"Bad taste is the petrol that drives the American Dream."
Cards on the table: Carpenter's Halloween is one of my all-time favourite films, and I've loved the franchise, through its highs and considerable lows. The prospect of Zombie's re-imagining of the original film was bad enough, the reality even worse, so I was not expecting much of Halloween 2, 2009 version, at all. To my astonishment, this tenth entry in the series turned out to be one of the best. Rob Zombie can hardly be called a sophisticated film-maker, but in Halloween 2 there is a much greater sense of control, shape and a sense of cinematic ambition that is largely absent from his previous work and makes for a more satisfying viewing experience. Tyler Bates's often understated score and the overall sound design work very well. Rob Zombie has made much of his desire for the opportunity to make this his own vision of a Halloween film, unfettered from the constraints of remaking the first film, but there are enough continuity nods and explicit references to earlier films in the series, both narrative and technical, to please long-time fans. This is a brutal and bloody film, which the BBFC passed uncut but which pushes the limits of mainstream screen gore. This is indeed a strength of the film: Myers is reinstated as a merciless, relentless and powerful killing machine, and the film amply demonstrates that death is horrible, flesh is weak and violence has very real physical and psychological consequences all round. The main problem is that the film is so keen to give Michael motivation (a Friday The 13th-style 'do-it-for-mummy' plot strand to give Zombie's wife a recurring role, and an unconvincing 'psychic link' between Laurie and her bother which is redundantly introduced in a single scene), when both the 1978 original and even Zombie's own re-boot made it clear that Michael is simply pure evil. Malcolm McDowell is no Donald Pleasence, and he is underserved by the celebrity-author sub-plot which here is reminiscent of Scream 2 and is underdeveloped in relation to the main narrative drive of the film. However, Brad Dourif gives an excellent and convincing performance as Sheriff Brackett, and Scout Taylor-Compton and the wonderful Danielle Harris lift Halloween 2 way above what is usually required and expected from late-entry franchise movie casting. Non-fans will dismiss Zombie's Halloween 2 as throwaway fodder, but for the faithful it puts the series firmly back on track. It's a shame that the US box-office was underwhelming, but then releasing a Halloween-themed movie at the end of August there still seems plain daft, even though the actual holiday references are quite muted in this film. The ending leaves the story in a similar position to that of one of the earlier sequels, which was subsequently dropped for the following film; it will be interesting to see if the next entry runs with it, as it would be worth exploring further.
Cards on the table: Carpenter's Halloween is one of my all-time favourite films, and I've loved the franchise, through its highs and considerable lows. The prospect of Zombie's re-imagining of the original film was bad enough, the reality even worse, so I was not expecting much of Halloween 2, 2009 version, at all. To my astonishment, this tenth entry in the series turned out to be one of the best. Rob Zombie can hardly be called a sophisticated film-maker, but in Halloween 2 there is a much greater sense of control, shape and a sense of cinematic ambition that is largely absent from his previous work and makes for a more satisfying viewing experience. Tyler Bates's often understated score and the overall sound design work very well. Rob Zombie has made much of his desire for the opportunity to make this his own vision of a Halloween film, unfettered from the constraints of remaking the first film, but there are enough continuity nods and explicit references to earlier films in the series, both narrative and technical, to please long-time fans. This is a brutal and bloody film, which the BBFC passed uncut but which pushes the limits of mainstream screen gore. This is indeed a strength of the film: Myers is reinstated as a merciless, relentless and powerful killing machine, and the film amply demonstrates that death is horrible, flesh is weak and violence has very real physical and psychological consequences all round. The main problem is that the film is so keen to give Michael motivation (a Friday The 13th-style 'do-it-for-mummy' plot strand to give Zombie's wife a recurring role, and an unconvincing 'psychic link' between Laurie and her bother which is redundantly introduced in a single scene), when both the 1978 original and even Zombie's own re-boot made it clear that Michael is simply pure evil. Malcolm McDowell is no Donald Pleasence, and he is underserved by the celebrity-author sub-plot which here is reminiscent of Scream 2 and is underdeveloped in relation to the main narrative drive of the film. However, Brad Dourif gives an excellent and convincing performance as Sheriff Brackett, and Scout Taylor-Compton and the wonderful Danielle Harris lift Halloween 2 way above what is usually required and expected from late-entry franchise movie casting. Non-fans will dismiss Zombie's Halloween 2 as throwaway fodder, but for the faithful it puts the series firmly back on track. It's a shame that the US box-office was underwhelming, but then releasing a Halloween-themed movie at the end of August there still seems plain daft, even though the actual holiday references are quite muted in this film. The ending leaves the story in a similar position to that of one of the earlier sequels, which was subsequently dropped for the following film; it will be interesting to see if the next entry runs with it, as it would be worth exploring further.
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