Starring: Tyler Mane, Sheri Moon Zombie, Scout Taylor-Compton, Malcolm Macdowell

Directed by: Rob Zombie

Just saw “Halloween II” today, on a nice hot Tuesday, I decided to take a nice long bike trip up to the Wilton Mall which wasn’t a bad trip. I enjoyed the long ride, good cardio workout.

Now on to my review of “Halloween II”:

Plot/Synopsis: Leaving right off of Rob Zombie’s first “Halloween” film, Laurie Strode struggles to get her life back together to recover from the horrible incidents that came from her confrontations with her brother, Michael Myers, a serial killer from Haddonfield. Dr. Loomis tries to tell Haddonfield that Michael Myers is dead when the public still disagrees that Michael’s body is missing.

When Laurie finds out that Michael Myers is still alive, Michael and Laurie will once again reunite. The story gets very deep with the connection of Michael Myers and Laurie. In Rob Zombie’s versions of “Halloween” it seems that Michael Myers still had a love for Laurie and never wanted to kill her although it may seem like it, this shows a strong connection between Laurie and Michael. There is also some deep insight about Michael’s mother who is played by Sheri Moon, which gets into more insight on how Michael became what he became, a murderous monster.

Despite the negative reviews of movie critics and fans, I would have to say that this is not a bad movie at all. I thought it was pretty well made. Most critics and fans accuse this movie of being nothing but a gore fest, which is probably why most didn’t like it.

You see, I disagree. The movie is more than just a gore fest, it actually has a plot and a storyline to it. Like I said above, the movie got into deep insight about Laurie Strode and Michael’s mom, this movie made you feel like Michael Myers was more human and real.

I have been watching horror flicks for years, so I’m used to the gore fest and the very dark material. The murders in the film were very brutal and intense, probably the most intense murders in a horror film I’ve ever seen. It seemed more real and things like this can happen in real life if there is a dangerous serial killer on the loose in your town.

I find this a very special film for many reasons. So to those that are trashing the film in a negative direction, is just further proof that Rob is a good film maker, a controversial guy that knows how to grab people’s attention. Rob wants Michael Myers to feel like a real person while John Carpenter’s version didn’t. Why? Well let me explain…

In John Carpenter’s version of Michael Myers, the character was crazy and insane, yes, but it didn’t really feel right. I think that’s what made Rob Zombie to remake his version ’cause he wanted the character to feel more realistic. Carpenter’s version, Michael just slowly walked around stabbing everyone that stepped in his way. Zombie’s version of the character actually did things.

People are accusing Rob Zombie that he has ruined the classic version of Carpenter’s. Per see, that’s not the case. Rob is actually making the character much better than the original. Killers are supposed to be brutal and intense, Carpenter’s wasn’t.

As long as people are hating Rob’s version and liking Carpenter’s version better, that just shows that people don’t know much about the horror genre. People are almost always about the “original” and “classics”. Rob wanted to tell stories about Michael Myers that Carpenter didn’t really tell. Rob felt there were some pretty important stuff left out that Carpenter didn’t really tell.

I thought the film was very good. I liked the fact that Rob ditched the classic Halloween theme song throughout the film, to get a different feel. I honestly thought this film was better than Rob Zombie’s first “Halloween” film. An improvement from Rob Zombie indeed.

Score for Rob Zombie’s “Halloween II”: **** (4 stars as in excellent)

Kev