. No matter how much u hate the original, there's no way that that trailer didn't make your teeth grind if your a true horror fan.

Made me fall asleep.

[ilovemovies]

Made me fall asleep.

It didn't make me fall asleep. It made me laugh my ass off. It looks like a very funny movie.

[bigred760]

I thought the first one was okay. Nothing too surprising, but definitely had the mood, style, and Mike Myers right.

I'll see the second; I thought the trailer looked alright, made me want to see it.

[dellamorte dellamore]

In H3 , he will probably develop the ability to lift an entire house

[Beard_of_Meat]

That trailer is absolutely amazing. No matter how much u hate the original, there's no way that that trailer didn't make your teeth grind if your a true horror fan.

I'll be in the front row opening night

My exact thoughts...I can't believe that so many people think this looks terrible..I admit I never saw the original Zombie remake but the H2 trailer just moved it into my must see list for the week

[chelovek]

Rob Zombie should fire whoever put together the first trailer. I was looking forward to H2 quite a bit, but that trailer even made me doubtful. The 2nd one, on the other hand, looks great.

Anyways, regardless of trailer quality, I can't wait for H2. I thought the Unrated version of RZH was quite good, nearly on par with Carpenter's. Zombie's only real problem was that he didn't stick with his own vision and decided to try to stuff a remake of the original into the 2nd half of his movie. This resulted in a bloated, yet somewhat hollow movie when everything was said and done.

I've learned to ignore most of those who criticize RZH, because they tend to be the same people who talk about the old Halloween series as though it had more than 1 or 2 decent/good movies. When you look at their actual criticisms, they're either nostalgia-based/hypocritical complaints ("Bad acting, bad dialogue"--as though the old movies weren't FILLED with both), or boil down to the simple fact that Rob Zombie did (and is doing) something different with THE Michael Myers characters. "OMG HE'S BIG!", "OMG HE GREW UP IN A TRASHY FAMILY!" "BAAAAWWW"

Anyways, I'm glad that the fanboy population didn't get their way, and now Zombie's got a chance to make a movie that's all his own with part 2, so I'm excited. I'm expecting that this will be to his Halloween remake what The Devil's Rejects was to 1000 Corpses.

[SteeleDude]

Anyways, regardless of trailer quality, I can't wait for H2. I thought the Unrated version of RZH was quite good, nearly on par with Carpenter's.

LOL. I've never written "lol" on a message board before, but that did it. I have no other way to express what I did when I read that. I'm still laughing. I mean Zombie can't even wipe the ass of Carpenter, let alone be compared to him directly. Hell, Zombie can't even compare to Stephen Miner or Danny Steinmann in serious conversation.

What was it about the unrated version that screamed classic movie to you? When two orderlies take a mentally disturbed woman into Michael's room and start raping her? (I mean that alone is BS on about every level of film making, honesty in storytelling, and just writing a coherent freakin' narrative). Or how about Loomis surviving and Michael getting gunned down by the police? That was all so brilliant.

Zombie is a hack. A flat out hack. I mean, I don't know how a guy could mess the remake up. I walked in their with a woody ready to love anything I saw. Turns out Zombie made the one thing I never could have comprehended being filmed--and his psychology behind the film. Good god. It's like he tried to recall what he remembered from psychology class in high school. Brilliant.

This new movie looks worse than the original. It looks like House of 1000 Corpses. I never thought I'd say this but I wish someone would just kill Michael so I don't have to see him dragged through terrible trailers. It's an insult to an icon's memory. I'll watch H8 and H6 a hundred times before I watch anything by Rob Zombie again.

He jacked up White Zombie too. A great band that was ruined by his all knowing brilliant ego. He broke them up and made Rob Zombie, and now we have super cool songs like Never Gonna Stop Me!!!! Piss off Rob.

You don't even need to tell us why you don't listen to anyone Chelovek, it's obvious by your posts that just make crap up about people who don't like the movie. In your eyes Zombie is a genius (which says a lot about the quality of your eyes), and anyone who doesn't disagree is just a "moron" or whatever. Cool, I guess, but that other thread has paragraphs of well thought out reasons why Rob Zombie's movie sucks balls. I mean you look at little things here and there to fit your argument and ignore the good stuff.

The white trash family thing, for example, is stupid not because it changes Michael, but because it is hack writing, cliched, and not even close to accurate on what creates serial killers despite having been portrayed that way in terrible horror movies since the 70s. Zombie claimed he was going to go psychological, and if he did indeed do massive research as he claimed which seemed to prove that white trash families produce killers then he read the wrong books. Hell, what made Carpenter's so good is the fact that killers in real life who just snap happen to have a life a lot like the kid Michael did in the original. Nice neighborhood, no reason to go off, a lot of speculation and misinformation about the cases, but in the end the person/kid/whatever just snapped. They lived good lives and snapped.

Rob Zombie is so narcissistic he believes that reading a book will give him some profound ability to determine what sets human time bombs off. What is he God? God Zombie figured it all out. It's verbal abuse and white trash, that's what makes a guy grow seven feet tall and learn how to teleport around until he finds his sister. That's the true psychosis behind a deranged lunatic. Good job God Zombie, we love you so much more for peering into our minds and enlightening us on the big screen.

[Earl Bonds]

Rob Zombie should fire whoever put together the first trailer. I was looking forward to H2 quite a bit, but that trailer even made me doubtful. The 2nd one, on the other hand, looks great.

Anyways, regardless of trailer quality, I can't wait for H2. I thought the Unrated version of RZH was quite good, nearly on par with Carpenter's. Zombie's only real problem was that he didn't stick with his own vision and decided to try to stuff a remake of the original into the 2nd half of his movie. This resulted in a bloated, yet somewhat hollow movie when everything was said and done.

I've learned to ignore most of those who criticize RZH, because they tend to be the same people who talk about the old Halloween series as though it had more than 1 or 2 decent/good movies. When you look at their actual criticisms, they're either nostalgia-based/hypocritical complaints ("Bad acting, bad dialogue"--as though the old movies weren't FILLED with both), or boil down to the simple fact that Rob Zombie did (and is doing) something different with THE Michael Myers characters. "OMG HE'S BIG!", "OMG HE GREW UP IN A TRASHY FAMILY!" "BAAAAWWW"

Anyways, I'm glad that the fanboy population didn't get their way, and now Zombie's got a chance to make a movie that's all his own with part 2, so I'm excited. I'm expecting that this will be to his Halloween remake what The Devil's Rejects was to 1000 Corpses.

Agreed 100%

I tried to watch the old Halloween's a few weeks ago and could barley sit through it. I'm sorry, that shit is not scary, fake as fuck, acting is terrible and its just fucking boring.

Rob Zombie is on his way to becoming a film legend, with Devils Rejects already amongst the greatest films ever created, I think H2 could be one of the Horror greats from the trailer.

[Digifruitella]

my friends and i were and still love to quote the shit out of the breakfast scene of Zombie's first H. The redneckdom is what Zombie does best.

[Danger^Cart]

I was gonna see this anyway, but this trailer really sealed the deal for me.

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/17125

[Earl Bonds]

Yea, glad to see that there are a few "Non-Haters" on this board. Everyone thinks the same or their not apart of the "Cool Kids"

[Dr.Frankenstein]

I been totally jazzed for this film since 1st hearing Rob decided to go for one more round with the franchise-my No. 2 "most anticipated film of 2009" as one Post's question asked for...The trailers look gr8 for it!

[Film Fan BeAm2k]

In 5 days HE becomes homeless... Lol. Can't wait!

http://www.shockya.com/news/wp-content/uploads/halloween_2_ripped.jpg

[Mystique963]

I don't know, I personally thought Nights in White Satin was a great song to set the trailer to. ;)

Enjoyed the the first one, be seeing the second one no doubt.

[shoe1985]

Agreed 100%

I tried to watch the old Halloween's a few weeks ago and could barley sit through it. I'm sorry, that shit is not scary, fake as fuck, acting is terrible and its just fucking boring.

Rob Zombie is on his way to becoming a film legend, with Devils Rejects already amongst the greatest films ever created, I think H2 could be one of the Horror greats from the trailer.

Lets see, you watch a movie over 30 years old, that has been copied so many times. So yes, it will probably be considered boring to today's audience. Is it as exciting as maybe it was before the remake, doubtful.

Rob Zombie, a legend? I hope this is a joke. Lets look at his resume so far:

House of a 1,000 Corpses - Should have watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre or the remake, same movies, but done better.

Devil's Rejects - Yes, lets support rapists and murders. I will admit, it was filmed very well. It was better than his previous attempt, but still crap.

Halloween - If I wanted to watch white trash, I could go to the trailer park on the other side of town. Lets take a good movie, and lets make it as lower class as possible. The majority of the audience will laugh at it because they see it as being funny. Lets get rid of any suspense, and make it like all of the movies today. Like his previous movie, it was filmed very well.


The thing with Rob Zombie is he is a poor screenwriter. He has a great eye directing, but he lacks building suspense. You can tell he is a big fan of TCM and the F13 series, which he probably would have done well if he was remaking the F13 series. That is more of his style, which is fine. I went in with high expectations, being that Halloween is my favorite horror movie. The first half was ok, but nothing to run home about. The second half was too rushed.

As for this sequel, after reading this (http://broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=1001106&boardname=off&dt=1&boardid=2) very detailed spoiler review of it, I have low expectations. This could be great though, I could get a terrible movie, but enjoy it. If anything, it cannot be as bad as the remake.

[echo_bravo]

I really hope this bombs and Rob Zombie isnt allowed to make films again...a boy can dream right?

[LordSimen]

I really hope this movie does well, gaurantee's Zombie's staying power as a director in Hollywood and makes all the whiny naysayer's cry. Unfortunately, given that there are two new releases vying for the same exact audience, and given the word of mouth Inglorious Basterds and District 9 has been getting... I have a feeling H2 will fall victim to a bad release date this time around. We shall see, though.

[Tweek]

Yeah, when directors I don't like do well I wear black for a week and cry myself to sleep every night. ;)

[Abbie Normal]

Can someone explain to me why this movie is out in Aug and not in Oct? :confused:

[ilovemovies]

Can someone explain to me why this movie is out in Aug and not in Oct? :confused:

I've been asking this since Aug. of '98 when H20 came out. Although Resurrection came out in July, not Aug. But Zombie's last Halloween movie came out again in late Aug. It seems to have success then for some reason.

[dellamorte dellamore]

Wow, now he totally lifted an entire sequence from H4, the escape from the ambulance that was transporting him to another facility.

If anything, the more i see of this film, the more it looks like a remake of part 4, why didn't they include a pre adolescent girl in peril to complete the xerox?

We also have Loomis constantly running around telling everyone how evil MM is, same as he did in part 4. Uh yeah, he killed a jillion people, i think everyone knows he's not exactly a compassionate soul who gets along good with people.

It may sound like i'm ranking on his film, but really i'm not, because like i mentioned above, it's a remake of part 4, so i'll check it out because that one is my second fave HW film.

ps-if they include a drunken, vigilante, good ol' boy posse out to get Mike, i'll choke on my goobers:)

[ilovemovies]

We also have Loomis constantly running around telling everyone how evil MM is, same as he did in part 4.





Loomis did that in ALL of the Halloween movies. Not just in part 4. ;)

[dellamorte dellamore]

That's true, i always found it odd, because it was obvious MM wasn't a member of a knitting circle;)

[magicwizguy]

This has a thread and not The Final Destination? LAME.

[Smiert Spionam]

This has a thread and not The Final Destination? LAME.

I'm sure this film will be dogshit, but not nearly as awful as The Final Destination. How the original director managed to make something that looks even worse than the 3rd one is beyond me...

[ilovemovies]

The Final Destinationd DOES have a thread here. It just hasn't been as active lately.

http://www.joblo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=132039


And IMHO, it might not be a good movie, but it looks a hell of a lot more enjoyable than this movie.

[Film Fan BeAm2k]

Why don't you all wait and see this film then you can start badmouthing it... Just a thought.

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/9545/mgbfingerabagel.gif

[Earl Bonds]

The Final Destinationd DOES have a thread here. It just hasn't been as active lately.

http://www.joblo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=132039


And IMHO, it might not be a good movie, but it looks a hell of a lot more enjoyable than this movie.

Quick question, Do you think your better than people who like Rob Zombie movies? Do you consider yourself on some sort of higher scale?

[ilovemovies]

Yes. I AM the king!

[shoe1985]

Why don't you all wait and see this film then you can start badmouthing it... Just a thought.

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/9545/mgbfingerabagel.gif

Maturity at its finest.

[labialover]

Why don't you all wait and see this film then you can start badmouthing it... Just a thought.

That's what trailers are for, to give us an idea of how the movie looks and if it will interest us. This movie looks like shit. I saw the first remake a few days ago and it was absolutely terrible. There wasn't an ounce of suspense in it, and it wasn't gory at all. I don't watch a ton of horror movies, but I know those two elements are important in a good horror movie. The only good part was Dainelle Harris' tits.

[LordSimen]

Film Fan's continuous use of that GIF makes me want to marry Scout Taylor-Compton. :p

[labialover]

Quick question, Do you think your better than people who like Rob Zombie movies? Do you consider yourself on some sort of higher scale?

Quick question, does everyone have to share the same opinion as you, and think Rob Zombie is going to be an all-time great director? Are you on some sort of higher scale because you enjoy his movies?

[Film Fan BeAm2k]

Film Fan's continuous use of that GIF makes me want to marry Scout Taylor-Compton. :p

Indeed, my friend. You have good taste.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_eHkTwd4aRic/R3Uq-AnoThI/AAAAAAAABOU/9gfgLmFYEFQ/s320/ScoutTaylorComptonPhoto2.jpg

[ilovemovies]

Quick question, does everyone have to share the same opinion as you, and think Rob Zombie is going to be an all-time great director? Are you on some sort of higher scale because you enjoy his movies?

Yeah, when I gave Crank: High Voltage a terrible review, he accused me of just being a hater.

Never mind the fact that I loved the first one.

[ilovemovies]

Indeed, my friend. You have good taste.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_eHkTwd4aRic/R3Uq-AnoThI/AAAAAAAABOU/9gfgLmFYEFQ/s320/ScoutTaylorComptonPhoto2.jpg

She's not too hard on the eyes, but I thought her acting in the first Halloween was awful.

I sincerely hope she has improved since then. But I'm not optomistic.

[Film Fan BeAm2k]

Last one, I promise:

http://www.zacktaylor.ca/photos/uncategorized/2008/12/29/scouttaylorcompton.jpg

[LordSimen]

God she's gorgeous. :D But we should stop for now- This is the Halloween II thread, but the Scout appreciation thread. ;)

And I disagree with you, ilovemovies, I thought her performances was just dandy in Halloween. She's a great little actress.

[Smiert Spionam]

Why don't you all wait and see this film then you can start badmouthing it... Just a thought.

Actually, I have the freedom to have an opinion, so if I think this film looks like hot, steaming garbage, I have the right to say so. Like you've never judged a film before you saw it before.... c'mon....

And as it happens, my friend from HS is actually dating Scout. She's a very nice girl, but I told her that I wasn't fond of the first Halloween remake and she totally understood, so... y'know... there's that. :rolleyes:

[LordSimen]

Your friend is a lucky man, Smiert. ;)

[Earl Bonds]

Actually, I have the freedom to have an opinion, so if I think this film looks like hot, steaming garbage, I have the right to say so. Like you've never judged a film before you saw it before.... c'mon....

And as it happens, my friend from HS is actually dating Scout. She's a very nice girl, but I told her that I wasn't fond of the first Halloween remake and she totally understood, so... y'know... there's that. :rolleyes:

Wow, that is awesome. You are so cool bro, your friend from high school is dating the chick from Halloween?

dude, what other big time connections do you have and wish to share with the rest of us?

[Tweek]

[looks around]

Wait a minute...This isn't The Pissing Contest Thread.

This thread could use some Brea Grant. (RIP Daphne Millbrook :mad:)

http://www.heroesrevealed.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/brea-grant.jpg

http://dailyfollow.com/images/profiles/brea_grant.jpg

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2009-04-08-BreaGrant.jpg

[Smiert Spionam]

Wow, that is awesome. You are so cool bro, your friend from high school is dating the chick from Halloween?

dude, what other big time connections do you have and wish to share with the rest of us?

I wasn't tryin' to brag or anythin', but considering dude was callin' some of us out on having a negative opinion of this film already, it just felt relevant. I mean, even Scout recognizes that Zombie isn't that great of a writer and that her performance wasn't that strong because of his direction, so I see no reason why I should expect this next film to be any better....

*shrug*

[Mr.HyDe807]

I thought the first was pretty terrible, but I love and grew up with the franchise, so I'm gonna check it out regardless. Though, if they have another "love hurts" sequence, I'm going to hang my head in shame.

Seriously, that sequence was just terrible. That and......:SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST HALLOWEEN:

Loomis having his eyes crushed in, then being dragged in and looking like nothing happened.

:END SPOILERS:

I thought Scott's performance was fine, in terms of being a it more spunky and a bit edgy than Jamie Lee Curtis, though it was a bit overbearing when it came to the end.

[shoe1985]

[looks around]

Wait a minute...This isn't The Pissing Contest Thread.

