If you're a fan of Rob Zombie's other films *House of 1,000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects, and Halloween*, I honestly can't see any reason why you wouldn't like this movie as well.
I thought it was very original and different from all the other Halloween movies. It gave the series a completely different look and hopefully the studio allows Michael to finally be dead. I like how zombie took in the efforts to include ties with the fourth film and the 2nd of the original series. This is one of the most craziest horror films I’ve ever seen in a long time.
The opening scene, which presents all of the original Halloween 2 as an ingenious nightmare, is haunting. I loved the old Halloween decorations in the hospital and Michael stalking through its gray halls set to The Moody Blues Nights in White Satin. Brilliant.
A year after the HALLOWEEN massacre, Laurie Strode lives with Lee and Annie Brackett and is an absolute mess, does drugs, and slowly descending into madness. Dr. Loomis has written a new book and becomes more of a spoiled celebrity. Michael is still alive and sees images of his beautiful mother as a ghost, and the younger version of himself. Deborah tells Michael that he needs to kill Laurie so they will become a family again. When Laurie finds out the truth about who she really is, she doesn't care about anything anymore, so she heads off to the Phantom Jam. After partying with Harley and Mya, Michael comes after Laurie once again to have the ultimate family reunion, because family is forever. I honestly think this is one of the best HALLOWEEN films yet!
Michael himself is also spooky again. He actually yells when he kills people, and this breaking of tradition of presenting him as a mute/silent monster has quite a dramatic effect. If you look closely, you can see a long, straggly beard sticking out from under his haggard mask. Very cool.
Another thing this film deserves kudos for is that it is the FIRST Halloween movie that actually looks like it was filmed in the Midwest during fall. This fact alone GREATLY adds to the mood and ambiance of the film. The scenes of Myers hiking miles across the Midwest plains to commit murder in the tiny hamlet of Haddonfield are very creepy. They reek of awesome.
If you love the HALLOWEEN series, and Rob Zombie's directing style, I highly recommend HALLOWEEN 2.
I’ll give this one 3.5 out of 5 stars.
