ROB ZOMBIE'S HALLOWEEN 2 (REVIEW)
Dir. Rob Zombie
Reviewer. Martyn Wakefield
Assembling the same cast and starting where the last film left off albeit a dream sequence, ‘Halloween 2’ holds no memories of the franchise from here. ‘H2’ is where Zombie truly feels at home and does to Michael Myers what he did for the Firefly family with his first duet of films.
Scout Taylor-Compton, Malcolm McDowell and Danielle Harris all return to the screen this time fighting a monster who has no limits. The small amount of back story in the prequel now repressed as Michael goes about killing everything and everyone in his path with not one stab to the back but 1,000 as one unbeknownst nurse finds out.
Opening up with a dream sequence that plays part bridge and part stage setting, Michael escapes once more to seek his sister Laurie to bring the family together. This time Michael is plagued by visions of his now deceased family seeking him to kill Laurie and make the family complete again. Effectively shot and mood setting as a motive for Michael’s merciless killing spree somehow shows compassion to the Shape.
Dr Loomis has now become an egocentric celebrity after surviving the original spree of Michael’s and while the original made him the lovable hero with cracks, the cracks have now firmly split open as he seeks to bring down Michael for his own fame and not for the good of saving others.
The blood shed is placed ten-fold and Zombie’s original sequel allows him to do what he does best, create a world where the unbelievable is believable. Myers becomes the evil we sympathise with and the good guy, Loomis, becomes a monster himself. The same pattern seen across HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES and THE DEVIL'S REJECTS and an emotion that is hard to come across and Zombie has not done this once, but twice.
H2 is so much more than a generic horror thriller, it's one that uses a director's motif (family) and drives it front and centre of a series that is all about mindless violence. Michael's drive throughout H2 is not just murder, it's to seek his family and while Carpenter's classic saw Michael chase down his sister for no reason other than to kill her (ed - or so we thought), here we have a real driving force for spiritual connection and a core to Michael not seen in any film before, or since.
This entry in the franchise is often misunderstood by fans who just want cat and mouse but there are layers here that see Zombie break away from the chains of a franchise to make his own film using one of horror's greatest poster boys. This is to HALLOWEEN what JOKER is to BATMAN, nothing more than a character and a new story set worlds apart and actually despite the good and evil at play here, actually sees the lines blur and a heart somewhere connected to Myers' thirst for blood.
The breakdown between good and evil seen no way other than the gripping climax as Laurie sees her family and leaves the void firmly open for conclusion. A perfect closure as Zombie has admitted to having no involvement in part 3 and a decision that can be backed by his legion of fans. HALLOWEEN 2 (or H2 as it is so often referred) may go overkill at times and Laurie may have become an annoying brat since part one, but Zombie confirms he is a director with a vision and one that needs not to be tampered with.