This thread could use some Brea Grant. (RIP Daphne Millbrook :mad:)

Brea is usually pretty good looking, but in the clips for the movie, it seems Rob went in another direction, lookwise.

Danielle is by far the best looking in the remake.

[FireCaptain4]

One thing that makes me a little upset is that no matter how bad this film is, I'll eventually end up checking it out (in theaters, on DVD, or some other way...) because I love Malcolm McDowell to death and he doesn't get as much work as he should. He was easily the main element that kept me sitting through the remake. He's not Donald Pleasence, but his voice, beard, commanding presence... he's fantastic.

[FireCaptain4]

Wow, that is awesome. You are so cool bro, your friend from high school is dating the chick from Halloween?

dude, what other big time connections do you have and wish to share with the rest of us?

http://i1.tinypic.com/8efpp4x.jpg

Bonds, that's very douchey of you. Stop being a dick.

[echo_bravo]

[looks around]

Wait a minute...This isn't The Pissing Contest Thread.

This thread could use some Brea Grant. (RIP Daphne Millbrook :mad:)

http://www.heroesrevealed.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/brea-grant.jpg

http://dailyfollow.com/images/profiles/brea_grant.jpg

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2009-04-08-BreaGrant.jpg

Ummm is she related to Ellen Page??:confused:

[shoe1985]

You know what else I noticed about Brea? In those pics, she looks better with little to no makeup on. Most of these celebs need a lot of makeup to look good.

[SteeleDude]

Wow, that is awesome. You are so cool bro, your friend from high school is dating the chick from Halloween?

dude, what other big time connections do you have and wish to share with the rest of us?

Dude you're so cool you should play the silent cool guy who never talks anymore.

[Lemmywinks]

Some Spoilers


Just got back from a midnight showing. I don't post often, but I felt obliged to come in here and tell you guys that this movie was terrible. This is coming from a guy who liked the first one two years ago. The acting could be put into 2 categories. Plain bad, or overacting. The girl who plays Laurie ( I didn't feel compelled to find out her name) basically pulls a Dakota Fanning and screams for almost the entire movie. Sherri Moon Zombie shows up numerous times in hallucinations that both Michael and Laurie have throughout the film. The hallucinations were beyond cheesy and were the worst scenes of the movie. She was getting laughs from the audience whenever she opened her mouth. Dr. Loomis is wasted and doesn't add anything until the las five minutes. I've seen all of Rob Zombie's films, and this has to be his worst effort so far. I never walk out of movies but I was seriously contemplating on leaving. I was with friends though so I had to stay.

[jekupka]

Never before have I wanted to walk out of a movie theater ten minutes into a film. This was a first. There is not one part of this movie that was good, even the gratuitous nudity sucked. This film shot straight to the top 10 of movies I absolutely hate, sharing company with the likes of Nacho Libre and Fatal Instinct. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY.

[Time2Watch]

I'll be seeing this tonight, didn't get to go at midnight. The leaked trailer really made me interested.

A lot of the complaints, from what I've seen, have been about the "established michael myers character" being changed by Zombie. But I look at that as a good thing, to be honest. I like that Zombie is making these movies his own, he's not just falling back into impersonating Carpenter or doing a platinum dunes still "shiny and stylized" remake. Rob Zombie makes dirty redneck characters, that's his MO.. just like Tarantino has characters who talk about movies, so I don't look at "Haddonfield is now a hick down" as a negative, it's just Zombie sort of putting it into the universe of his films.

[Cop No. 633]

This is the worst film the year. I thankfully saw this free of charge. Everything about this is atrocious. For gore hounds, most of it is badly lit so you can barely see anything. Not that seeing any gore would make this any better.

Lots of bad dream sequences straight from 90's MTV videos, ghost mommy and horsie and terrible cliches clutter this movie. Zombie can't even adhere to the world he created. Michael Myers has better GPS than he ever had in any of the movies. At least he could drive before. Now he seems to teleport from one place to another in no time.

This movie is so bad I would question the intelligence of anybody who champions it. It's that bad to me. It's a slap in the face to anybody with a brain. It's even worse that it cost $18 million to produce this. At least those DTV flicks only had $500,000 to waste.

1/10

Oh, the funniest bit: there's an actual title card explaining why they put the white horse in the movie. It's a pure face palm moment.

[FireCaptain4]

Not an official review, but here's what I thought:
I just got back from seeing Halloween II.

Yep.

I was semi-dragged, semi-voluntarily obliged myself to see it.

After leaving the theater, I seriously felt violated. Or like I had violated someone. Like a little, innocent child. I felt like I had done this, witnessed myself doing this, wanted to stop, to look away and gain some self control, but I couldn't and I still did it even though much of my willpower and humanity tried to shut myself down for destroying my own moral compass.

Now, there is that good sense of violation sometimes. Like, say, after you watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre or, even to an extent, The Devil's Rejects. You can reflect after the film and think, "wow, that was a disturbing experience but it was handled in a professional and refreshing manner-- it's shocking, but it doesn't insult the audience with by treating them like filthy whores for taking the time to watch it."

Halloween II is the exact opposite. During my showing, there were only a handful of people in my theater and I was surprised to see that about 8 of them were way, WAY under the age of 18 (they looked about 13 or 14) and that they were yelling and cutting up, trying to sound cool during the entire film. I also noticed an elder woman in the audience as well and felt sorry for her as I realized she had been dragged to see the movie by these little fucktard spawn as their guardian to allow them entry to see the film. Many times I noticed her getting up and squirming and going outside the theater and then coming back in nonchalantly. I felt for her, what she must have endured with the mindless and atrocious garbage attacking her senses. No way in hell would I let my mother or grandmother be forced into watching this.

Of the two friends I saw it with, one is a big fan of Zombie and loved the remake and even he left hating this sequel. This is the worst movie I've seen in theaters in... longer than I can recall. Even my favorite character from the original was turned into an asshole in this sequel. Malcolm McDowell is legend, but I felt very sorry for him here because the character of Loomis was mauled and raped. Also, Zombie made every single set look like it had shit rubbed into the walls. And, good lord, did I get fucking tired of Michael appearing behind people and throwing them around and then stabbing them. Every single death, every fucking time. It lost it's shock factor after the first 20 minutes, yet he kept doing it.

The first 15 minutes aren't too bad-- in fact, I began to think I might have enjoyed the film though there was quite a bit of stupidity about )as expected in these types of films)-- and then Laurie wakes up and the whole experience goes to hell.

Worst film I've seen this year.

Oh, and that new kid who plays young Michael Myers-- worst fucking child actor ever. That opening scene was only about 30 seconds long and he still made me wan to stab myself in the ear drum.

[shoe1985]

So, I just got back from seeing the movie, and I have to admit, it was not as bad as I thought it would be. Was it good? No, but worst movie of the year? Not even close.

The movie opens very strongly. The only complaints I have are the grunting throughout the movie, and the violence Michael put out. Did he really need to stab the nurse a million times, or the other people he killed? Yes, this was a dream, but still. It was a pretty good, in your face beginning, really tells you what to expect.

Laurie is fucked up badly, and I have to admit, Scout actually did a decent job. She really stepped up, and shocked me. Danielle was smoking, and needed more screen time. The small amount of screen time she got, well, she ruled the movie. Laurie's friends were just throwaway characters, although, Brea did a decent job with what she had to work with. Brackett was a star in this movie too. He and Annie should have been the main characters because they were perfect in this movie. He was funny, yet caring, while she took on that mom role. Great acting by both.

Michael was really good in this. I enjoyed his scenes walking in the fields, but they did occur too much. Then the grunts and the violence were too much. Ok, he stabbed them, now he must stab them a 100 more times, then stomp on them.

This did not feel much like a horror movie, but rather a powerful thriller. These people are fucked up badly, and you can see how the previous movie changed them.

Now the bad:
Loomis was terrible, and not needed at all. These scenes really destroyed the pacing. He could have been left out, and improved the movie. Plus, this new Loomis really makes me wish the old one was back.

Michael's mom and Little Mike were atrocious. I really wish these two were not part of the movie. Then this stupid white horse thing, that could have been cutout too.

The supporting cast, well, they had no point to them. They were there for the body count. The one chick was a poor Linda.

The flipping of the car was stupid as hell, and should have been changed.

The Halloween party was pretty lame. Laurie was hammered, then she is sober the next minute? The Rabbit in Red was kind of pointless, but I can see where Rob was coming from, I think.

Then the ended. Was this movie all a dream, was Laurie really Michael? Did she just lose it? I don't know.

Overall, I would give it a 6/10. There was a lot of good stuff in this movie, but the bad bring it down. A lot of things could have been changed to improve the movie. A lot was happening, and at times the movie skimmed over parts that could have used more time, example: Laurie's friends. Did she need these new friends? Did we need a Michael that felt the need to go overboard on the violence? Really, I was like come on, we are spending too much time on this.

Maybe my low expectations allowed me to enjoy the movie more. I did laugh at the mom and little Michael scenes, they were awful. But, I have to admit, I felt for Laurie in this movie, unlike the remake. She had gone through so much, and you can sense she is going out of control. I would be curious to see someone new come in, and movie the new series forward. I am sure they could bring Michael back somehow. It just sucks that they killed Annie, she was a great character in this one. Rob made a much better movie than the remake, but he still has a ways to go.

[Dr.Frankenstein]

Gr8 horror stuff here! from my favorite Horror franchise! Was cool to see it opening night too. ***1/2 outta 5 stars :)

[Jig Saw 123]

I wouldn't say this is the worst film of the year, Dragonball Evolution still holds that title, but its definitely the weaker end of the summer list of films. Rob Zombie's first attempt at Myers was not good, but it was entertaining and put a unique spin on the Myers character. One that I didn't totally respect, but have come to live with.

Now with Halloween 2 Myers does so many things here its hard to swallow them all down at the same time. I'm going to start with the beginning of the film, which is the best portion of the entire film. The hospital sequence somewhat tricks the viewer into thinking this moving is reestablishing the Michael character to his hallow and demonic embodiment, but we are quickly taken out of this ounce of hope and displayed a white horse and Bride of Frankenstein Michael mommy. This is when the film becomes a joke and forces the audience to literally laugh. Another thing that bothered me is Michael's hallucinations and how different he seemed to be from the Michael in the first Zombie entry. With the replacement of young Michael it seemed he was joyful and innocent as a child and a lot more talkative.

Onto Laurie and Dr. Loomis. A much darker side was shown to Laurie in this sequel, but it didn't make sense. When she's living innocent and just completely traumatized by the previous year's events she still seems fundamentally a tragic character, but when she discoveries she's Myer's sister all hell breaks loose and she all of the sudden becomes this drunken party maid. Just when I thought Rob Zombie would only rape Michael's image he proceeds to give the exact same thing to Loomis, but this time its further up the ass. Loomis is a egotistical pervert in this film who tries to get a quickie from any woman twenty-years younger than himself. His entire sequence within the last 10 minutes of the film felt rushed and just thrown in to conclude his role in the film. Other things that are included in the film that destroy everything is Laurie's continuous use of the f*bomb, Loomis's annoying secretary, Michael's killings seriously how many times can you stab a person? and Laurie's random instant burst of insanity.

Overall I truly hope Zombie is done his chapters of Halloween and someone else can hopefully come along an clean up the mess just as Zombie was intended to two years ago.

5/10

[LordSimen]

http://www.horror-movies.ca/watermark.php?filename=poster_H2_11poster.jpg

I must say that despite my well known enthusiasm towards this movie since day one, I still managed to enter the theater with a tid bit of a worry due to all those scathing reviews floating around the 'net this past day. But I'm quite happy to announce that by the time the film was said and done, I left the theater with a grin from ear to ear. Halloween 2 is not only one of the most intensely terrifying horror films I have seen this year, it's also without a doubt the most emotionally gripping.

The performances were spectacular, with the stand outs of Scout Taylor Compton, Brad Dourif and Malcom McDowell for convincingly expanding their characters far beyond their initial incarnation. The characters were so fleshed out and intriguing that even the characters like Loomis who did nothing but act like a total dickbag still managed to excite me every time they showed up on screen. I'd got to give an ultra special shout out to Tyler Mane for saying more with just a glare than most people say with their words.

I'd say one of the major things that stands out for this film is the overall soundtrack and sound design. The sound managed to consistently keep you on edge through out, even in ordinary conversation. The ambient, pulse-pounding score provided by the mad genius Tyler Bates definitely hit every right note when the film called for it and the excellent use of classic songs is to die for- pun intended.

The gore was brutal to the extreme. Zombie has made quite a name for himself among the horror community for his incredibly well done murder sequences and this film is no exception. Yet I'd also like to give Zombie super special props because the way he chose to shoot the gore and death sequences managed to give the audience mucho sympathy for even the most smallest and insignificant of characters.

Rob Zombie has without a doubt grown as a director. His writing is pretty much the same level it has always been, but his directing has gotten fantastic. His choices with the music cues, the shot compositions, the juxtaposition of scenes and his absolutely amazing use of slow motion has without a doubt captured my own personal imagination.

I'd also like to express my complete love for the film's use of dream sequences. Even the ones where you're not supposed to know it's a dream manage to convey such a creepy atmosphere and intense imagery. The first dream sequence, which I will try not to spoil, is one of the most intense experiences at the cinema you'll probably have this year and this is coming from someone who sat through and loved the french gorefest Martyrs earlier this year. There's also another notable dream sequence that involves an incredibly fucked up family feast that'll make you squirm in your chair.

Any complaints? A few minor ones. While Cinematography overall through out the film was absolutely phenomenal (I love the use of moonlitten silhouettes), there were times where the scenes were a bit too dark to make out any detail. It made it difficult at times to accurately tell what exactly Myers was doing to a few of his victims. The editing also didn't help at times.

Overall, I'd give this film a solid 9/10.

[Mr.HyDe807]

I'm checking this out tomorrow, and if there is a sequence that's even close to "Love Hurts", I'm going to be pretty bummed.:D

[Danger^Cart]

Pretty horrible. I guess if you've got to have one thing going for you in a Michael Myers flick, it should be a showcase of brutal stabbings. Every scene with Michael giving some the cleave was golden, with the rest of the film being absolutely abysmal. This seems to echo a sentiment I'm sure most everyone, that is apparentely everyone but Zombie, has known for quite some time. Stick with what fucking works.

I'm not sure why Zombie felt so compelled to include his wife (again) or unicorns, let alone his wife standing next to a unicorn, but not only do we see this, we see it 80 godamn times.

One thing is for certain; Michael honed his fucking ninja skills. I guess during his 1 year hiatus he visited The League of Shadows, because holy fuck can he ninja with the best of 'em. I guess this is a logical progression though. What's more frightening than ninja? Michael Myers. What's more frightening that Michael Myers?

...dragons.

[chinton]

Zombie does have a lot of interesting ideas and really nice shots but its all in service of such a noxious film. The endless gore and brutality with no point like in all of Zombies films got so tiring. What was the point with all random hilbillys getting killed and why were they all sleazy hillbillies.

Brad Doruff was leaps and bounds better than everything else in this film.



Oh and Zombie does not play fair. Lets not forget Devils Rejects where we're expected to care to want to follow some repugnant evil people around after they spent the first 30 minutes torturing and murdering a family. Ya thats really fair.

[Derrida]

Oh and Zombie does not play fair. Lets not forget Devils Rejects where we're expected to care to want to follow some repugnant evil people around after they spent the first 30 minutes torturing and murdering a family. Ya thats really fair.

The problem with Rob Zombie is that despite all his "talents" the dude's mental state is that of a 14 year old kid who thinks people like Charles Manson and Ted Bundy are cool.

[shoe1985]

I guess we all knew what Simen would write. I think he goes against the majority on purpose, even if he hates it.

At best, this is probably a 7/10, I believe 6/10, but with more explanation about the ending, it could rise, but probably would go lower.

Giving praise to Loomis, well, I just don't get it. This character was terrible, and really had no point in the movie. You could cut out eh Phantom Jam, Laurie's new friends, and the mom and little Michael, and it would have improved the movie.

[LordSimen]

I guess we all knew what Simen would write. I think he goes against the majority on purpose, even if he hates it.


I honestly don't. I really did love the hell out of this flick. If I was going to pretend to like it on purpose, why would I even mention my complaints? :confused:

[poopontheshoes7]

Guh, this sucked. Lets start by saying I love Zombie. His music and his previous three films. The Devils Rejects is one of my favorite horror movies ever. Being one of the 8 people who really liked Robs first film its safe to say he completely bit the dust with this one. It's a rambling, incoherent mess of a film. Its almost like Zombie was parodying himself with this puppy. It felt lazy and completely rushed from beginning to end.

4/10

[I Am Legend]

This is the best comedy and worst horror movie I've seen in quite a while.

Complete and utter shit.

And the groupie Sherri Moon needs to go back to pole dancing because she has all of the acting ability of a banana.

2/10

[Danger^Cart]

What was everyones reaction to Myers grunting/stabbing frenzy. Yay or nay?

[MistAh BlistAh]

What was everyones reaction to Myers grunting/stabbing frenzy. Yay or nay?

I enjoyed the stabbing frenzies but could have done without the grunts...

