An Appreciation: Rob Zombie's Halloween II

Obviously, this is not the sequel to original, seminal John Carpenter classic, but rather the further exploits of "Hobo Myers" in Rob Zombie's "Halloween" universe. I loved the "Halloween II" from 1981. In fact, I enjoy practically all the "Halloween" series, save for a few bad eggs (Parts 6 and 8, I'm looking in your direction...). Part 5 was kind of a snoozer, but it is still watchable. And even if Tina was uber-annoying, she had a hotness about her (and major FAIL for killing off Ellie!!)

Anyways, Rob Zombie's "Halloween" films are polarizing to many fans of the original series, and horror fans alike. Many fans love the films, some "like" them, some think they are "just okay." But, many many fans downright hate what Rob Zombie has done to the series.

Personally, I enjoy parts of his spin on "Halloween." A lot of what Rob Zombie put in was interesting and fresh, but what got me was that the second half was just a tired retread of John Carpenter's original. And... I like cussing. I have the mouth of a sailor going from port-to-port, but the language in this flick was just too much. In "Devil's Rejects" it was fine, but not these movies. But I guess he was simply putting his own "stamp" on it.

Here's an example of one such scene...



I actually thought that shit was pretty hilarious...

Anyway, it was the end of Summer last year, August 30, to be exact. I did something that I hardly ever do... watch two flicks in one day!! I caught "THE Final Destination 3D" at an early show, and was very, very disappointed. It was easily the weakest in the entire franchise, and I wasted a good 13 bucks... On the way home, disheartened, I went to a local theater to catch "Halloween II," and I was truly not expecting much...

From the opening scenes at the hospital, I was hooked in. Even when it was revealed that it was a dream, that was a nice, lean, taut piece of slasher mayhem!! Then the movie kicked in high gear, and we learn that Laurie is a punk, Loomis is a money-hungry d-bagg, Annie's kinda bitchy, Michael is NOT dead, but a hobo with krazy Grizzly Adams hair, that Rabbit-in-Red strip club is STILL open (yay!), and many bizarre dream sequences are abound, most of them include Rob Zombie's wife in her "Living Dead Girl" get-up whispering all sorts of nonsense about family. Yeah. All of that actually happened in this flick!! I went along for the ride, though, and when we finally got to the slaughter, that was quite a thing. Michael Myers was killing the fuck out of people!!! He was like a rabid animal!! He was relentless, furious, and totally sicktastic!!! Tyler Mane really unleashed something in this performance this time around. The gore was insane, the nudity was plentiful, and I really dug the cinematography, courtesy of "Crank 2" DP Brandon Trost. And, yes, the dirty language was still there, but I overlooked it. I know some chicks with some potty mouths...

I felt that this was truly Rob Zombie's "Halloween" film!! It had a crazy, dirty, sleazy "Grindhouse" vibe, from the nudity, to the gore, to the 70s-style camerawork, I was pleasantly surprised by the balls this flick had! It was almost like a "Splatterpunk" movie. The splatter was there, and there was a lot of "punk" in this flick as well. From the characters of Laurie and her friends, to the aggressive, "fuck-you" rage of Michael Myers, to the totally bitchin' soundtrack, this movie was punk as hell...

Speaking of the soundtrack, what a great selection of songs this flick had!! Aside from the John Carpenter cues and Tyler Bates' frenetic score, there were boatloads of classic songs in this flick!!!

Here's a brief listing of songs used in the movie...

1. "Nights in White Satin" Moody Blues
2. "Things We Do For Love" 10CC
3. "Kick Out the Jams" MC5
4. "Jackie Blue" Ozark Mountain Daredevils
5. "What's Your Name?" Lynyrd Skynyrd
6. "Am I Evil?" Diamond Head
7. "I Against I" Bad Brains
8. "Amerarockers" Scream
9. "Like Leila Khaled Said" The Teardrop Explodes
10. "I Just Wanna Make Love To You" Foghat
11. "Time to Die" Void
12. "Love Hurts" Nan Vernon
13. "The Chase is Better Than The Catch" Motorhead

Having these songs in the flick let Zombie leave an additional stamp on the film.

Here's an unused trailer that used one of these songs to a great effect...



Anyway, from the music, to the outrageous gore, to the crazy imagery, this flick was really something different. It was a mess, but it was a beautiful, bloody mess. I'd like to call it a "beautiful disasterpiece."

After initially seeing it, I didn't know what to think. All I knew was, that I wanted to see it again. And I did. I watched that flick three more times in the theater!! I figure there must be some sort of logic, as to why I watched it so many times like that...

And, I answer: Like I said earlier, this film had a great 70s/80s Grindhouse Slasher vibe going for it. It had a level of down-and-dirty nastiness that hasn't been seen since films like "Maniac," "The Burning," "Driller Killer," "Toolbox Murders," "New York Ripper," and other films from that era. I greatly appreciated that. This was almost Rob Zombie's crazy, uberviolent take on Slasher films, except that this was, in actuality, a franchise film. I can only imagine what fans would think if this was its own slasher, instead of being associated with the "Halloween" series...
Hmmm....

Despite the numerous (and at times, unnecessary) dream sequences, this film was a lean, down-and-dirty slice of slasher mayhem!! Myers was in fine form, slicing and dicing anyone in his path (seriously, how many times did he bash that poor stripper's head in? Why, Michael Myers? She was just trying to earn a living...). It was interesting what was done with the characters of Loomis and Laurie (I liked "Punk Laurie." She had my heart.), and there was some interesting appearances from Margot Kidder, Howard Hesseman, Chris Hardwick, and "Weird Al"!!

All in all, it was an interesting "experiment" from Zombie, but fans didn't really eat it up. The box office totals were sub-par, so the supposed "next" installment is consequently on hold. I, however, am quite amused that such a grimy, dirty, mean-spirited horror flick made it into theaters!!! It seems that the MPAA are a bunch of lazy bitches nowadays... Haha.

Anyway, "Halloween II" gets a 3 and 1/2 out of 5 stars (***1/2/*****)
It had its numerous faults, but I guess I have this weird, sick love for this movie...

"Do you find me sadistic?"

I'll leave you with a classic song from Motorhead that was used in the movie and rightly sums up just about ANY slasher flick...