The Two Halloween 2’s
Because comparing the two Inglourious Basterds films was fun, I thought it’d be cool to write a similar article comparing the original Halloween 2 and the new, Rob Zombie Halloween 2. The problem with this idea is that I had to see the new, Rob Zombie Halloween 2. Ouch.
Because comparing the two Inglourious Basterds films was fun, I thought it’d be cool to write a similar article comparing the original Halloween 2 and the new, Rob Zombie Halloween 2. The problem with this idea is that I had to see the new, Rob Zombie Halloween 2. Ouch. I’ll get to that, but let’s talk about the original Halloween 2 first.
With the original Halloween, John Carpenter and crew changed the game in horror movies, making a small, independently-financed movie about a killer in a small town. The film was so successful that it practically created the template for what would be known as the slasher genre. In its wake, many, many cheap imitations were made to cash in on the initial idea. Ironically, Halloween 2 was also an attempted cash-in. To best understand the process of creating the follow up to a classic, let’s hear from Carpenter himself:
“I will say that what got me through writing that script was… Budweiser. Six pack of beer a night, sitting in front of the typewriter saying, “What in the hell can I put down?” I had no idea. We’re remaking the same film, only not as good.”
-John Carpenter (from the 2003 documentary Halloween: A Cut Above the Rest)
That is Halloween 2 in a nutshell. Because of that fact, the film is enjoyable as a comedy. The idea is great, starting just after the first one ends. But the film is literally Michael Myers walking around trying to think of things to do, and Laurie Strode freaking out in a hospital. So much of the film centers around a hospital with several unexplained phenomenon: two people work there, there’s a room of newborn babies that’s quickly abandoned, and there are no working lights. It’s supposed to look creepy, but it’s the equivalent of Carpenter holding a flashlight under his chin and going, “Ooooooh scaaaaaarrrryyy.” I wish that had actually happened, but sadly it did not. But I do want to stress that this film is definitely enjoyable in that MST3K way…very enjoyable. I also want to stress that Carpenter did not direct this movie, he only co-wrote it.
Rob Zombie’s remake does not fair as well. It’s almost as if he read the above Carpenter quote and decided to use the same method of writing. Almost.
Zombie’s Halloween 2 opens in a similar style to the original, but quickly splits into three half-baked stories following different characters. The first being Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton) trying to deal with the tragedy of the Halloween murders a year later. The second being Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) on a book tour and enjoying the fame he received from exploiting his psychological studies of young Michael Myers. The third is simply Myers walking back to the small town of Haddonfield to finish what he started a year ago and bring his family together again. The problem I have is that I really want to like Rob Zombie (I loved his movie The Devil’s Rejects) and he has a lot of great ideas, but there’s no content and no commitment to anything. There are so many plot holes and only glimpses of the greatness that Zombie has achieved in the past. There’s great casting (Margot Kidder… Weird Al!?!), great atmosphere, great music, and no suspense. By trying to get into the psychology of Myers, Zombie loses what made the original films so great….the total lack of motive. It’s a shame, because there’s a good film in here somewhere, but no follow-through. The best part is Brad Dourif’s Sheriff Lee Brackett. Every scene with Dourif is an acting master class, doing the best with what he’s got. Unfortunately he’s not a bigger part of the story.
I really wanted to like this one, but it just seems very rushed and like Zombie just couldn’t decide what he wanted it to be. He uses references in a similar way to Tarantino, but where as Tarantino references films no one has seen AND makes them his own, Zombie references films everyone has seen and doesn’t change anything. The inconsistency makes it hard, because there are some truly great ideas, but they don’t go anywhere.
In the end, both films are similar in that they are both amazingly underdeveloped. But, the original Halloween 2 IS a really fun watch. The new one is just mostly silly.
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Scott Burton
Scott Burton is a tireless composer and guitarist in Richmond. He writes reviews about obscure movies for RVANews, and he writes music about obscure movies for the avant jazz group Glows in the Dark.
Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
did you like it
Wow, you are completely dilusional. I’m sure you would have preferred Rob Zombie’s Michael Myers to just randomly teleport from place to place instead of actually making a logical way to show how he gets where h’s going. And making a character actually have motive is, by far, not a bad thing. It adds a more realistic atmophere to the movie, instead of just having some random guy, in an inside out William Shatner mask, magically learn how to drive a car in order to stalk a bunch of people that he doesn’t know. Maybe that idea worked in the 70’s, but, unfortunately, I think in the 21st century, the target audience expects a lot more. People want a Rob Zombie movie to be really brutal and realistic, and to have killers with actual motive. And that is exactly what we got, and it turned out amazing. So maybe if you weren’t so blindingly in love with the first movie, you would actually open yours eyes and see that Rob Zombie’s REIMAGINING is a very enjoyable, frightening, and gritty movie.