Here's my Full Review:
http://www.joblo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=132201

[LordSimen]

What was everyones reaction to Myers grunting/stabbing frenzy. Yay or nay?

Massive fucking yay. :D It was brutal, intense and fuckin' awesome.

[Cop No. 633]

What was everyones reaction to Myers grunting/stabbing frenzy. Yay or nay?

Nay! It was so over the top and silly. Seriously... he would stab somebody ten times. Stop. Then look at the body and go right back to stabbing them. Giving me enough time to say, "Hey, Mike, why not stab em some more?!"

The grunting made it even funnier. It was incredibly silly. I just find it funny that this is what people are claiming is "brutal" and "intense."

[PSU80]

That trailer is absolutely amazing. No matter how much u hate the original, there's no way that that trailer didn't make your teeth grind if your a true horror fan.

I'll be in the front row opening night

Yeah, the trailer made my teeth grind; but not in the way your suggesting. My stomach bubbled a little I think but then again that could have been the tacos.

[PSU80]

I honestly don't. I really did love the hell out of this flick. If I was going to pretend to like it on purpose, why would I even mention my complaints? :confused:

I honestly agree with shoe here Simen. You have blown up both of RZ's Halloween films, regardless of the fact that most people hated them. They are terribly directed, acted and written films at best. I truly believe that if Zombie remade an episode of Fraggle Rock, you would call it a masterpiece, worthy of Oscar consideration.

[PSU80]

Massive fucking yay. :D It was brutal, intense and fuckin' awesome.


Since my brother saw the first 45 min. of this disaster I showed him this question and his response was a massive fucking GAY. He said it sounded like Michael had a door jam wedged in his ass or something. Maybe Zombie put it there.

And Simen when he read your comment above, he laughed so hard I honestly thought he was going to faint.

[LordSimen]

Congratulations to your brother? :confused:

[Danger^Cart]

I thought the stabbing frenzies were easily the best part of the film, even if they were a bit bloated. Could have cut it down a few strokes...

I don't like my Myers to make any sound whatsoever, but I can appreciate what Zombie was trying to do there. I can appreciate everything Zombie was trying to do, it just ended up sucking balls. His problem is that he's far too ambitious, to the point of being completely blind.

[SteeleDude]

I thought the stabbing frenzies were easily the best part of the film, even if they were a bit bloated. Could have cut it down a few strokes...

I don't like my Myers to make any sound whatsoever, but I can appreciate what Zombie was trying to do there. I can appreciate everything Zombie was trying to do, it just ended up sucking balls. His problem is that he's far too ambitious, to the point of being completely blind.

I can't imagine what the grunting must be like to garner so much attention. Didn't he grunt and breath a lot in the original? Been awhile since I watched.

[Danger^Cart]

During the first person shots Carpenter was so fond of you'd hear Michael breathing, but in this one he's full out having an orgasm while furiously stabbing folk.

[dellamorte dellamore]

Congratulations to your brother? :confused:

I have to stick up for LS on this one, he's not one to say he liked something just to go against the general consensus .

[SkyNet]

by far Zombie's worst flick... granted he only has 4.. but the first 3 were quite awesome that i did expect an amazing fucked up outing this time around!

Myers grunting as he killed.... c'mon dude! He is silent, that is his menace!

The story, i see what he was trying to do.. i really truly do... but it just did not work out.

plus... this is something i said upon his first foray into Halloween territory.. but must thoroughly reiterate here... ROb Zombie is a really good writer, with good fucked up dialog.. but for the love of god, he can not write teenage girl dialog! In every flick he makes from here on out, NO teenage girls!

Also, Scout (Lori Strode) in this flick just reminded me of Dakota Fanning from War of the Worlds... quit fucking screaming and bitching... that shit got annoying!

also.. this has nothing to do with the movie but something i noticed at the theater i saw this at....

Bringing your kid to an R rated movie is ridiculous to begin with... but bringing your little child, to watch Rob Zombie's R rated Halloween 2 flick is absolutely bat shit crazy, and those parents deserve to have their fucking children taken away from them. Now, i am not one for any type of censorship, and i believe that a parent has the right to let their kids see whatever flicks they deem their children are ready for.. but there is no fucking way a 3-4-5-6-7-8-9 year old child is ready to watch the brutal hacking and macabre that this movie brought. You didnt bring your kid to an R rated movie that unexpectedly had alot of blood and violence.. you brought your kid to fucking Halloween 2! Fucking people are stupid.. pisses me off

also... if you are in a theater.. and you think you are funny.. you arent... saying some stupid comment when something happens in a flick, doesnt make you the joker of the movie, it makes you a piece of shit ass hole who should get in a car accident on the car ride home.

all that said... this flick was a huge let down... hopefully The Blob will be a better endeavor and hopefully Zombie will get back to some original material soon.

(but it was nice seeing Chris Hardwicke back in a Zombie flick, and Weird Al Yankovic kicks ass)

SPOILER ALERT

Also, i SEVERELY hope they dont continue this franchise with Lori becoming the killer in the mask... that would be absolutely not watchable)

END SPOILER

[Mr.HyDe807]

Wow. This is it folks. This is a movie that will leave you wondering how you spent your hard earned money in the first place. This is the movie where I'm now changing my 4/10 review on Transformers to at least a 5.5/10, because it's nowhere in the vicinity of this movie. This is the movie where I just stared at the screen as it went to the credits, smiled, laughed, and said "You suck, Rob Zombie".

I'm not a fan of Rob Zombie's Halloween, so I had low expectations to begin with, but I seriously didn't know how bad this would get. There is nothing this summer that has come close to how incoherent the plot is, the stupid change in mood between characters, and it's typical immature and inane Rob Zombie dialogue. As I write this right now, I'm at a loss of words on what the hell I just on the movie screen.

If you want the plot of the movie that makes sense, it takes place about a year after the first one, with Laurie (Scout Taylor-Campton) trying to deal with life after Michael Myers killed her friends and family, living with her friend that survived Annie (Danielle Harris) and her father Sheriff Brackett (Brad Dourif). For Rob Zombie, this means making Annie this washed out person who writes obscenities on the wall and has Alice Cooper and Charles Manson on this wall. Yes, that's it, keep up with your white trash characteristics Rob. Hell, I knew about this going in, but Rob, there's a thing call subtlety. When it comes to dealing with Laurie's struggle, it's constantly screaming out "F**K F**K! F**K!". How about a more controlled way of dealing with past demons?

Well, anyway, if I asked that to Zombie while this movie went on, he would say "No way Patty-o, things are about to get 10X weirder and less non-nonsensical" This comes in terms of random dream and possession sequences that have as much weight as a feather floating into the wind. They come and go as if we should just go with it. Well, I didn't, I was just annoyed as all hell o its random placement in the movie.

Then, along with Laurie dealing with her demons, we have Malcolm McDowell's Dr. Loomis who suddenly has left his usual concerned demeanor about Myers, and has just become an arrogant prick. Every scene with him had me going "how the hell did you get like this in the first place?" There was one moment in the first one that hinted this, but the rest of the movie was Loomis's trek to stop Michael. Now, we have this asshole character that tries to redeem himself in the end, and I just didn't buy it for a second.

Now, should I just enjoy the gore? Well, when I'm dealing a movie that's all over the damn place throughout, I'm not enjoying myself to look at the brighter things. Then again, there were harsh moments, to which I can approve, but they were few and far between. The only moment that I can literally give praise to was a sequence involving Annie and Sheriff Brackett near the end that I thought was the only thing to come out of this atrocity unscathed.

Everything was just dumb, with an ending that was cracking me up and causing me to look at my friends Rob and Mike and go "Is this movie serious?" Add to the typical Zombie flair and dialogue that just annoys the hell out of me, as well as certain scenes that looked like they were taken out from Zombie's first one, and you're jsut digging a hole even deeper.

The funny thing is, this is supposed to be 100% Rob Zombie's vision. Yet, I find it funny that almost all the twists and such were taken from previous Halloween movies. Hell, the whole damn ending was probably Rob Zombie watching Halloween 4, as well as 5, and going "Shit, I think that would work in my movie". You could go "Oh Pat, you're just wanted it to be like the old movie", but when I see this movie that's basically doing the exact same thing, only in a worse way, I can't help but compare.

Any thing else? Pshh, I don't know. I think I covered it all, and then some. This is the worst movie I have seen in a while, and that's saying much. So, I'm telling you fine schmoes, stay away from this movie. Go see Inglorious Basterds, Up, District 9, or hell, if it's your only option...Transformers 2!

Congratulations Rob Zombie, I'm never seeing a movie of yours again!

2/10

[Tweek]

I guess we all knew what Simen would write. I think he goes against the majority on purpose, even if he hates it.

That's an unfair thing to say. I don't think that about him at all. Do I think he's a tad easy to please? Yes. :p That doesn't have to be a bad thing, even if you disagree, though.




If you want the plot fo the movie that makes sense, it takes place about a year after the first one, with Laurie (Scout Taylor-Campton) trying to deal with life after Michael Myers killed her friends and family, living with her friend that survived Annie (Danielle Harris) and her father Sheriff Brackett (Brad Dourif). For Rob Zombie, this means making Annie this washed out person who writes obscenities on the wall and has Alice Cooper and Charles Manson on this wall. Yes, that's it, keep up with your white trash characteristics Rob. Hell, I knew about this going in, but Rob, there's a thing call subtlety. When it comes to dealing with Laurie's struggle, it's constantly screaming out "F**K F**K! F**K!". How about a more controlled way of dealing with past demons?


I'm not sure I'll watch this until home video, if at all. But that's always sounded to me like a rebellious teenager having a fit, not someone who has had her adoptive parents and most of her friends killed.

[AceD]

First I should say that I have a respect, and even a little affection, for 1,000 CORPSES. I think there's some shreds of talent in Zombie.

That said...

This movie offended me. It offended me that anyone thought I could possibly like it. It offended me that any moment of it was supposed to be scary or interesting or funny or entertaining. And no, this does not bother me in the same way that some torture porn does. This just bothered me because it was so bad, so unprofessional, so inept at anything it tried to do.

0/10, 0-out-of-4 stars, etc etc.

Maybe the worst major-release movie I've ever seen.

[Mr.HyDe807]

LordSimen enjoys his work, so whatever, more power to him. Though, I hate it when I get shunned for not liking his vision just because I want the same thing from the originals. I just want something that breaks away from the typical Zombie norm. Hell, I got stuff from the original in this movie, not that I was looking for it, and it was still terrible.

[I Am Legend]

Rob Zombie fanboys remind me of George Romero fanboys --- they will find a way to like and defend anything that their "hero" puts out, no matter how stupid, how ridiculous and how plain bad it is.

Similar to battered spouse syndrome. :D

[LordSimen]

I would just like to say that you guys have posted more about me in this thread than I've actually posted myself.

[SkyNet]

Rob Zombie fanboys remind me of George Romero fanboys --- they will find a way to like and defend anything that their "hero" puts out, no matter how stupid, how ridiculous and how plain bad it is.

Similar to battered spouse syndrome. :D

i am a huge Rob ZOmbie fan... HUGE fan... seen him in concert and seen every one of his flicks.. and loved them all.. up until this one.... so your theory is up and out of the door.

[PSU80]

I would just like to say that you guys have most more about me in this thread than I've actually posted myself.

What else would you expect Simen? Your relentless defense of Rob Zombie and everything he creates is enough to make me want to drink my own bile.

[LordSimen]

What else would you expect Simen? Your relentless defense of Rob Zombie and everything he creates is enough to make me want to drink my own bile.

Like you're any better with your relentless attacks at Rob Zombie and everything he creates? :rolleyes:

[ilovemovies]

What difference does it make whether he defends Zombie or not?

People do the same to Scorsese, the Coen brothers, any other hugely popular filmmaker.

We all do it, I'm sure. I'm a staunch defender of Steven Spielberg for instance.

[PSU80]

What difference does it make whether he defends Zombie or not?

People do the same to Scorsese, the Coen brothers, any other hugely popular filmmaker.

We all do it, I'm sure. I'm a staunch defender of Steven Spielberg for instance.

Defending film makers on the level of Scorses, the Coens' or Spielberg is completely different from defending a guy who creates white trash characters and nothing more than that. Your talking about world class directing in the same sentence with Rob Zombie. Say that aloud to yourself and tell me how ridiculous it sounds.

[PSU80]

Like you're any better with your relentless attacks at Rob Zombie and everything he creates? :rolleyes:

Simen if you need me to say something good about Zombie, I'll give you this; I really like Hellbilly Deluxe and I love Astrocreep. However, I think his film making is horrible. I think his idea of horror is a cross between a porno flick and a machete.

[LordSimen]

Simen if you need me to say something good about Zombie

And if you need me to say anything bad about Zombie I'll say that I found House of 1000 Corpses mediocre and Educated Horses decent at best.

[Kevin Smith fan]

Okay, this needs to stop.

I gave the film a 4/10, but the blind Zombie bashing needs to end. Who gives a fuck if people like his films? The guy has a unique vision and undeniably creative talent as a director. So why are we ready to lynch Rob Zombie while there are much worse filmmakers out there?

Sadly Halloween 2 wasn't even the worst horror film to be released this weekend? Is there anyone on these boards that thought Final Destination 4 was better than this? Because at least Zombie had a message with this film (even though he botched getting it across). Final Destination 4's message was come see terrible actors and actresses die in the most rediculous ways possible for the fourth time, in 3-D! And the Saw franchise has gone on for 6 years now producing nothing but shock scares and over the top gore effects producing more money and braindead fans than all of Zombie's works combined yet nobody seems to care that these things have been going on for nearly a decade now.

So please give it a rest and stop bashing Simen for enjoying himself at the movies.

[TheJadedGamer]

Sadly Halloween 2 wasn't even the worst horror film to be released this weekend? Is there anyone on these boards that thought Final Destination 4 was better than this?

*raises hand*

[dellamorte dellamore]

I think this film will probably fall somewhere in between LS's load across the room enjoyment of it and other persons couldn't get it up with a crane disappointments .

I'll probably find some enjoyment with it, but it's relegated to rental status now.I doubt i'll hate it but i doubt i'll be singing it's praises either. I'm not sure though because some of the reasons people are citing for hating it have me intrigued, i may love it as much as LS:)

[Mr.HyDe807]

When did Zombie say that this flick was influenced by Halloween 4? I'm just curious.

[SteeleDude]

Okay, this needs to stop.

I gave the film a 4/10, but the blind Zombie bashing needs to end. Who gives a fuck if people like his films? The guy has a unique vision and undeniably creative talent as a director. So why are we ready to lynch Rob Zombie while there are much worse filmmakers out there?



Except it is deniable that he has creative talent, and I'm not sure there are better directors out there. The guy who directed Jason Goes to Hell has a better technical sense than Rob Zombie. I imagine he actually shot a movie with dialogue written down so his actors had something to say before the cameras were rolling.

[chinton]

By the way it would be nice if Zombie would just decide if his micahel is supernatural or not. He gives all of the psychological facets to the character as if he's human yet at the same time he seems to be immortal and can lift cars. It makes no sense.


Also nobody really seems to mind that michaels body vanished.

[Smiert Spionam]

Also nobody really seems to mind that Michael's body vanished.
I haven't even seen this and I can tell you that happens in almost every Halloween film....

[Donnie_Darko]

Having NOT seen this, nor the first one, I'm just curious about something.

Did anyone actually expect this to NOT suck? From the trailers alone, this looks like a tank... Tienanmen Square tank, and the movie goers money, is the Chinese guy.

There has been far too much "Wow, this actually sucked!" response. 1000 Corpses was total garbage. Devil's Rejects was surprisingly good. Halloween just looked like a train wreck, so I stayed away. This... man, this just looks bad.

Zombie is at best, a passionate hack, who really needs to step away for a while... a long, long while. And don't get me started on his "wife"... talentless douche.

So, what pivotal role does Rob have in store for his "wife" in his The Blob remake? The Blob itself? :rolleyes:

[LordSimen]

By the way it would be nice if Zombie would just decide if his micahel is supernatural or not. He gives all of the psychological facets to the character as if he's human yet at the same time he seems to be immortal and can lift cars. It makes no sense.


Also nobody really seems to mind that michaels body vanished.

I'm going to laugh really hard if the 3 hour making of is released for this movie and it turns out Tyler Mane lifted that car all by his lonesome.

[LordSimen]

When did Zombie say that this flick was influenced by Halloween 4? I'm just curious.

Around 1:01 or so Zombie jokingly refers to this movie as a prequel to a re-imagining of the fourth film.
http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/h2/jimmy-kimmel-live-rob-zombie

[Mr.HyDe807]

Around 1:01 or so Zombie jokingly refers to this movie as a prequel to a re-imagining of the fourth film.
http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/h2/jimmy-kimmel-live-rob-zombie

Ahh, so basically from what I believe, I don't see how this movie is his own vision when just about most of the movie homages the 4th and 5th one, though in a much worse way.

Considering that this was for the ability to make money for his next project, this is just the equivalency of Zombie throwing shit on the wall and seeing what sticks. God, I'm still trying to figure out how the Weinsteins watched this movie and thought "Hey, this should be distributed into theaters!" Hell, there were some glaring holes in the first one, but there was nothing this off the wall and pathetic as this sequel.

