Halloween II

If all of the characters from the first movie (which was a mediocre remake of the classic) weren't in this film, you wouldn't even know this is a Halloween movie. It's as far from the roots of the series as any film has ever been. There's no theme music, Michael has his mask off half the time and looks like a hillbilly with a large jacket, he grunts while killing people, and even speaks a word of dialog towards the end. Why? I have no clue, but it certainly makes him less scary...

With all this said, this is a brutal and depressingly dark movie that will take some time to get out of my brain. It's images are definitely at times sadistic and there's too much violence, even for a slasher film, but I was never really bored watching it. It's at least interesting from start to finish, even if its pacing & tone aren't consistent. I do think this would have been a better movie if Rob Zombie had decided to take his "vision" and do an original horror movie rather than butcher classic characters, but the almighty dollar was calling. There's certainly material here that I think would work if someone else besides him was directing too. I hate how he always puts in the white trash talk that is an instant turn off. I just don't think it fits with the source material and it is becoming a cliche in his body of work. Zombie also doesn't have a steady hand on the story which doesn't completely gel, and having two completely different versions of the movie that don't resemble each other that much doesn't help (for the record I watched the "directors cut"). Final thoughts: It wasn't horrible, but it certainly could have been much more.