First, let me say that I’m glad you liked the Zombie version. For some reason I think that he’s gonna make another amazing movie, and so I went into this one with high expectations (especially considering the amazing cast.)
I definitely love the original Halloween, and mainly because I saw it for the first time only a few years ago, and it blew me away. I like killers without motives, like the Birds or Jaws, or even the family from Last House on the Left or The Devil’s Rejects. I think Zombie had a ton of great ideas and could have really gotten into Myers’ motives, but he ended up settling for some goofy imagery.
Zombie’s killer also teleports, which I thought was funny in the new film, because I thought he was trying to play it serious, but again I think that comes down to lack of thought/planning. The film looks gritty, but the killings aren’t even as intense as the first Zombie Halloween. It just seems real rushed.
i’m pretty sure your music probably sucks as much as your reviews of movies cause this movie was amazing
I have to say that I agree with the majority of this article’s take on the new Halloween film.
I didnt really mind Rob Zombie’s remake of Halloween. I didnt love it, but I went in open minded. There were a number of things that bothered me. When I first heard they were remaking Halloween and that Rob Zombie was slated to direct, I was excited. I felt like if any director might be able to maintain the essence of the original films but deliver a nice twist. This was all promised by Zombie himself. Then I saw the film and I didnt really know what he was going for. He made claims that he wasnt going to just remake the original film, but the entire second half is a half-assed compressed version of the Carpenter original. Also, you can claim that this is his style, but his excessive use of profanity in his dialogue doesnt make his characters seem real or cool. It just makes it seem like he doesnt know how to write dialogue to save his life.
Now with Halloween 2, talk about being awful. It has it’s moments. The first twenty minutes were fantastic. If the entire film was like that, then I would have been satisfied. By making that sequence a dream, it was almost like an unintentionally funny commentary about the film. The fleeting glimpses of a good movie disappear almost immediately just like a dream.
Beyond that though, the film is violent to a point of ridiculous absurdity. When I saw the film opening night, the audience was initially taken back by the brutality. I immediately thought that perhaps this was an emotional outburst by Michael Myers in the sense that he has been rejected by the only family he has left. His anger has risen to such a peak that he screams when he attacks and also continues to stab and slam people into things. After a certain point though, the audience just started to laugh whenever he killed anyone. The post-production sound work that was done to “enhance” the kills with Tyler Mane’s grunts is a joke. It’s not really that effective and it’s laughable.
Oh what else, his dialogue is even worse on this film. I actually heard a rumor that he was constantly rewriting the film as he shot it. That might actually say a lot as to why the quality of the film suffered. The only actors worth a damn are Danielle Harris and Brad Douriff and they arent really that good in this. I would really like to see Scout Taylor-Compton in something that isnt directed by Rob Zombie, because I have no idea if she is a good actress or not. Also, if this film exists in the “real world,” I have yet to meet anyone in my twenty-five years of age that greets their friends as “dick lickers.” But hey maybe that’s just me.
Sorry if this was long and full of rambles, but my problem with this film is that I love the Halloween horror franchise. Since I have been able to I have seen each installment in theaters and I have purchased multiple editions of the installments on VHS and DVD. Michael Myers is my favorite horror movie villain. I enjoy the idea of his character. I was completely ready to accept Zombie’s new vision, but in the end it was total and complete garbage.
That was probably the worst part. After leaving the theater, I kept trying to think about Halloween 2. I wanted so much to justify the film’s purpose and find a good film in it. I have given it so much thought that it kinda pisses me off after a while that I’m even wasting intelligent thought on this film. It’s an awful, terrible excuse for filmmaking and if Rob Zombie weren’t Rob Zombie, they wouldnt let him make movies anymore. The Devil’s Rejects was great, but everything else has been sub-par. Also, Im tired of the casting of Sheri-Moon Zombie. It’s cute at first to put your wife into the films you make, but she cant act.
I will see this movie again and as a commited fan, I may even purchase a copy of it so that my collection is complete. But for everyone who enjoyed this installment, be happy to know that a third Halloween film is in the works which will be in 3-D. Rob Zombie will not be directing. I am happy about that, but I wish I was kidding about the 3-D part. What a joke.