:Sigh: sorry for ranting, this movie is just grating me.

[Duke Nukem]

WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!








WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!








A little word on Rob Zombie’s prior work. I thought “House of a 1000 Corpses” was a fun, little nightmarish flick (**1/2 out of 4). I thought “The Devil’s Rejects” was one of the worst films ever made (*). And despite my love for the old H-movies, and distate for “Rejects,” I went into the new “Halloween” with an open mind. In the end, I appreciated that Rob tried doing something different (like exploring Dr. Loomis’ relationship with Michael in Smith’s Grove), but his overall effort was 1 to 1.5 dimensional, thus an average film (**). Just as with his first two films, his writing was atrocious as well…

…And this remains a fault in “Halloween II.” It looked like the funniest comedy of the year, and I was prepared to laugh at it. Instead, I surprisingly find it to be another average horror movie from Rob. One thing in the setup I liked was having Laurie stay with Annie and her father in the aftermath of H1. There were some nice family dynamics between the three of them…when they weren’t say “F-ck” and “Sh-t” so much. I really liked Brad Dourif’s part in it and I’m surprised that he let his daughter get away with such profane languange. He seemed to be the only realistic person in the whole movie.

The hallucinations Michael saw didn’t bother me. It’s a new element never seen until now, and I can live with it. What did bother me was that Laurie saw them too. That was pushing it. Is Rob really trying to borrow the psychic connection from H4-5? Why? It would have been better if Laurie didn’t see them and looked in disbelief at what Michael was supposedly seeing.

Speaking of Michael, I liked how Rob treated him. He was brutal. I didn’t mind that Michael stabbed away, away AND away at his victims. In real life, sickos really do stab victims dozens and dozens of times. We’re never going to get legitimate suspense in a Rob Zombie film, so brutality it is. And I thought it was effective.

As for Michael being unmasked in parts, I appreciated what Rob did. Think about it. Michael was shot in the head. His mask must have dried blood on it. Why not let him take it off when he’s not in “Halloween-mode”? And the beard? He is a man. He will grow facial hair. He isn’t a normal functioning person who shaves and washes his household items. What mattered to me is that Rob doesn’t linger a lot on Michael’s unmasked face, and he got that right. Michael left it off and put it back on in appropriate moments.

Lastly, Michael’s grunting when he killed people. As far Rob’s version of Haddonfield is concerned, this Michael is not officially possessed by Thorn or any supernatural evil. To him, he is just a really screwed up guy with mental problems. So, who says he has no free will to “talk,” or grunt in his case? I don’t see anything wrong with it. This isn’t the old Michael. There’s no mystery to his “evil” in this alternate universe. He is human.

A lot of that must make this movie sound positive. But all the white-trashiness Rob pollutes the film with goes a long way in sabotaging it. So many supportive white-trash characters are marked solely as victims. And if Laurie and Annie weren’t white trash in H1, Rob made sure they were in H2. I can see both of them becoming unhinged after H1. But to the point of transforming into white trash stereotypes? I may have forgotten how white trash they may or may not have been in H1, but the script was a disservice to their characters…

…Especially to Loomis’s character. He didn’t need to be in this movie. He could have been written out. I thought Michael killed him for sure in H1. But, oh well. For what it’s worth, Malcolm Mcdowell appeared to have more spirit in this one. In H1, I was under the impression that he didn’t give it his all, because the script underwhelmed him. He was better here, but he didn’t need to be in it at all. I can understand why Rob turned Loomis into a prick trying to make money off of his book. This is a new series, let’s do something different with Loomis. The only problem is that there is no hint from H1 to suggest such a major character change. Maybe I forgot some aspects of H1, but this change in character seemed to come out of nowhere.

As for the ending, I’m pretty sure Laurie took Michael’s mask off and walked out of the shack with it on. No, she was not the killer! But she may be screwed up enough to become the new family killer. Do I look forward to that in H3? No. Leave it alone. End it here. Another shocking ending a la H4. I never looked forward to seeing Jamie Lloyd become the killer in H5 and I'm glad they didn't do it.

There’s not much else to say. This is H1 all over again. Some fresh ideas, but 1 to 1.5 dimensional once again. I found some of it unintentionally funny (as I suspected), but not all of it surprisingly. Especially Michael’s hullucinations. I surprisingly found that aspect well thought out. It brought something new to the table. This is another H-movie, but not a real one. And like H1, I will most likely never watch it again. I will always go back to the old series, but not to this new one.

I will appreciate what Rob tried and failed to do, but I will always be more disappointed with the studio for not giving the old series one more chance. They still could have brought John Tate back to Haddonfield to face Michael (by 2006/2007, they could have re-cast Josh Hartnett). And maybe develop the town of Haddonfield as a character again with people we care about. I was able to do that. Heck, I was I able to write a follow-up to H1-2-4-5-6, as well as bring both broken storylines back together in my own H9. But, oh well. It is their loss.

Halloween II (**)

[dellamorte dellamore]

Around 1:01 or so Zombie jokingly refers to this movie as a prequel to a re-imagining of the fourth film.
http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/h2/jimmy-kimmel-live-rob-zombie

I didn't even have to see the film to come to that conclusion

[Danger^Cart]

Creepy obsessions with LordSimen aside, the only thing that really pissed me off here was the substitute of the classic french knife for a fucking combat knife. I mean what the fuck!

[LordSimen]

http://www.joblo.com/arrow/reviews.php?id=1318

Arrow dug it! :D

[XCoRyX]

WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!
I will appreciate what Rob tried and failed to do, but I will always be more disappointed with the studio for not giving the old series one more chance. They still could have brought John Tate back to Haddonfield to face Michael (by 2006/2007, they could have re-cast Josh Hartnett). And maybe develop the town of Haddonfield as a character again with people we care about. I was able to do that. Heck, I was I able to write a follow-up to H1-2-4-5-6, as well as bring both broken storylines back together in my own H9. But, oh well. It is their loss.


You and me both bro. I remember thinking you're ideas were pretty damn solid from when you posted in the horror forums, and I always toyed with my Lindsay Wallace storyline and thought it was damn okay as well.

[g1ng3rsnap9ed]

http://www.joblo.com/arrow/reviews.php?id=1318

Arrow dug it! :D

Very surprising indeed. :)

[Duke Nukem]

You and me both bro. I remember thinking you're ideas were pretty damn solid from when you posted in the horror forums, and I always toyed with my Lindsay Wallace storyline and thought it was damn okay as well.

Thanks. Yesterday, when I posted my H2 and FD4 review, I felt pretty good. It was good day. H2 wasn't too bad, and FD4 was a blast. It's just sinking in now that that Rob Zombie was allowed to release another average/crappy H-movie...and within the same time frame, I accomplished my third H-sequel in a year, and this one covered both broken storylines. No one thought before that it could be done. And it sucks that I'm not in a position (yet anyway...) to do anything about it. Not that anything can be done with the old series anymore, but still. Today, I feel so empty. As empty as the day after I finished H9. The challenge was over. I had to stay away from these boards for a while and think about anything but H9. It was going to happen again if I saw H2. And nothing was going to stop me from seeing it. Today, the emptiness. Tomorrow, a new day.

The series didn't have to go in this direction at all. H20 did pretty good and didn't embarrass the series (depending on who you ask). Yet, by 2000/2001, Josh Hartnett was unwilling to do another one. That screwed everything up. Michael should have went after his nephew after "H20." Instead, the next best thing was a reality show in the Myers house. It was too soon to re-cast the part, so they had put a on a reality show in the Myers house. By at least 2006, when they finally decided on what direction to take next, they could have re-cast Josh Hartnett. Have his character go back to Haddonfield to face Michael. It's simple as that. I was able to do something with it. If I could, a "professional" writer could have, too.

Oh, well. Today, Rob Zombie wins again and the fans lose. Well, a portion of the fans. Some genuinely like H1 and H2. Good for them. At least H1-2 aren't a complete waste of film.

[XCoRyX]

I'm with you. I still think,even I usually don't dig it, Hartnett could've been replaced if necessary. It might not have been awesome or the best thing,but if needed he could've been replaced. I always get that sigh of anger with certain sequel moves/decisions when I had my visions too. Had it with a Jason X/Tommy Jarvis tie-in prequel to FvJ, and had it with a spin-off of my my take on the Halloween comics with Lindsay Wallace as the main face.

[Reigh Kaufman]

I'm going to laugh really hard if the 3 hour making of is released for this movie and it turns out Tyler Mane lifted that car all by his lonesome.

Trailers have already given away Tyler Mane's money shot in Halloween II. During Michael Myers latest rampage, he actually lifts a car and flips it over in pursuit of his next victim.

Tyler Mane is Michael.

"Oh, I practiced on weekends lifting the car", Mane joked. "It was a lot of fun. No, I had a little assistance, but it looks pretty cool, doesn't it? I'm not going to tell you how we did it. Movie magic.."

Source: www.canmag.com

Ah, well...he DID grow his own beard, though.

:D

[Duke Nukem]

Too bad about that, Cory. I also wrote for Lindsey Wallace in two of my H-sequels. Of all the old characters to write for, I especially enjoyed writing for her and Tommy Doyle. Without Laurie, and without Loomis (and without resorting to creating an heir to Loomis), Lindsey and Tommy are all that's left of old Haddonfield.

As for Friday The 13th and Tommy Jarvis, I always thought I'd try out...Friday The 13th...Part IX...Return to Crystal Lake. I would ignore Jason Goes To Hell/Jason X/FvJ, not out of disrespect, but because they made Jason too fantastical. The old straightforward storyline ended with Part 8, and I would personally want to ground it closer back to that reality. Jason is back at Crystal Lake where he belongs, no questions asked. I'd imagine a regular group of counsilers/vacationers in Part 9, and Tommy returning in Part 10 after hearing about those that died in in Part 9. This is what I would do if I felt compelled enough to write it.

Back to H2 and Arrow's review of it. Surprisingly, he enjoyed it for of the same reasons I did. The family dynamics between Laurie, Annie and Sheriff Brackett, how Michael didn't hold back, and as well as the hallucinations. Only, he enjoyed it more because of Rob Zombie's ovarall style. I'm glad he enjoyed it.

[Dr.Frankenstein]

Saw it for the second time tonight! ***1/2 outta 5 stars-( I get it Rob!) Gr8 horror film.

[Crazy Dud]

Okay, this needs to stop.

I gave the film a 4/10, but the blind Zombie bashing needs to end. Who gives a fuck if people like his films? The guy has a unique vision and undeniably creative talent as a director. So why are we ready to lynch Rob Zombie while there are much worse filmmakers out there?

Sadly Halloween 2 wasn't even the worst horror film to be released this weekend? Is there anyone on these boards that thought Final Destination 4 was better than this? Because at least Zombie had a message with this film (even though he botched getting it across). Final Destination 4's message was come see terrible actors and actresses die in the most rediculous ways possible for the fourth time, in 3-D! And the Saw franchise has gone on for 6 years now producing nothing but shock scares and over the top gore effects producing more money and braindead fans than all of Zombie's works combined yet nobody seems to care that these things have been going on for nearly a decade now.

So please give it a rest and stop bashing Simen for enjoying himself at the movies.

Thank you! Whether or not you're a fan of Zombie, a lot of you people bashing this film are the same people who loved the by-the-numbers, completely uninspired and unoriginal Friday the 13th reboot earlier this year. Even if you didn't like this film, at least give Zombie some respect for trying to take the franchise in a new direction. But, oh, silly me, I forgot . . . you people PREFER the same movie over and over again, otherwise you'd have hated the bland and utterly standard F13 remake. To those of you who ALSO hated the F13 remake, I am obviously not referring to you.

This film is much better than his 2007 effort. It is much more focused as a film. This is NOT a fun, entertaining slasher in the slightest. It is a bleak, nihilistic, utterly depressing film, and I'm glad. IMHO, there are two types of horror films . . . fun horror films, and punishing ones that leave you shaken and hurt, but undeniably leave you with things to think about and discuss. I love both types equally. If I didn't also love the bleak, punishing horror films, I wouldn't love May or The Devil's Rejects (and, no, I don't think Zombie's H2 is on the same level as those). This is the first slasher film I've seen to actually look at the reality and consequence of death. Most slasher movies exploit death the way porn exploits sex. They are all about being ENTERTAINED by creative kills and the loss of human life. Here, though, we flash forward a year later, and we see how these character's lives have been irrevocably changed by the death and trauma that occurred one year prior. Laurie is no longer innocent, and acts much like a rape trauma victim (and remember that she lost the family that raised her). Annie has been forced to grow up fast and become a mother to Laurie, and Annie's father is trying desperately to hold it all together. How many other slasher movies treat the reality and consequence of death in this way? Is it pleasant? No, it is not, nor should it be. This film serves almost as a harsh treatise AGAINST the slasher genre (even the sheer brutality of the kills is unpleasant when compared to the creative, campy, gore kills of the F13 series), and personally, I'm actually thankful that Zombie was so willing to piss off the fans to get his point across. Horror films with an actual purpose are rare, but I forgot that people seem to prefer shallow entertainment like Drag Me to Hell in their horror films. That's not a slam against DMTH at all, but we should also appreciate horror films that aim a little higher.

And to all of those who complain because it is a horror film that isn't scary, there are a lot of good horror films that aren't scary. Was May scary? No. Was it a great horror film? Absolutely! Was Carrie scary? No. Was it a good horror film? Of course! Was 30 Days of Night scary? No. Was it a good horror film? IMO, yes. Was The Fly (1986) scary? Not in the slightest! Is it one of the greatest horror movies ever made? Absolutely. What makes these movies work as horror films is that they are, essentially, films that aim to make you tense from the horrifying nature of the story (hence the term "horror"). May isn't scary, but what happens in it is definitely enough to make one tense and uncomfortable from the sheer horror of what takes place. The same goes for Carrie, 30 Days of Night, and The Fly (1986).

In fact, if you're looking for a scary, suspenseful movie, suspense thrillers are more than likely the genre you prefer. Unlike horror films, if a suspense thriller isn't scary or suspenseful, it fails.

My review of H2 comes tomorrow, but for now let me score it 8/10.

To Simen, it's funny how we disagree so much over Eli Roth, yet we're both Zombie supporters.

[Crazy Dud]

This eCritic review sums it up perfectly:

I'm not a Rob Zombie hater. I like his music, I've liked most of his movies, and I like that deep down he's just a horror/exploitation fan. He seems to have devoted every waking moment of his life to worshiping at the shrine of lovable drive-in trash (and I don't use "trash" as a pejorative in this context). Zombie's 2007 remake of John Carpenter's classic "Halloween" was, I felt, a huge misstep. His sequel is a whole different animal; it's as if he made the remake so that he could make the sequel.

I'd still prefer to see Zombie truly doing his own thing instead of trying to do his own thing within someone else's thing. But Halloween II is a marked advance for him. He's discovered beauty, for one thing — he seems to have realized that an entire movie of grunge and sticky blood is visually numbing. So he has introduced various dreams and visions into the picture: the unstoppable killer Michael Myers (Tyler Mane) confronts his spectral mother (Sheri Moon Zombie), along with his younger self and a white horse (which, according to the opening text, signifies rage). Meanwhile, Michael's target, his long-lost sister Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton), has the same visions, plus nightmares of being laid out at some sort of mad Halloween party presided over by figures in rotting pumpkin masks. Zombie, at least, is trying to work in some psychological and imagistic depth.

Unfolding almost entirely at night, and with a bare minimum of flashbacks to The Sorrows of Young Michael, Halloween II is the movie most of us hoped Zombie's Halloween would be. There's an extended sequence of carnage that's an it-was-only-a-dream cheat, but for the most part Zombie has found the mood he wants to strike. The white horse, it turns out, could stand in for everyone in the film — the prevailing emotion is rage. Zombie takes the once-heroic Dr. Sam Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) and turns him into a money-chasing publicity hound, pimping his book about Michael everywhere. I don't know about the hypocrisy of the dialogue calling Loomis a ghoul for profiting off Michael's murders when Zombie is doing the same thing, but there's a hint or two that Loomis has been spiritually deformed by his contact with Michael, trying to wrest some kind of meaning out of the whole affair by recasting himself as a lauded scholar making lucrative appearances on his serial-killer tour.

Laurie, too, is significantly damaged; a year later, she's in therapy (with Margot Kidder in an odd bit as her shrink) and living with Annie Brackett (Danielle Harris) and her sheriff dad (Brad Dourif). She can't sleep, she's working at a cafe with two snarky girls, she's apparently gone vegan and gotten a tattoo and turned her living space into a wreck of graffiti. Scout Taylor-Compton didn't impress me much in the first film, but here she has more to chew on, and she bites down hard. The acting in general here is on a higher level than you'd expect — Dourif in particular shines, creating a warmly idiosyncratic human being out of Sheriff Brackett — and Zombie recruits old-timers like Kidder, Howard Hesseman (dude, where have you been?), and Daniel Roebuck, not to mention an impish cameo by Weird Al Yankovic.

