(2009)
Picking up immediately after the events of Halloween this sequel focuses on the aftermath of Michael’s rampage. Laurie Strode is understandably traumatized and must be sedated as she is carted off to Haddonfield Hospital. A year later we find Laurie still recovering from her mental and physical wounds as she attempts to put her life back together. Meanwhile Halloween is approaching and Michael, who apparently spent the year as a homeless person, slowly makes his way back to Haddonfield carrying a dark secret.
Halloween II fails on so many levels that I don’t know where to begin. In Carpenter’s Halloween, Haddonfield is a middle class neighborhood that could stand for “everytown”. In Zombie’s version Haddonfield is a grim, backwoods sea of rednecks, drunks and hookers, which brings up another complaint; why does Zombie insist on making all his characters greasy, filthy, and generally revolting? Zombie’s rednecks are not exclusive to his Halloween films and it begs the question, just where in the hell did Zombie grow up?
The characters, like the characters in all of Zombie’s films, are unlikable and generally loathsome. Carpenter’s Halloween worked well for many reasons including a sympathetic character to root for. Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie was a sensitive, heart-of-gold nerd and we loved her (and related to her). Her friends were regular generally likable teenagers who liked to drink and fool around. Zombie’s Laurie is a smug, snarky, self-absorbed twit with equally self-absorbed selfish friends. I couldn’t care less if anyone survived Michael’s slashing mission in Zombie’s universe. Even worse, In Zombie’s Halloween Dr. Loomis lacks a moral compass and has been reduced to a fame whore who shamelessly hawks his book about his famous patient (FYI psychiatrists are not allowed to write tell-all books about their patients, it’s kind of a no no in the field). Then there’s this,
Inexplicably Sheri Moon Zombie (Michael’s mother) appears several times in the film, occasionally on a white horse with young Michael Myers. The purpose of these surreal appearances continues to elude me. Is the appearance of an “angelic” mother supposed to supplant the reality that his mother was a hooker? Is this supposed to create sympathy for Michael? In the original Halloween we knew precious little about Michael’s back story. Zombie is intent on “explaining” why Michael became a psychopath. I don’t care why, it’s not relevant and it demystifies the Myers mystique.
Additional complaints include Michael’s vulgar grunting as he slashes his way through town; stabbing sounds that are amplified to the point of being ludicrous; and Zombie’s choice to jettison Carpenter’s Halloween score, which was essential for making Halloween “scary” and for making it the classic that it is today. Carpenter chose tension/”clean” slashing over gore. Zombie’s Michael eviscerates men, women, and animals in graphic detail. Yuck.
How I miss thee
Zombie’s 2 Halloween films are sadistic, hateful, nihilistic experiences. Like all of Zombie’s films his Halloween series seem to reflect an utter disdain for humanity. He appears to use the “Halloween” name as an excuse to further a disquieting agenda of hopelessness. There is nothing wrong with creating a gritty slasher film, but make us care a little. Zombie eschews scares for despondency. I don’t like to be depressed after I watch a horror movie.
8 comments:
Great review, really. Tells me everything I need to know, I'll avoid this one like the plague.
Damn JPX! I think that was the angriest review you've ever written!
Careful Catfreeek. I'm not the biggest Rob Zombie (as a director) fan but I like him much more than JPX & Octo do. I haven't seen this movie but I'm of the opinion that it deserves more than **. Also, I'm in the mood to argue.
Zombie's not obligated to make a carbon copy of the 70's safe slasher bluprint. If he did then the end result would be the recent Friday the 13th remake (which I liked but that's not the point). I have no problem with him changing the personalities of the characters or attempting to add depth to a one dimensional boogeyman.
I understand your gripes about the loathsome characters but protagonists don't HAVE to be likeable. Look no further than Tarantino's sociopathic rapist character in From Dusk Till Dawn. You say "Zombie’s 2 Halloween films are sadistic, hateful, nihilistic experiences." Fair enough. But it sounds like you’re demanding that slasher movies stick to the same specific structure that’s run into the ground by Friday the 13th, Sleepaway Camp and the like. I think it’s a good thing to be reminded every so often that we live among disgusting, awful people in an indifferent universe.
