Halloween 2


release year: 2009
genre: horror
viewing setting: home DVD, 2/6/10

synopsis: In this sequel to the 2007 remake, the not-as-dead-as-everyone-thought serial killer Michael Myers finds his way back to kill everyone he didn't kill before, while also having strange hallucinations about his mother and a white horse.

impressions: While it was decent at times, it also went off on strange tangents. Others have summed it up thusly: "it's not as much a Halloween movie as it is a Rob Zombie movie." He likes to create weird stuff, and this was his chance to do just that and disguise it as something else. It could have been worse...but it also could have been better. Similar elements to the first one include violent kills and heavy focus on the personalities of the main characters. Problem is, the thing that made the 1978 original and some of its sequels spooky was that we didn't know or understand why the killer was doing it.

body count: 17 victims total (counting dreams and assuming that everyone who appeared to die actually did die) plus 1 dog.

something this movie has that no other movie has: Someone's head being stomped on until there's no head left.

acting: Tyler Mane (with beard and a general bum look) is a little more vocal this time - he grunts as he kills people, and at one point he actually says a word. Scout Taylor-Compton is a survivor who's gone over the edge (and understandably so.) Malcolm McDowell is the doctor who did his best to profit from the rampage last time. Danielle Harris is Laurie's surviving friend, who would have done well to move elsewhere. Brad Dourif is still the town's sheriff. Brea Grant is one of Laurie's new (but still ill-fated) friends. Chase Wright Vanek is the new child-version of Michael Myers, but all he really does is stand around next to Sheri Moon Zombie, who returns as the mother of the killer - though this time she's a creepy ghost in his mind, which is nothing like the character she played last time. There are smaller roles for veteran actors Margot Kidder, Howard Hesseman, Daniel Roebuck, and Weird Al Yankovic even makes a brief appearance.

final word: A sequel to a remake, which goes astray from the source material.

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