The key thing here is that, to Zombie, Michael Myers seems the least interesting thing on the screen, unlike the 2007 film, which was All Michael All the Time, to the detriment of the rest of the movie. Here, Michael is a grunting ogre who just brute-strengths his prey to death. Every so often, Zombie brings him on so he can break someone and moves on. The focus is much more on Laurie and her anguish, especially after she discovers the connection between her and Michael. The kills aren't meant to thrill us; they're ugly, pounding encounters (the poor guy who gets his face stomped into jelly is probably the worst). Michael himself wears his tattered mask over a long hillbilly beard and looks like a hobo; there's nothing remotely "cool" about him, nothing this film's target audience can hook into or enjoy. He's not smart, not funny, not stylishly diabolical. He looks like he probably smells terrible. He's not "purely and simply evil"; he's purely and simply rage.

Give Zombie some credit: handed the keys to this franchise, he's turned it into a statement on the ugliness of death and the toxic legacy of bad upbringing. That wasn't what John Carpenter's original was about, but it's a damn sight more interesting than any of the original sequels — including 1981's "Halloween 2," which had its moments but was essentially same shit, different location. There are bits and images in this film that would ensure praise from the horror-fan crowd if they weren't in a "Halloween" movie directed by Rob Zombie.

[ilovemovies]

Rob Zombie has taken John Carpenter's creation and has totally and completely shitted on it! What a bastardization of these wonderfully iconic characters! Michael Myers, Laurie Strode and especially Dr. Sam Loomis have been totally and completely destroyed here.

The thing is, the ending COULD have made the movie slightly less painful. Instead it made it worse. MUCH worse. Words can not convey how angry the ending made me. It is so unbelievably stupid it must be seen to be believed.

Actually, even though the ending made me angry, it also made me laugh. The last shot of Laurie Strode, without giving anything away, made me laugh.

Maybe I'll write something more comprehensive later. All I can say is right now I'm not in a good mood. Thank you Mr. Zombie for making me start the day on such "high" note. :rolleyes:

Guess I only have myself to blame though. I knew it was going to be bad. And boy was I right!

2/10


That 2 is mostly for Brad Douriff who somehow manages to escape the movie with his dignity intact. He's the only one though. But he is the ONE good thing about this movie. He somehow manages to rise above this shit and actually give a nice performance.

[Mr.HyDe807]

:POSSIBLE SPOILERS:

I don't get how this movie is his "own thing". This movie reeked of Halloween 4 and 5, which annoyed me even more. I was waiting for something that was Rob Zombie's own vision, and I'm dealing with shit I've seen in previous movies. The only original thing was the "mom and child" visions, which wasn't too bad, but once they came into contact with Laurie, it just went downhill.

At least I knew the Friday the 13th would be the first movies all into one movie, and despite it treading the same ground, it was still a decent movie.

[LordSimen]

:POSSIBLE SPOILERS:

I don't get how this movie is his "own thing". This movie reeked of Halloween 4 and 5

Did you see the same movie as I? This entire movie reeked of Rob Zombie. In fact, most of the people trashing this movie seem to trash all the Rob Zombie parts the most!

[Mr.HyDe807]

:SPOILERS:

Did you see the same movie as I? This entire movie reeked of Rob Zombie. In fact, most of the people trashing this movie seem to trash all the Rob Zombie parts the most!

Yeah, his "visions" and kooky Zombie flair was in there, I'm not gonna lie about that. Yet, the story was exactly like the previous movies, so I don't see how this is Rob Zombie's vision of Halloween 2. it's like in Halloween 5 where we leave the actual interesting characters to the more obnoxious characters a la Tina. Hell, there was even a damn scene where her friends is killed like the first one a la Linda.

Ilovemovies,

Exactly. That was the only saving grace for me, plus the kills, and add to the one scene where......


the slow motion of Annie and Michael, and Laurie's slow discovery of Annie with quick cuts of Michael attacking her. I wished they had the scene in the unused trailer where Brad Dourif is screaming "NO!", though the actual sequence with Brackett seeing Annie, interspersed with Laurie running in the woods, was good. Those were the only things that saved the movie for me.

[LordSimen]

***SPOILERS***


Yeah, his "visions" and kooky Zombie flair was in there, I'm not gonna lie about that. Yet, the story was exactly like the previous movies, so I don't see how this is Rob Zombie's vision of Halloween 2. it's like in Halloween 5 where we leave the actual interesting characters to the more obnoxious characters a la Tina. Hell, there was even a damn scene where her friends is killed like the first one a la Linda.


"Story" is not what define's a movie as being someone's movie. It's not what defines a vision. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope has the same damn story as The Matrix which has the same damn story as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone and that story is called "The Hero's Journey." But that doesn't make them all the same movie.

What defines a director's vision is not only his point of view- how he tells the story- but also what he brings to the story aesthetically and emotionally.

The story may have the basic structure of "Girl stalked by nightmares of a murderous relatives and eventually looses her mind," but how that story is told, what details the director gives or focuses on, are completely and utterly different in every way.

For instance, the Ahab in this story, Loomis, isn't an heroic figure filled with guilt of a past failure protecting a little girl from the boogeyman like in Part 4 or 5. In this movie, he's victim of his own inflated ego desperately trying to find his last depth of humanity but failing to do so on every level. That's two characters that could have been exactly the same, but the director brought different perspectives to them. The differences are vast and are sprawled through out the entire movie.

I think what you're dwelling on is a superficial structure and not what's actually being done on the screen in front of you.

[Mr.HyDe807]

***SPOILERS***



"Story" is not what define's a movie as being someone's movie. It's not what defines a vision. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope has the same damn story as The Matrix which has the same damn story as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone and that story is called "The Hero's Journey." But that doesn't make them all the same movie.

What defines a director's vision is not only his point of view- how he tells the story- but also what he brings to the story aesthetically and emotionally.

The story may have the basic structure of "Girl stalked by nightmares of a murderous relatives and eventually looses her mind," but how that story is told, what details the director gives or focuses on, are completely and utterly different in every way.

For instance, the Ahab in this story, Loomis, isn't an heroic figure filled with guilt of a past failure protecting a little girl from the boogeyman like in Part 4 or 5. In this movie, he's victim of his own inflated ego desperately trying to find his last depth of humanity but failing to do so on every level. That's two characters that could have been exactly the same, but the director brought different perspectives to them. The differences are vast and are sprawled through out the entire movie.

I think what you're dwelling on is a superficial structure and not what's actually being done on the screen in front of you.

Yeah, they aren't the same structure, and they are delivered in a different way, yet they both end the exact same way in terms of Halloween 4, only there is no little girl, just a annoying lead character that's only way to emote is by screaming "fuck!" or "fuck you!" to passing cars. We have Loomis's sudden "inflated ego" character change that I never bought, and the only morality change at the end felt cheap and as a way for him to be brought into the half ass conclusion.

So, as long it has few set changes, I'm supposed to go "oh, this is a new vision, I must disregard the close resemblance towards previous Halloween movies". You state that other movies follow the exact "good vs. evil" ideals, yet they all do in their own unique way . What uniqueness do i see in Zombie's movie? Stuff that looks like deleted scenes from 1000 corpses?

I'm only looking at the story superficially? I'm looking at a movie as a whole experience, and although there are changes that try to be "Zombie", I still see Zombie's inane dialogue (Did I really have to see the coroner say "fuck" for a good 30 seconds), retreaded ideas from other Halloween movies, and Zombie's dream sequence that try to break away from the series, but I just found aggravating.

There are changes, but they aren't changes for the better in my opinion.

[LordSimen]

There's a difference between Zombie having no vision and his vision simply being bad in your mind and you should REALLY make a distinction between which it is, because right now you're kinda talkin' in circles.

[XCoRyX]

Saw this last night...and everythings already been said so I'm saving myself the time. AWFUL. I'd rather watch Resurrection again.

[Mr.HyDe807]

There's a difference between Zombie having no vision and his vision simply being bad in your mind and you should REALLY make a distinction between which it is, because right now you're kinda talkin' in circles.

Uhhh, I do understand that and I never said he had no vision, as evident towards my disdain for what he brought to the movie, True, i did run around circles a bit there, but I was referring towards how bits of the story that complements what he brought aesthetically seemed used before in previous entries, no matter how Zombie sugar coated it with his quirks. Add to my personal dislike for the movie, and that's what I was going for.

You say a director's vision can follow a formula in a different way, and I understand that, it's just that what was complementing the way Zombie brought towards his vision in the middle and end of the movie seemed more closely tied to the 4th and 5th for me. Zombie's tired trademark is all over it, and that was one of my dislikes for it, but the blatant uses of the way Halloween 4 and 5 is in this caught my eye as well, like Laurie's psychic connection of Michael (5), as well as how it ended (4).

I'm not saying that Zombie has no vision, I'm just saying what he is bringing for his vision has bits of ideas that were from other Halloween movies. It's in a different movie with different characters and story, but still follows certain aspects of previous movies, just with a white horse.

[LordSimen]

Yeah, you definitely saw a completely different movie than I did.

[shoe1985]

LordSimen, stop defending the movie. People did not like the movie, it is their opinion, move on.

[LordSimen]

LordSimen, stop defending the movie.

I'll defend the movie whenever I see someone's criticism which doesn't make a lick of sense, thank you very much.

[Mr.HyDe807]

Yeah, you definitely saw a completely different movie than I did.

and how's that, Simen? Do tell.

[LordSimen]

I see 90% Rob Zombie and 10% older Halloween movies and it appears you see the opposite of that, or close to the opposite of that.

[shoe1985]

I'll defend the movie whenever I see someone's criticism which doesn't make a lick of sense, thank you very much.

It is their opinion, they feel that way. If you feel a way, you express it, as you did. Move on.

[LordSimen]

It is their opinion, they feel that way. If you feel a way, you express it, as you did. Move on.

In case you missed it, Hyde and I are having a discussion. Leave us in peace, please.

[shoe1985]

I see 90% Rob Zombie and 10% older Halloween movies and it appears you see the opposite of that, or close to the opposite of that.

Who cares? It is only a movie. People like the old franchise, and will voice their disgust with the new one. It is natural. People don't like Rob Zombie, and they probably won't like his movies, yet, they give him and the movie a chance. Again, who cares

You are an adult, so, stop acting like a little kid. People have opinions that differ from you.

[Mr.HyDe807]

I see 90% Rob Zombie and 10% older Halloween movies and it appears you see the opposite of that, or close to the opposite of that.

I love this Simen, always putting words into my mouth. If you read my review, as well as revolving around the circles, that's exactly what i see as well, as I mention how parts of his story have previous Halloween movies. The unfortunate part is that only 5% of the movie works, and 95% of the movie just blew.

[LordSimen]

I love this Simen, always putting words into my mouth. If you read my review, as well as revolving around the circles, that's exactly what i see as well, as I mention how parts of his story have previous Halloween movies. The unfortunate part is that only 5% of the movie works, and 95% of the movie just blew.

Hence why I'm a tid bit confused exactly on whether or not you feel this movie isn't "his" movie or not. :p

[Mr.HyDe807]

Hence why I'm a tid bit confused exactly on whether or not you feel this movie isn't "his" movie or not. :p

I did say it's his movie, I just think it's funny when he says it's his vision, as in following his own visual, as well as his storyline, where I find things that are from previous Halloween movies. You can dabble on how he's following his own take, but when i see an ending that is sort of reminiscent of the ending of Halloween 4, and executed even more poorly, I tend to make comparisons.

[Crazy Dud]

Wow! I tried to make a post here explaining why the people hating on this movie obviously weren't watching it closely enough, and I was utterly ignored. Perhaps because they know they can't argue it?

ilovemovies, how the HELL has Zombie DESTROYED Halloween? Are you saying Curse of Michael Myers DIDN'T destroy Halloween by linking Myers to druids and weird religious crap? Hypocrisy!

Read the Arrow's review of the flick! He separates Halloween into four distinct eras: 1)Carpenter's Era, the first two; 2)4-6 3)H20 & Resurrection 4)Zombie era. Each of those four eras had a distinct take on the Michael Myers character and mythos.

Besides, have Zombie's films REPLACED the originals? Has it become any more difficult to find and watch any of the old Halloween films? Of course not. Zombie's films have their own separate identities, and have no effect on the previous films. This is a different world, with different characters who happen to share the same names as old ones. This franchise is 31 years old. Are you telling me that, after all this time, you STILL want the same damn movie over and over again?

[Cop No. 633]

Get over it. The majority of people didn't like this movie.

It annoys me when people try to defend a movie like this by trashing another sequel. H6 was a bad movie. So what? It doesn't make this any better. It's all crap. And what if ilovemovies did enjoy H6 on some level? It's his right to think this movie was worse.

And you need to knock it off with the excuse of people wanting the same movie over and over. How is Rob Zombie's movie any different from his past movies? He's just as guilty as recycling his same bag of tricks over and over. Just because this one has the Halloween name on it doesn't mean it's magically new. Trying to argue that Zombie's take is so radical to the original film doesn't mean H2 isn't cliche. It's cliche to his own style. We know there's going to be trailer trash caricatures, lots of shaky cam, lots of gore, lots of pointless death scenes, and based on his remake more amateur and childish takes on a killer's psyche. It's adds up to a boring film made from the imagination of a high school freshman obsessed with horror and metal.

"Different" doesn't always mean better.

On a completely unrelated note... this has just always been nagging me but what's up with Portman in your avatar? I always thought she looked really weird. Like she's drunk as hell off of something and angry at the camera guy.

[LordSimen]

Wow! I tried to make a post here explaining why the people hating on this movie obviously weren't watching it closely enough, and I was utterly ignored. Perhaps because they know they can't argue it?

ilovemovies, how the HELL has Zombie DESTROYED Halloween? Are you saying Curse of Michael Myers DIDN'T destroy Halloween by linking Myers to druids and weird religious crap? Hypocrisy!

Read the Arrow's review of the flick! He separates Halloween into four distinct eras: 1)Carpenter's Era, the first two; 2)4-6 3)H20 & Resurrection 4)Zombie era. Each of those four eras had a distinct take on the Michael Myers character and mythos.

Besides, have Zombie's films REPLACED the originals? Has it become any more difficult to find and watch any of the old Halloween films? Of course not. Zombie's films have their own separate identities, and have no effect on the previous films. This is a different world, with different characters who happen to share the same names as old ones. This franchise is 31 years old. Are you telling me that, after all this time, you STILL want the same damn movie over and over again?

Agreed 100%, sir. :D

[Sigur509]

I dont get all the hate. I quite enjoyed it....And I loved the ending...it fits perfectly.

8/10

[ilovemovies]

Halloween 6 was a bad movie but it was far more entertaining and enjoyable. Plus it had Donald Pleasance and Paul Rudd.

I never said this movie RUINED Carpenter's Halloween. I said it was a bastardization of the iconic characters that he created and I totally stand by my statement.

Zombie tries to do something a little different but if this is the result then I'll take the same old thing ANY day!

Michael Myers, Laurie Strode and Dr. Sam Loomis were great characters. Iconic characters. Zombie took everything great about them and made them so completely uninteresting and even worse, made them irritating beyond belief. And in the case of Michael Myers, he made him a complete and utter joke. This movie felt almost like a parody of the Michael Myers from Carpenter's films and the other Halloween flicks for that matter.

I can not even begin to describe how disheartening an experience it was watching this movie.

Do you want to know what is so funny about this though? I didn't think Carpenter's original Halloween was even all that great. I liked it. I gave it a 7/10 or 3 stars out of 4. But I never thought it was the masterpiece everyone always claim it to be. That said, I still loved the characters. And I hate what Zombie has done to these characters.


I'm so glad that Zombie is done with this franchise because he would totally have killed the franchise for me if he was still involved. I'm glad someone else is taking over. Maybe now I can go back to enjoying this franchise.

[Crazy Dud]

Unless someone on here is ready to actually address the case I made in favor of this movie and the points I made, there will be no real discussion here. Just a pointless argument back and forth. Or in this case, more pointless complaining about Lord Simen, which I've been totally over for some time now, but maybe that's because I actually have a life.

And to Cosmic Puppet, what is the point of telling me to "get over it"? I was just trying to offer my opinion of the movie and bring up some specific points to discuss, which is EXACTLY what we're ENCOURAGED to do on these boards. And, BTW, it has a score of 49 on Metacritic and stands at 62% among Flixster users, so opinions on the film have been much more mixed than how you're describing it.

I'm not sure I see how this Zombie film was "just like" his others. That argument certainly holds true to his 2007 film, where he used the same white trash characters and themes, but the "white trash" was played way down this time and, to me, he seemed to definitely be trying some new ideas and themes (new to himself, that is).

[ilovemovies]

Crazy Dud, you are being just as hostile as the Zombie haters, making a shitload of accusations.

The main reason you've seem to addressed concerning why you think this movie is so effective is because you liked how the movie dealt with the way the characters are developed in the aftermath of the first film's events. I appreciate that Zombie tried to do this but he fails in it's execution miserably. I didn't care about any of these characters except maybe Loomis in the first film and they are all even worse this time around. Laurie is irritating, Annie was completely underused and I got so tired of hearing Loomis bitch for so much of the movie. I didn't like any of the characters except for Brad Douriff's character. Again, he's the one character who I actually liked and he's the one actor who actually gives a nice performance. Everyone else, including Malcolm McDowell, were all pretty bad. Infact, Loomis's presence felt unneeded. He's given nothing to do until the very end and I hated what they did with him. It felt so pointless.