I really need to see this damn movie now.
I don't know JSP that ghostly angelic image of Sheri Moon Zombie just pisses me off. That alone makes me not want to watch it. I don't dislike Rob Zombie either, I actually liked the Halloween remake. I'll wait for you to watch this first before I decide.
One of the best metal gigs I've ever been to was White Zombie at the Strand way back in the nine three so I'll always be loyal to Mr. Zombie. Handsome Stan was there. Were you Catfreeek? I caught a pic from the smoking hot bassist but alas, it sank to the bottom of Brickyard along with my Nirvana ticket stub and self respect. But I've told that story before.
Incidentally JPX emailed me saying he appreciated my last comment but can't respond because of computer issues at work. Sounds pretty shady to me.
I'll bitch about Zombie in a minute, but first I want to mention that I agree with JSP's general point about remakes, and by extension sequels. Adding something new or taking things in a different direction (Aliens stands out as a personal favorite) can be the best thing about revisiting an old story. But if you don't like the choices that are made, feeling like they should've stuck with the original settings is the natural response. If it ain't broke...
"In Zombie’s version Haddonfield is a grim, backwoods sea of rednecks, drunks and hookers, which brings up another complaint; why does Zombie insist on making all his characters greasy, filthy, and generally revolting?"
A-fucking-men.
Unfortunately I can't elaborate right now. Back to work.
As I was saying, I've only seen House of 1,000 Corpses and parts of Zombie's Halloween, so I'm not spouting off based on a lot of homework. Some year I'll do a Zombiethon, I was even thinking about it for this past October but it didn't happen.
I can't remember who it was or what particular movie they were talking about but I recall hearing a guy getting all excited telling his friends about some crazy hillbilly character in some horror movie he had seen. Went something like this: "Man, this guy had a walleye and his teeth were rotten and he was wearing this totally nasty clown suit! It was sick!" Listening to him irked me, and reminded me of the hillbilly lust that is heavily in play in Corpses.
When I do my little Zombiethon I'll get into it more, but basically all that stuff just leaves me cold. You may refer your rebuttals to my butt cheeks.
So I wasn't a bit surprised when the new version of young Michael Myers had a stripper mom with a drunk abusive boyfriend in the barcalounger. Of course.
Like JPX, I'm not interested in Michael Myers this way. He's not an abused kid with inner turmoil, he's an abstract monster. He's The Shape. And fuck this trailer park pastiche. I was over it when it got here.
I do like Rob Zombie the musician and I think the frustration he had with modern horror flicks (the frustration that inspired Corpses) was valid. Maybe when I give his work a proper viewing I'll find more to it. Or maybe I'll find that all I need to do for the review is come back here and copy/paste this comment.
Well put Octopunk. I look forward to your future Rob Zombie roundup. I was playing devil's advocate though I still intend on checking out this movie.
On Halloween night I watched about a half hour of The Devil's Rejects and it was a wholly sour experience. My girlfriend had to read Harry Potter for an hour to get the images out of her head and her roommate was just plain disturbed. (I'm certain it's the same movie you were referring to with the clown with bad teeth.)
Still, Zombie has a style that's all his own and he's great at capturing 70's grittiness. I would've been fine watching it by myself. I think he aims to take people out of their comfort zone. It all seems to lead me back to the age old argument - isn't the purpose of watching horror movies to feel scared? Why bother with something familiar and predictable? Also - I don't understand how you could hate House of 1,000 Corpses but love TCM: The Beginning.
Actually it's TCM the remake that I really like. Better pipe in the ass.
I think it's kind of like something I said about Jigsaw in the Saw movies: the events and attitudes are positioned in a certain way so that the hillbillies are right, if that makes sense. In the TCM remake universe I think you're meant to sympathize with the victims more.
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