The dreams and visions were unintentionally hilarious. Michael Myers has become such a joke IMO. The final shot of Laurie Strode was perhaps too the funniest scene in the entire movie.

It was just a really bad movie to me.

I'm happy for you and Lord Simen that you guys loved it. I didn't. I loathed it.

I haven't liked any of Zombie's movies (except for House of 1,000 Corpses which I have not seen) but in my mini review of The Devil's Rejects I did note that there were some very effective moments during the first half causing me to believe that Zombie does have potential. But with this movie I'm starting to reconsider if I truly believe that anymore. I suppose there is always a chance where he could surprise me, but it's gotten to the point where I'm actually dreading a Rob Zombie movie now.

[shoe1985]

Get over it. The majority of people didn't like this movie.

It annoys me when people try to defend a movie like this by trashing another sequel. H6 was a bad movie. So what? It doesn't make this any better. It's all crap. And what if ilovemovies did enjoy H6 on some level? It's his right to think this movie was worse.

And you need to knock it off with the excuse of people wanting the same movie over and over. How is Rob Zombie's movie any different from his past movies? He's just as guilty as recycling his same bag of tricks over and over. Just because this one has the Halloween name on it doesn't mean it's magically new. Trying to argue that Zombie's take is so radical to the original film doesn't mean H2 isn't cliche. It's cliche to his own style. We know there's going to be trailer trash caricatures, lots of shaky cam, lots of gore, lots of pointless death scenes, and based on his remake more amateur and childish takes on a killer's psyche. It's adds up to a boring film made from the imagination of a high school freshman obsessed with horror and metal.

"Different" doesn't always mean better.

I think this post hit everything right on. It is a movie. People have different tastes. Many people grew up with the original series, expecting less gore, yes the sequels had more than needed, and not as much violence. This is a new, different series, which pushes the gore and violence as much as possible. There is a reason why people don't like this new direction. Sure, the new generation probably loved this movie, but that is due to them growing up with violence and bloody movies. If you like these type of movies, great, it is what you like. Myself, lets buildup the tension, getting the goosebumps going. When your selling point is violence and blood, I usually pass. Some movies work like that, but they usually have a strong story behind it. Most don't because that is all they build on, trying to outdo the previous scene with more gore and violence.

When you remake a movie, it will be compared to the old series. It doesn't matter what you think, they will be compared. You have many Halloween fans who did like many of the sequels, and find the new series to be a disgrace. It is a new direction, that goes so far off track of what the original series was about.

Many people dislike how Rob Zombie tries to make the villains the heroes, and the heroes the villains. You know something is wrong when you are supposed to support the rapists, child molesters, and murders over the cops trying to prevent this, or getting those people off the streets.

It is all opinion. I have noticed that Rob Zombie fans get really annoyed because people disagree with their opinion. It is only a movie. It is only a guy, who probably could care less about you.

[ilovemovies]

Many people dislike how Rob Zombie tries to make the villains the heroes


This is what my big problem was with The Devil's Rejects.

The first 45 minutes or so were effective because we actually had characters worth rooting for. But once they are all killed the movie all of a sudden shifts and now we are suddenly suppose to root for these brutal killers. It didn't work. And it REALLY didn't work when it made the one other character left who was somewhat sympathetic, the cheriff played by William Forsythe, and made him suddenly completely unsympathetic and he ends up being just as psychotic as the family protagonists.

[gorysnoopy]

What did you think the Sherriff was going to do when he caught the Fireflies? I didn't think he was going to arrest them,wait for that whole judicial process,ya know?
I thought he stayed true to character...he was psychotic from the get go.


And shoot me,but I thought the ending to H2 was perfect.

[LordSimen]

Many people dislike how Rob Zombie tries to make the villains the heroes, and the heroes the villains.

People must really hate the Godfather then.

This is what my big problem was with The Devil's Rejects.

The first 45 minutes or so were effective because we actually had characters worth rooting for. But once they are all killed the movie all of a sudden shifts and now we are suddenly suppose to root for these brutal killers. It didn't work. And it REALLY didn't work when it made the one other character left who was somewhat sympathetic, the cheriff played by William Forsythe, and made him suddenly completely unsympathetic and he ends up being just as psychotic as the family protagonists.

That was the best part of the movie if ya ask me.

[shoe1985]

People must really hate the Godfather then.



That was the best part of the movie if ya ask me.

I didn't like the Godfather, my opinion. I haven't seen that movie in probably 10 years, so, I cannot give examples of the movie.

Anyways, get over it. Rob Zombie made another bad movie. It was better than the remake, but still not good. He isn't a god, he is just another person. He will go back, make another crappy album, then make another crappy movie. His fans, including yourself, will love it, and complain that others do not agree with you.

Here is an idea, don't go into the film industry. You won't be able to take the criticism. People have opinions.

[Mr.HyDe807]

I'm not baiting an argument with Lordsimen at all, as I have said that he has his own opinion of this movie, and since he questioned my thoughts on the particulars of this movie, it escalated into a discussion.

Crazy Dud,

You think that this wasn't one of Rob Zombie's quirks with his white trash characters, and I'm gonna have to disagree with you. From the two coroners in the beginning (to which I hope would just be an end to it), to the Red Rabbit employees, it still felt like his white trash angle was still hanging around like the last movie. Add to his usual trashy dialogue with other characters, and his shtick is still looming around.

Jesus, I'm sick of the whole "we want what was in the original series" argument. If that was the case, my main argument would be that this wasn't a Halloween movie, and how I would complain about how Michael Meyers mythos was raped. That wasn't the problem with Halloween 2, the problem is the way everything was handled seemed halfass. You can say that Laure's transformation was legit, and I would agree with you if Zombie didn't have her resort to saying "FUCK!" all the time, or "FUCK YOU!" to passing cars. It just seemed lazy, like he didn't how else Laurie would handle her feelings. The only thing that worked when dealing with Laurie was that one quick scene with her crying in the car, while everything was silent with the soundtrack playing.

Loomis's transformation, towards which people say can be legitimate, didn't ring true to me. His selfishness, while not prevalent in the first one, was downplayed and his determination to find and help Michael was put first. In this movie, I'm supposed to believe that Loomis would buy Michael's body disappearing and jsut be an arrogant and selfish prick promoting his new book, and even go as far as beleive that he wouldn't have a change of heart until he actually sees Michael on the news for himself. It felt like bullshit and only served as a means to have Loomis in the ending.

The whole "mother" vision angle wasn't too bad, unless you count the kid whole played Michael in this one, who was fucking horrible. These scenes would probably have been more creepy if the kid actually had some personality in him, rather than this droning lifeless boob. Then, when all is said and done, the way it's used in the finale made no sense, unless you count the whole "possession" idea, which concluded in a pretty ridiculous way that just made me laugh my ass off.

Add to Laurie's sudden change in feelings at the end of it all, one who is screaming for help the one moment, then deciding "whoa, my bro is hurt!", which made me scratch my head even more, so when the final scenes winded down, I'm looking at screen and laughing at the completely ridiculous way her character ended up in the end. We got the violence, and it's just as down and dirty as ever, but it doesn't help the rest of the movie.

So there, it may seem like I'm repeating myself, but whatever, some people will get something out of this flick in terms of themes of rage and family, but I did not, since the themes that were established were executed poorly for me. I wasn't looking for this movie to be my worst movie of the summer, as I was hoping for a "Devil's Rejects" for Rob Zombie's vision of Michael Meyers, but unfortunately, it was worse, which I really couldn't believe.

[Danger^Cart]

I wonder how these films would be recieved had Carpenter's originals never existed.

[bluedog101]

ok so i saw this movie last night, and i thought it was incredibly rushed. am i in the minority on this?

[shoe1985]

I wonder how these films would be recieved had Carpenter's originals never existed.

I doubt this movie would even be discussed as much as it is.

[dellamorte dellamore]

Finally caught up to this thing today and it was highly enjoyable. I liked the morose and menacing atmosphere Zombie created. It's mixed with a bit of surrealism but it works better than i thought it would.

I felt like i was watching some Argento dreamscape, nothing felt quite real or tangible just a constant and sustained unsettling tableu.

Sure, there are cliches aplenty, it didn't matter though, the characters were only there to further the mission Myers was on.

Wow, this is Myers like i've never seen him before, brutal doesn't begin to describe his actions, he is on the proverbial warpath in this, Zombie managed to make him menacing again, yep, some people, most people, will disagree but this is the version of him i wished was brought to fruition in all the sequels.

He stomps people's head in, he breaks people's forearms, he stabs people with reckless abandon and extreme prejudice, this is the incarnation of the monster we always heard about in the Halloween mythos but have never actually seen. Honestly, all his other incarnations look like wussies( including the reboot) in comparison to this creation.


I felt every stab, every slice, every head stomp. I admit, the suspense factor is relatively zero compared to 1 and 4 but barring the occasional jump cut scare, it was about the intimidation and fear factor, H2 has it in spades. You know it's coming, you just aren't prepared for how violent it will be.

That brings me to the gore factor. I had a problem with the lighting and editing in certain instances, it's difficult to tell what's happening. I can forgive that because when you do see whats going on, it's cringe inducing. I knew what to expect once i saw wat he did to the nurse in the hospital, it was intense the sheer maniacal brutality on display. Say what you will, you always hear these stories about someone stabbing someone multiple times, it makes sense a man with such sheer hatred towards his prey, a man who is beyond psychotic, would go into a rage filled homicidal episode like he did in this film.


Another aspect that seems to vex everyone, the image of his mother and him as a child. It works, it's adds to the creep factor, this guy was seeing visions, it's what psychotics " normally " experience, why is it out of place in this universe. Even Jason saw visions of his mother in the F13 series( part 2 to be exact). We got some insight ito his disturbed mind, they were some of the most chilling sequences in the film.


I could go on, but for now, i'll just leave it at this, i highly recommend this film(you were right again LS), i'm not saying it's terrific although it contains some terrific moments, overall i left the theater more satisfied than what i was expecting to be and i'm glad i didn't pay more to see FD4 instead:). Now i'm just a bit bummed Zom won't come back for the 3rd, i think he was on to something here.

ps- Alice in Wonderland looks unbelievably amazing, they played the trailer before H2

[Crazy Dud]

Crazy Dud, you are being just as hostile as the Zombie haters, making a shitload of accusations.

The main reason you've seem to addressed concerning why you think this movie is so effective is because you liked how the movie dealt with the way the characters are developed in the aftermath of the first film's events. I appreciate that Zombie tried to do this but he fails in it's execution miserably. I didn't care about any of these characters except maybe Loomis in the first film and they are all even worse this time around. Laurie is irritating, Annie was completely underused and I got so tired of hearing Loomis bitch for so much of the movie. I didn't like any of the characters except for Brad Douriff's character. Again, he's the one character who I actually liked and he's the one actor who actually gives a nice performance. Everyone else, including Malcolm McDowell, were all pretty bad. Infact, Loomis's presence felt unneeded. He's given nothing to do until the very end and I hated what they did with him. It felt so pointless.

The dreams and visions were unintentionally hilarious. Michael Myers has become such a joke IMO. The final shot of Laurie Strode was perhaps too the funniest scene in the entire movie.

It was just a really bad movie to me.

I'm happy for you and Lord Simen that you guys loved it. I didn't. I loathed it.

I haven't liked any of Zombie's movies (except for House of 1,000 Corpses which I have not seen) but in my mini review of The Devil's Rejects I did note that there were some very effective moments during the first half causing me to believe that Zombie does have potential. But with this movie I'm starting to reconsider if I truly believe that anymore. I suppose there is always a chance where he could surprise me, but it's gotten to the point where I'm actually dreading a Rob Zombie movie now.

We'll just have to agree to disagree. I didn't intend to make accusations. I felt like the people who didn't like this movie were effectively ganging up on the people who did, so my initial posts were probably tainted by an emotional response.

I'm not baiting an argument with Lordsimen at all, as I have said that he has his own opinion of this movie, and since he questioned my thoughts on the particulars of this movie, it escalated into a discussion.

Crazy Dud,

You think that this wasn't one of Rob Zombie's quirks with his white trash characters, and I'm gonna have to disagree with you. From the two coroners in the beginning (to which I hope would just be an end to it), to the Red Rabbit employees, it still felt like his white trash angle was still hanging around like the last movie. Add to his usual trashy dialogue with other characters, and his shtick is still looming around.

Jesus, I'm sick of the whole "we want what was in the original series" argument. If that was the case, my main argument would be that this wasn't a Halloween movie, and how I would complain about how Michael Meyers mythos was raped. That wasn't the problem with Halloween 2, the problem is the way everything was handled seemed halfass. You can say that Laure's transformation was legit, and I would agree with you if Zombie didn't have her resort to saying "FUCK!" all the time, or "FUCK YOU!" to passing cars. It just seemed lazy, like he didn't how else Laurie would handle her feelings. The only thing that worked when dealing with Laurie was that one quick scene with her crying in the car, while everything was silent with the soundtrack playing.

Loomis's transformation, towards which people say can be legitimate, didn't ring true to me. His selfishness, while not prevalent in the first one, was downplayed and his determination to find and help Michael was put first. In this movie, I'm supposed to believe that Loomis would buy Michael's body disappearing and jsut be an arrogant and selfish prick promoting his new book, and even go as far as beleive that he wouldn't have a change of heart until he actually sees Michael on the news for himself. It felt like bullshit and only served as a means to have Loomis in the ending.

The whole "mother" vision angle wasn't too bad, unless you count the kid whole played Michael in this one, who was fucking horrible. These scenes would probably have been more creepy if the kid actually had some personality in him, rather than this droning lifeless boob. Then, when all is said and done, the way it's used in the finale made no sense, unless you count the whole "possession" idea, which concluded in a pretty ridiculous way that just made me laugh my ass off.

Add to Laurie's sudden change in feelings at the end of it all, one who is screaming for help the one moment, then deciding "whoa, my bro is hurt!", which made me scratch my head even more, so when the final scenes winded down, I'm looking at screen and laughing at the completely ridiculous way her character ended up in the end. We got the violence, and it's just as down and dirty as ever, but it doesn't help the rest of the movie.

So there, it may seem like I'm repeating myself, but whatever, some people will get something out of this flick in terms of themes of rage and family, but I did not, since the themes that were established were executed poorly for me. I wasn't looking for this movie to be my worst movie of the summer, as I was hoping for a "Devil's Rejects" for Rob Zombie's vision of Michael Meyers, but unfortunately, it was worse, which I really couldn't believe.

This is an argument I can respect. When I saw this movie, I KNEW a lot of people would dislike it. Zombie has a very unique style that I feel falls far outside the mainstream, and I think he has had difficulty applying that to a mainstream franchise.

I never said the white trash element was absent from this film. I meant it was very much downplayed in comparison to Zombie's other films. I would like to see him move even further away from that on his next film, but this was still a step in the right direction nonetheless (and, btw, those two scenes you used for example were BY FAR my least favorite parts of the movie).

To those who say Zombie has us on the side of the villains, that isn't uncommon in horror. In fact, it's the NORM in slasher films. The fact that Zombie does it in a way that (to me) has a bit more depth is almost his way of peering into that very fact and perhaps even a bit of the psychology behind that (for an even better example of that, see Behind the Mask). I see in the better Zombie films a commentary on the nature of the genre and some of our more prurient interests in it. I probably am giving the guy too much credit for all this, but he should be given at least SOME credit for what he attempts to do with the genre.

Finally caught up to this thing today and it was highly enjoyable. I liked the morose and menacing atmosphere Zombie created. It's mixed with a bit of surrealism but it works better than i thought it would.

I felt like i was watching some Argento dreamscape, nothing felt quite real or tangible just a constant and sustained unsettling tableu.

Sure, there are cliches aplenty, it didn't matter though, the characters were only there to further the mission Myers was on.

Wow, this is Myers like i've never seen him before, brutal doesn't begin to describe his actions, he is on the proverbial warpath in this, Zombie managed to make him menacing again, yep, some people, most people, will disagree but this is the version of him i wished was brought to fruition in all the sequels.

He stomps people's head in, he breaks people's forearms, he stabs people with reckless abandon and extreme prejudice, this is the incarnation of the monster we always heard about in the Halloween mythos but have never actually seen. Honestly, all his other incarnations look like wussies( including the reboot) in comparison to this creation.


I felt every stab, every slice, every head stomp. I admit, the suspense factor is relatively zero compared to 1 and 4 but barring the occasional jump cut scare, it was about the intimidation and fear factor, H2 has it in spades. You know it's coming, you just aren't prepared for how violent it will be.

That brings me to the gore factor. I had a problem with the lighting and editing in certain instances, it's difficult to tell what's happening. I can forgive that because when you do see whats going on, it's cringe inducing. I knew what to expect once i saw wat he did to the nurse in the hospital, it was intense the sheer maniacal brutality on display. Say what you will, you always hear these stories about someone stabbing someone multiple times, it makes sense a man with such sheer hatred towards his prey, a man who is beyond psychotic, would go into a rage filled homicidal episode like he did in this film.


Another aspect that seems to vex everyone, the image of his mother and him as a child. It works, it's adds to the creep factor, this guy was seeing visions, it's what psychotics " normally " experience, why is it out of place in this universe. Even Jason saw visions of his mother in the F13 series( part 2 to be exact). We got some insight ito his disturbed mind, they were some of the most chilling sequences in the film.


I could go on, but for now, i'll just leave it at this, i highly recommend this film(you were right again LS), i'm not saying it's terrific although it contains some terrific moments, overall i left the theater more satisfied than what i was expecting to be and i'm glad i didn't pay more to see FD4 instead:). Now i'm just a bit bummed Zom won't come back for the 3rd, i think he was on to something here.

ps- Alice in Wonderland looks unbelievably amazing, they played the trailer before H2

I agree with all this. Zombie depicts the horror movie monster not just as a random presence, but as the child next door. The idea is that, with the right set of internal and external circumstances, ANYONE could be the horror movie killer. That is a frightening idea and, IMO, makes Zombie a director invested in REAL horror.

[Heisenberg]

I doubt this movie would even be discussed as much as it is.

This movie wouldn't have existed either. ;)

[dellamorte dellamore]

This film could experience the G Romero effect. The majority of people have an extreme negative emotional reaction to it, then it ages a bit and it becomes more intriguing. The more i think about the film, the better my perception of it becomes, there are some inspired moments in this film, the cinematography is sublime, specifically the nighttime scenes. I was thrilled during the sequence in the rain, at the risk of becoming redundant, it looked surreal, just outside of reality( you will know why when you see it:)), Zombie is a visual director first, that was always evident with his music videos, he brings that same attitude to this film, it's a wonderful cinematic palette to behold, appropriate for this type of film.


Of course i'm not claiming the film is without flaws. The Weird Al cameo was pointless but i felt his tv interview was important. It was refreshing to see a different take on the Loomis character. I always felt that the way he was written in all the other films, at least the ones Pleasance was in, was one dimensional. He was single minded in his actions and pursuits, we never see other sides of him, just a man obsessed with Myers. I still love the way Pleasance played him and it's the script that limited his portrayal.

Now we get Loomis as a burnt out opportunist who feels that he should profit from his celebrity and the attention the Myers murders are receiving. I totally got the character, because it's a reflection of our media obsessed world. When bodies start dropping, there is money to be made. Look how many people crawl out from under rocks when their is an opportunity to profit form someone's death/murder. People will pick the flesh off of someone's corpse to make a quick buck, that's all Loomis was doing in this film, his character rang true and Mac played him brilliantly. He knew people love sensationalism so he capitalized on that appetite.


His reversal towards the end made perfect sense because of the confrontation he had with a father who's daughter was murdered by Myers. It took a bit more than that though, the humiliation he suffered in that television interview aided in this transformation. Then when he realized he put people's lives in danger because of what he wrote in that book, he knew he had to atone for his actions. This is fantasy territory because we all know most authors don't care what effect a book they write will have on other people, maybe Zombie was commenting on journalistic ethics and how profit should never trump the responsibility you should have for other people's safety and well being.


It was a bold take on Loomis, one that may have annoyed some people because in the past he was somewhat of a Saint with no flaws whatsoever, Mac brings a 3 dimensional character to the proceedings with layers of complexity. It was great seeing Mac in primadonna mode also, he was insulting people all over the place.

[Crazy Dud]

This film could experience the G Romero effect. The majority of people have an extreme negative emotional reaction to it, then it ages a bit and it becomes more intriguing. The more i think about the film, the better my perception of it becomes, there are some inspired moments in this film, the cinematography is sublime, specifically the nighttime scenes. I was thrilled during the sequence in the rain, at the risk of becoming redundant, it looked surreal, just outside of reality( you will know why when you see it:)), Zombie is a visual director first, that was always evident with his music videos, he brings that same attitude to this film, it's a wonderful cinematic palette to behold, appropriate for this type of film.


Of course i'm not claiming the film is without flaws. The Weird Al cameo was pointless but i felt his tv interview was important. It was refreshing to see a different take on the Loomis character. I always felt that the way he was written in all the other films, at least the ones Pleasance was in, was one dimensional. He was single minded in his actions and pursuits, we never see other sides of him, just a man obsessed with Myers. I still love the way Pleasance played him and it's the script that limited his portrayal.

Now we get Loomis as a burnt out opportunist who feels that he should profit from his celebrity and the attention the Myers murders are receiving. I totally got the character, because it's a reflection of our media obsessed world. When bodies start dropping, there is money to be made. Look how many people crawl out from under rocks when their is an opportunity to profit form someone's death/murder. People will pick the flesh off of someone's corpse to make a quick buck, that's all Loomis was doing in this film, his character rang true and Mac played him brilliantly. He knew people love sensationalism so he capitalized on that appetite.


His reversal towards the end made perfect sense because of the confrontation he had with a father who's daughter was murdered by Myers. It took a bit more than that though, the humiliation he suffered in that television interview aided in this transformation. Then when he realized he put people's lives in danger because of what he wrote in that book, he knew he had to atone for his actions. This is fantasy territory because we all know most authors don't care what effect a book they write will have on other people, maybe Zombie was commenting on journalistic ethics and how profit should never trump the responsibility you should have for other people's safety and well being.


It was a bold take on Loomis, one that may have annoyed some people because in the past he was somewhat of a Saint with no flaws whatsoever, Mac brings a 3 dimensional character to the proceedings with layers of complexity. It was great seeing Mac in primadonna mode also, he was insulting people all over the place.

Indeed. When it comes down to it, Zombie was more interested in making the movie HE wanted than in making the movie WE wanted, and I respect him for that.

[Mr.HyDe807]

If Zombie didn't rely on McDowell to be a bit like the way Donald Pleasance created the character in the first one, maybe I would have went along with his snarky, greedy character in the sequel. Unfortunately, since Loomis's greed was only touched upon, and never really felt in the first one, I just didn't buy his whole character, making his reversal near the end to be just laughable and uninspired.

[Smiert Spionam]

Indeed. When it comes down to it, Zombie was more interested in making the movie HE wanted than in making the movie WE wanted, and I respect him for that.

If that's what he wants to do, then he should stop doing remakes altogether.
You can't have it both ways.....

[LordSimen]

If that's what he wants to do, then he should stop doing remakes altogether.
You can't have it both ways.....

Actually, you can. Remakes should be whatever movie the directors want them to be, not what random fanboys and girls who cannot ever come to an articulate consensus want.

[ilovemovies]

I actually agree with LordSimen on this. It's totally pointless to make a scene for scene remake.

If you are going to remake a movie, then it's definitely better to do something interesting with the material instead of being a flat out copy of the original.

It's just that while what Zombie tried to do, he failed miserably.

[Bourne101]

Halloween II - 5/10

Not really sure what to think about this one. On one hand there are a lot of crappy moments, the dialogue is pretty poor and a lot of it doesn't make sense. On the other hand the first 20 minutes or so are pretty awesome, there are a few good parts scattered throughout the middle portion, and although I don't know if I even liked the ending, there was something about it that rubbed me the right way. What it really comes down to is that Rob Zombie is a shit writer, but as a director he is pretty solid and can create various different atmospheres whether it be dark, dirty, eerie or creepy. Although the final scene was fucking weird and the horse thing was pretty stupid, the way Zombie shot and created that scene was pretty creepy and eerie. The long, white, empty room with only a bed, bedside table and small chair present... not to mention the great song choice (though where the fuck were the rest of the classic Halloween jams?). He needs to chill out on the action sequences with the hand held camera though since it's sometimes hard to see what is going on. Overall, Halloween II was not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but it's still not all that good. Zombie needs to stop writing, but I wouldn't mind if he kept directing.

[drc5145]

I've kind of lost a bit of respect for Zombie as of recent late. I listened to the JoBlo podcast earlier and they brought up the fact that after starting out with 2 interesting movies with House of A 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects. Now? 2 Remakes in a row with a 3rd one next (The Blob) . I'd have been way happier with him if he decided to do his Tyrannosaurus Rex movie.

[triksta]

saw this a couple of weeks ago in New York and loved it to death...probably some of the most violent scenes ive seen,just when you think MM is about to stop plunging that knife into a helpless victim,damned if he dont give 'em a couple more..Rob Zombie has taken Halloween to a different level.I look forward to seeing his version of The Blob..Keep up the good work Rob!

[Heisenberg]

Saw this today and it's a piece of shit.

Spoilers alert!!!!



The first 15 minutes is good, and I thought maybe I had judged zombie too quickly. I was rwong to think that, because as soon as laurie woke up from that nightmare I knew I was in for a sucky movie. From the damn awful dialogue (zombie, put the pen down!!) to the laughable michael in this movie, everything was a complete joke. Completely changing the character of Loomis?? WTF were you thinking Rob? and to try and have him redeem himself in the last ten minute and just die instantly...I will never understand that. Annie was only here cause it was an easy way for zombie to continue his story, her character was completely uninteresting. And being only like 18, she acted more like she was a 35 year old woman. The only strong point of this movie was Dourif, again showing us he has the acting chops that Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise could only dream of. Dont even get me started on the necrophiliac coroner drivers at the start...

Rob Zombie tried way too hard and ended up making a complete fool of himself and a complete joke of the halloween name. He can direct, but he should NOT be writing movies.

4/10

[Bourne101]

The only strong point of this movie was Dourif, again showing us he has the acting chops that Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise could only dream of.

HAHAHA

[Heisenberg]

HAHAHA

Something funny about my post? It's called an opinion, read up on that. :rolleyes:

[ilovemovies]

I agree that Douriff is good in the movie. Infact, he's the movie's ONLY saving grace as far as I'm concerned. But I'm sorry, he's not as good an actor as either Cruise or Pitt. I STRONGLY disagree with you there.

[Lat er al]

I thought zombie's Holloween II was an excellent slasher. Since when do slashers have to have good characters? I hated Loomis, didn't care for Laurie or her friends...but loved the movie. Michael Myers was successfully portrayed as a bad ass killer. This movie was not perfect, but still very enjoyable and one of my favorite slashers.

[Heisenberg]

I agree that Douriff is good in the movie. Infact, he's the movie's ONLY saving grace as far as I'm concerned. But I'm sorry, he's not as good an actor as either Cruise or Pitt. I STRONGLY disagree with you there.

Fair enough. :)

[LordSimen]

You're right. He's a better actor than both of 'em. Dourif > Cruise or Pitt, although those two are awesome in their own right. :)

[Heisenberg]

You're right. He's a better actor than both of 'em. Dourif > Cruise or Pitt, although those two are awesome in their own right. :)

No doubt those two are fine actors, but Dourif is an underrated genius. And it's a damn shame. Hacks like Channing Tatum enjoy massive success, while this guy is only appreciated my a minority crowd. Maybe he can appreciate the love more, knowing that it's totally genuine. But I just wish he could get a big break, just like Mickey Rourke did.

[Bourne101]

Something funny about my post? It's called an opinion, read up on that. :rolleyes:

It is my opinion that your post is funny because it is my opinion that Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise are far better actors than Brad Dourif. Sure, Dourif is good, and his performance in Cuckoo's Nest is outstanding... but that was his best performance and that was 34 years ago. He hasn't been in a good film in ages (LOTR I guess, but his role wasn't that big). It is a bit of a sweeping statement to say a guy who hasn't been in a good film in ages is a better actor than two guys who have had many great performances in many great films throughout their entire careers.

[ilovemovies]

Brad Dourif will always Chuckie to me. He's had some decent to semi decent roles since then like in The Lord of the Rings, but he'll I'll always know him best for Chuckie. He's got a killer voice! :cool:

[bigred760]

I thought Dourif was pretty freakin' good as Greemer Wormtongue in the 2nd LOTR movie. Just my opinion. Few people remember him in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest . . . though that is his best performance.

[Bourne101]

I thought Dourif was pretty freakin' good as Greemer Wormtongue in the 2nd LOTR movie.

I agree, but his role really wasn't that big, and besides LOTR I cannot remember the last good film he was in.

[ilovemovies]

The first Child's Play and Bride of Chucky are both very enjoyable movies IMO. The others not so much, but those two are definitely movies I enjoy watching over again.

Or are you only talking about movies where he physically appears in and it's not just his voice?

[Bourne101]

The first Child's Play and Bride of Chucky are both very enjoyable movies IMO. The others not so much, but those two are definitely movies I enjoy watching over again.

Or are you only talking about movies where he physically appears in and it's not just his voice?

I was referring to physical appearances, although I agree that Child's Play and Bride of Chucky are very enjoyable.

[dellamorte dellamore]

BD was excellent in H2, he grounded what was essentially a fantastical premise. In the hands of a lesser actor, this character would have easily been given to exaggeration and incessant emoting, BD played the character with an undeniable subtlety and realism.

About Pitt and Cruise, they are great entertainers, i never felt they were great actors.

[Briare Rabbit]

Do you want to know what is so funny about this though? I didn't think Carpenter's original Halloween was even all that great. I liked it. I gave it a 7/10 or 3 stars out of 4. But I never thought it was the masterpiece everyone always claim it to be

Preference is one thing but to deny that Halloween is genius film making is tragic blasphemy. Its music, lighting, cinematography and editing are some of the best of any film, in any genre in any time period. Period.

As far as horror films go, it is king.

[Briare Rabbit]

About Pitt and Cruise, they are great entertainers, i never felt they were great actors.

Why not? What does this even mean?

When you say entertainer I think Elvis. Or Marilyn Monroe. Not Brad Pitt, who is an actor and an excellent one at that.

[ilovemovies]

The things that are great about Carpenter's Halloween:

1) Donald Pleasance. He rocks. Sam Loomis is an awesome character.

2) The character of Michael Myers. Probably my second favorite of the 80's horror monsters. Freddy being my favorite.

3) The score. I love that great, eerie theme of the movie.


The rest of the movie is decent but hardly anything profound or masterful. Though there are a couple of great shots.

[Bourne101]

BD was excellent in H2, he grounded what was essentially a fantastical premise. In the hands of a lesser actor, this character would have easily been given to exaggeration and incessant emoting, BD played the character with an undeniable subtlety and realism.

About Pitt and Cruise, they are great entertainers, i never felt they were great actors.

Yeah, Brad Dourif tonguing his pizza for an extended period of time in Halloween II was much more impressive than Tom Cruise's performance in Magnolia (a better performance than ANYTHING Dourif has done) or Pitt's performance in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (talk about subtlety and realism). Both of them have had far more great performances than Dourif. To suggest that an actor who hasn't had a good film (besides LOTR) in several years is a better actor than Pitt and Cruise, who have had many great films in the past several years, seems pretty silly.

When you say entertainer I think Elvis. Or Marilyn Monroe. Not Brad Pitt, who is an actor and an excellent one at that.

This.

[LordSimen]

Yeah, Brad Dourif tonguing his pizza for an extended period of time in Halloween II was much more impressive than Tom Cruise's performance in Magnolia (a better performance than ANYTHING Dourif has done) or Pitt's performance in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (talk about subtlety and realism).

Actually, yes.

Both of them have had far more great performances than Dourif. To suggest that an actor who hasn't had a good film (besides LOTR) in several years is a better actor than Pitt and Cruise, who have had many great films in the past several years, seems pretty silly.

If you're actually including that piece of shit "Magnolia" in their list of great films, I can't take these statements seriously anymore.

[Mr.HyDe807]

Actually, yes.


Brad Dourif was the only saving grace in this piece of turd, but since were comparing it to Tom Cruise in Magnolia, he doesn't even touch Cruise. Hell, the whole sequence with Cruise facing his father in that movie is better than anything Dourif did in Halloween 2.

My opinion of course.:D

[Bourne101]

Actually, yes.

If you're actually including that piece of shit "Magnolia" in their list of great films, I can't take these statements seriously anymore.

lol

[Heisenberg]

Everything Dourif has been in, he has been very good. I personally think he is better than them both, but he wont ever get the cuts them two have had. So he will never be able to fully prove himself to be better.

And Bourne, nice how you pick a scene out of this movie that specifically make my argument look stupid. The pizza scene is a stupid scene in the movie, and it is ridiculous to compare one scene to a full movie performance. Brad dourif in Halloween 2 is imo better than anything I have seen tom cruise do. I don't think he is THAT special.

[Bourne101]

Brad dourif in Halloween 2 is imo better than anything I have seen tom cruise do. I don't think he is THAT special.

To each his own I guess...

[ilovemovies]

Actually, yes.



If you're actually including that piece of shit "Magnolia" in their list of great films, I can't take these statements seriously anymore.

Magnolia is a masterpiece and Cruise is fantastic in it. Fully deserving of his oscar nomination.

[LordSimen]

Magnolia is a piece of shit. Nowhere near deserving any of the praise it gets.

[Tweek]

Come on you guys! Don't make me split this thread! :p

[Briare Rabbit]

Magnolia is a piece of shit. Nowhere near deserving any of the praise it gets.

You know, I used to feel the same way and then I got a little older and rewatched it and it truly blew me out of the water. Boogie Nights? Now there's a piece of shit.

1) Donald Pleasance. He rocks. Sam Loomis is an awesome character.

2) The character of Michael Myers. Probably my second favorite of the 80's horror monsters. Freddy being my favorite.

3) The score. I love that great, eerie theme of the movie

The rest of the movie is decent but hardly anything profound or masterful. Though there are a couple of great shots.


Say whatever you want about the characters but to say the movie has "a couple good shots" is not only a disservice to Carpenter's film but horror films in general and nearly 90% of modern horror has baltantly "borrowed" from Halloween. Note the scene where Laurie sees Myers in the billowing sheets at the beginning and the climax in the Wallace bedroom to name a couple. I could pretty much list the entire movie shot for shot and point out to you every single nuance in its editing and cinematography and also why it deserves to be judged as some of the best in American film making. Period.

[dellamorte dellamore]

Take any role either Pitt or Cruise has ever done, replace them with BD and watch as he outacts them to shame.

Pitt has about as much depth as a shallow puddle after a brief sunshower and Cruise can emote with the best of them. I felt he was highly effective in Magnolia but i never got the feeling someone else couldn't have done better with the material. He ranted and raved and strutted as a self help guru then he cursed his father out and cried. He was excellent, but he went a bit over the top( yes i know the character was supposed to be a bit flamboyant), maybe it's the Cruise smirk that put me off. In Valkyrie he was made to look better because of the genuine acting talent surrounding him.

Pitt, oh god, this guy doesn't act, he struts around and coasts on his good looks. The closest he ever came to acting was in 12 Monkeys and there are 1000s of actors that could have done the same thing( most of them better, BD is one of them), act all wild eyed, twitching like an insane, ritalin junkie. Never got the transformative vibe from that perf, i just thought, here is Pitt trying to act and failing, again.

[Briare Rabbit]

You cannot be serious in suggesting that Brad Dourif could do like, three quarters of the movies that either Pitt or Cruise has performed in. And I'm not trying to be an asshole or anything, but really? Really???

And you're really singling out Brad Dourif as the paragon of versatile acting? Really? Really?. He pretty much pivots on his Billy Bibbit, either amping up the psycho part or the pussy part.

The way you describe Pitt has convinced me you've never actually seen him in a film.

[Bourne101]

Take any role either Pitt or Cruise has ever done, replace them with BD and watch as he outacts them to shame.

Haha, I'd love to see that.

Pitt, oh god, this guy doesn't act, he struts around and coasts on his good looks. The closest he ever came to acting was in 12 Monkeys and there are 1000s of actors that could have done the same thing( most of them better, BD is one of them), act all wild eyed, twitching like an insane, ritalin junkie. Never got the transformative vibe from that perf, i just thought, here is Pitt trying to act and failing, again.

Um.... have you seen The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Se7en?

You Pitt and Cruise haters seem to be focusing more on their popularity and attention in the media than their actual filmographies and performances.

[MisterTwister]

Brad Dourif is better actor than both Pitt and Cruise put together.

[Briare Rabbit]

Brad Dourif is better actor than both Pitt and Cruise put together.

I need examples of this, if you will.

I'm thinking of actual quality movies that Dourif has been in. Like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Mississippi Burning etc. and he hardly stood out.

[SAI]

Brad Dourif is, indeed, the one thing in Halloween II that is marginally better than having red hot needles stuck in your eyes for 105 minutes. But comparing his performance in Zombie's spectacular piece of excrement to Tom Cruise's brilliant, forever robbed of an Oscar, career best in Magnolia just makes you look, well, a bit silly.

I'll have a full review of Zombie's latest steaming shitstain on the history of cinema tomorrow.

[Heisenberg]

I'm thinking of actual quality movies that Dourif has been in.

A film doesn't have to be good for a person to give a good performance. This is why BD will never get the praise he deserves, people look over movies like H2 because they have been given bad reviews. Dourif give a truly fantastic performance in the movie, and is it's saving grace.

Imo that is much more impressive than what cruise or pitt do. They are usually in movies with other big stars and good actors/actresses. It's alot harder to carry a film on your own...something that BD has done many of times.

[ilovemovies]

Born on the Fourth of July, Magnolia, Jerry Maguire, Vanilla Sky, The Last Samurai, Minority Report is better than any performance given by Dourif.

Pitt has an equally long list if not longer.

[MisterTwister]

I still find Dourif to be a superior actor. Didn't like Magnolia at all.

I need examples of this, if you will.

I'm thinking of actual quality movies that Dourif has been in. Like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Mississippi Burning etc. and he hardly stood out.

Yeah he hardly stood out in Cuckoo's Nest. That's why he won a Golden Globe, a British Academy Film Award for Best Supporting Actor, and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor right?

[Briare Rabbit]

A film doesn't have to be good for a person to give a good performance. This is why BD will never get the praise he deserves, people look over movies like H2 because they have been given bad reviews. Dourif give a truly fantastic performance in the movie, and is it's saving grace.

Imo that is much more impressive than what cruise or pitt do. They are usually in movies with other big stars and good actors/actresses. It's alot harder to carry a film on your own...something that BD has done many of times.

Dourif, a supporting character actor has never once in his entire career carried a movie alone. Well, maybe the Chucky films. Good performances by a character actor in utterly shit films [for the most part] do not a great actor make, he just looks good by comparison.

You're still talking in generalities. I have not seen a single example named or when Dourif carried a film alone.

I'm waiting.

[Briare Rabbit]

I still find Dourif to be a superior actor. Didn't like Magnolia at all.



Yeah he hardly stood out in Cuckoo's Nest. That's why he won a Golden Globe, a British Academy Film Award for Best Supporting Actor, and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor right?

You know that using award nominations as proof of something's quality is retarded, right? You are aware actors have won oscars for performances that aren't memorable or even good at all.

I will give you Cuckoo's Nest however, as the one time he has ever made a movie where he was singled out as one of its strengths. Well, maybe aside from providing the voice for a one-liner spewing killer doll.

[MisterTwister]

We'll just have to agree to disagree.

[ilovemovies]

LOL. This arguement is going to go nowhere. No one is going to change anyone else's mind. Everyone should probably just agree to disagree.

[SteeleDude]

Pitt, oh god, this guy doesn't act, he struts around and coasts on his good looks. The closest he ever came to acting was in 12 Monkeys and there are 1000s of actors that could have done the same thing( most of them better, BD is one of them), act all wild eyed, twitching like an insane, ritalin junkie. Never got the transformative vibe from that perf, i just thought, here is Pitt trying to act and failing, again.

Dourif as Achilles! I'm not saying Pitt nailed the part of Greek's greatest warrior in Troy (well...actually he kinda did, the movie sucked despite that), but there is no way BD gets the nod to Pitt. Legends of the Fall? BD couldn't play Tristan! No way.

The question is--could Pitt play Doc Cochran in Deadwood? No. He couldn't. These guys are way too different to compare is the problem. Once you get past the fact that you're getting lost in Pitt's eyes like all the women around you, and you're able to just accept the latent homosexuality in all of us, then he is a fine actor. ;)

Let's get back on topic. Halloween 2 and Rob Zombie suck equally.

[SAI]

Full review, taken from my blog (www.24framez.blogspot.com)

Halloween II (2009)
Dir: Rob Zombie
Cast: Tyler Mane, Scout Taylor-Compton,
Malcolm McDowell, Brad Dourif
http://wearemoviegeeks.com/wp-content/h2postergiveaway.jpg
Rob Zombie’s remake of Halloween was, make no mistake, awful, bad enough that to call it his ‘best’ film would be to insult things that are actually good, it was his least worst film though. He’s regressed.

There are, of course, plenty of horror films worse than Halloween II, endless amounts of shitty horror films made on a camcorder in someone’s back yard have inexplicably found their way to a video release, but that’s not what Halloween II is. This film cost $15 million, it has a writer/director who has made three successful horror films before, it is produced by a major Hollywood studio. It may not be worst horror film ever made, but Halloween II is certainly one of the worst studio horror films in a very long time.

Zombie’s story sees Michael Myers returning to Haddonfield (why? Because, that’s why) after apparently wandering around America knifing people for a year, while growing a mountain man beard that makes him look like a 7-foot, dirt encrusted, member of ZZ Top. Anyway, he comes back and sticks his knife in a bunch of teenagers and other minor characters. It’s the same ‘story’ as every other bad slasher. To be fair Zombie does try to inject a little depth into the film, unfortunately what he comes up with a series of jaw-droppingly pretentious dream sequences involving Young Michael (now played by a slightly less freaky, but still completely charisma and talent deficient child actor) his Mother (The beautiful, but entirely wooden Sheri Moon-Zombie) and, for some reason, explained on an opening title card and yet still utterly obscure, a white horse. He also tries to establish a connection between Myers and Scout Taylor Compton’s Laurie Strode, but does so using little more than graphics and editing techniques that look like they were lifted from a bad music video by a terrible metal band in 1995.

The story is one thing, but what is truly abominable is the screenplay. If you counted every ‘fuck’ in this film I believe the total would be higher than the total amount of words that aren’t ‘fuck’. I mention this not because I’m offended by bad language (I actually don’t believe in bad language), but because it demonstrates beautifully just how tedious Zombie’s writing is. He has an absolute inability to create individual voices for his characters, so they all spout the exact same profanity riddled invective. The characterisation of Laurie Strode is a particular problem. In the original films she is a perfectly average, even slightly mild-mannered, teenager. Here every second word out of her mouth is fuck, she’s hostile and unlikable, and there’s a toughness about her, which undermines the sequences where she’s supposed to be threatened because, little though she is, there’s a sense that this girl can really look after herself. Even this is inconsistent though, given that Laurie is also prone to nightmares and endless fits of crying. In a better film this would pass for layered characterisation, a character hiding her vulnerability behind outward toughness. Unforunately neither Zombie nor Taylor-Compton have the ability to pull this off, and so it just seems confused and inconsistent. This seriously undermines what are supposed to be the scares, because not only do you not get the sense that there is any real threat but you also don’t care if there is. Personally I would have liked Michael to put a knife straight through Laurie’s head and have done with it.

The same problem exists with all the characters. I could believe that Zombie just wrote a few lines and then had the actors pick their dialogue out of a hat, in fact I have trouble believing that such personality free, identical sounding, cardboard cut outs could be created any other way. Perhaps Zombie’s worst offence when it comes to the characters is in his depiction of Loomis. Loomis was always brittle, but here he’s just an utter prick, the kind of man you want to punch in the face the second he speaks. When he was Donald Pleasance Loomis at least exuded some expertise and insight into Michael, there’s none of that here. Indeed the character is completely pointless in the context of the film, serving only to swan around like an arsehole, being rude to all and sundry, before yelling some useless psych 101 crap at Michael to no real purpose.

http://www.littlewhitelies.co.uk/edit/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/rob-zombies-halloween-ii-bloody-michael.jpg

So we’ve established that writer/director Rob Zombie can’t write. He also can’t direct. He certainly can’t direct actors. When I say that Brad Dourif gives the ‘best’ performance in Halloween II I mean it much the same way as when I said that Halloween was Rob Zombie’s ‘best’ film. It’s not good (check out the hilariously poor scene in which Doruif’s Sheriff Brackett brings home a pizza for his, Annie’s (Danielle Harris) and Laurie’s supper) it is, however, slightly preferable to spending the same amount of time stabbing yourself in the leg with a pair of compasses. The same cannot be said of the rest of the… I hesitate to call it acting, but for want of a better word. Scout Taylor-Compton, for example, baffles me. She’s got a girl next door prettiness in real life, which would work for Laurie, but here Zombie has her looking raddled and ugly, and however good a physical fit she may or may not be, Compton lacks any sort of acting ability. If Zombie had cast a Speak n’ Spell machine as Laurie he couldn’t have got a performance that was any less expressive and emotional. How, when there are huge amounts of talent out there, does someone as staggeringly awful as Taylor-Compton get even extra work, let alone a lead in a studio film? Malcolm McDowell should also be in contention for next year’s Razzies for his scenery chomping work as Loomis. However, nobody really had much of a shot at being good in this movie, given the material.

In previous films Rob Zombie has demonstrated that he’s a bit of a magpie, stealing shots left, right and centre from other films, but he’s usually managed to make a film that looked at least okay. Until now; Halloween II is a horrible, horrible mess to look at. First of all most of the film takes place in near total darkness, meaning that during a great deal of the film we can’t see what’s going on (ah, small mercies), and are essentially sitting squinting at a black screen for minutes on end. At other times there is light, and it is as ineptly handled as the darkness. During one scene on a deserted road there is a brilliant white light throughout the scene, which serves to silhouette Michael. Where’s the light coming from? Who cares, it looks ‘cool’, right? In fact it looks more like a UFO from The X-Files is about to land behind Michael and is amateurish in the extreme. Then there are the music video moments, in which Zombie tries to pummel us into submission with cuts upon cuts upon cuts of ‘symbolism’ that only a 12 year old could see as profound or cool. The biggest fuck you though, is reserved for the film’s very last shot, which is a direct steal of the last shot of Psycho. I swear, even over the music, I could hear Hitchcock begin to rotate in his grave. If I ever meet Rob Zombie I’m going to punch him in the face for that shot.

I’ve now written 1200 words about a Halloween movie without discussing Michael Myers. Part of that is down to how unimportant Michael is to this film, and part of it to how unlike Michael he seems. I was always against Tyler Mane as Michael, because it makes the threat he poses so different. The original Michael was a threat mainly through tenacity (and, yes, a supernatural inability to die, but why split hairs), rather than power. Mane’s Michael is just a hulk. Yet by demystifying Michael, Zombie has also removed another of the things that made him truly scary, the point behind that blank mask is that who Michael is doesn’t matter, what his name is doesn’t even matter (remember that in John Carpenter’s original he was ‘The Shape’), Michael isn’t a person, he’s living, breathing evil. That’s scary, a big tramp with a mask isn’t. Michael’s kills are extremely boring, and all executed in a very similar manner. Zombie loves to dwell on overkill (another thing that Michael never really engaged in), and so we get scenes where Michael stabs a victim repeatedly for about 20 seconds, pauses, then keeps right on stabbing. Annoyingly for gorehounds, though Halloween II is very bloody, we actually get to see very little of the violence. Blows usually land off screen, or in such pitch darkness that we can’t make them out, and the violent scenes appear to have been shot and cut by an epileptic on crack.

The dream sequences that recur throughout the film are absolutely awful. The imagery is so cliché that it’s just hilarious, and the acting by Sheri Moon-Zombie and new Young Michael Chase Vanek is torturously stilted. They are also hugely pretentious, it makes me laugh that people have lately accused films like Antichrist and Martyrs of being pretentious. Those people clearly haven’t seen this movie. Oh, how I envy them. Perhaps the thing that most irritated me in this film though is the reveal of the first dream sequence, at which I actually sat up in my seat and said, “you’ve got to be fucking kidding”.

I really hate the trend for remakes in mainstream horror. Hopefully this staggeringly inept entry in the cycle brings us at least close to its absolute nadir (though Zombie’s next is a version of The Blob, God help us). Halloween II is an inexcusably awful film, by a filmmaker who has said that this excremental production represents his vision. That being the case he should get his eyes tested and have his DGA card taken away. If you have even a passing interest in good horror movies, skip this one and get your fix with Thirst on October 16th.

[dellamorte dellamore]

Yes, we have to start a thread concerning Pitt and Cruise's acting abilities, this isn't the thread for this:)

I do have to say though, Cruise in Vanilla Sky, say what, he was dreadful in that film, the title was a reflection of his bland performance, Vanilla and generic. Kurt Russel made hi look like an amateur.

Jerry Maguire, oh my, he basically played a cocky, arrogant, narcissistic playboy, yep , that was a stretch, especially for him. Oh wait, he cried, so tough, and he found something resembling a conscience, the movie blew and so did his performance, but i will give you BOTFOJ, he was excellent in that one, one of the few he was good in.

Okay enough of that, like i said, we should start a thread about his and Pitt's acting in comparison to their peers.

ps- i realize there are physical limitations with certain roles and a nice face can carry the day, but i honestly feel, barring BD's looks, he could play any one of the character's either Pitt or Cruise have ever played. Sure the ladies may not get their panties dripping if they see BD in some of those roles but he could still play them better and with more layers than those two. Hell, here's one that BD would have wiped the floor with Pitt with, 12 Monkeys, he's a natural for that part, Pitt seemed out of place.

to be continued in another thread....

[dellamorte dellamore]

SAI i agree that the majority of the menacing nature MM conveys is because he is this mysterious, almost otherworldly killing machine. A shell of a person who was once human, sort of like a homicidal cipher, the boogeyman in the flesh.

I had no problem with Zombie exploring his once human nature, it added another dimension to his imposing aura without totally debunking the myth. He has never been so brutal and unforgiving than he was in H2, i was genuinely unsettled when he attacked someone, yes, it was more a visceral horror than a psychological one but MM became a sort of cliched joke, a caricature of himself after so many entries, his imposing nature was gone replaced with comical undertones, i simply couldn't take him seriously as a threat anymore.

In H2, he's this large hulking mass of rage, that's willing to destroy anything in his path, i felt the brutality in this film, something that was missing in all the other entries.


The visions he saw gave us a peek into his subconscious, it was an unsettling sight, those sequences added another layer to his mystique without shattering it or making him human.

Of course, i'm not saying the film is amazing but i will say it was highly effective and a unique take on this legend. I think it may be appreciated more as time goes by and we witness what future entries in the series do with the material.

If anything you can't fault Zom for trying something different.