October 31st, 2010 - Halloween 2

This is it, the end. I've got to be honest with everyone, I was kind of looking forward to the end of this all week. Feeling a bit burnt out, the strain of making the time every day to watch a movie and write a review was getting to me. That said, now that it's here, I'm sad to see it go. The challenge was a lot of fun, and I hopefully grew a bit as a writer during all of this. Now this isn't the end. This whole twisted idea was to motivate me to write a blog more regularly, and I think it did the trick. It won't be daily, but hopefully weekly, I'll have a review or a opinion to share with everyone. Now, on to the movie.

Now you know I had to review a Halloween movie today. It's a law or something. I suppose I should specify that this is Rob Zombie's Halloween 2, not Carpenters. And I have to say, I really like this flick, which is surprising because I really didn't like his Halloween remake. It seems that Zombie is really good at sequels, but not quite so hot at setting up a universe. Look at House of a 1000 Corpses. It's a decent movie, but not that great. Certainly not worth all the hype it got before release. The Devil's Rejects, however, was fucking awesome. It was like a wrong version of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, complete with ending freezeframe. It just makes the wait for Werewolf Women of the SS 2 that much harder.

So after the events of the first film, Laurie is traumatized and living with friends. Loomis has struck gold with an exploitative memoir of his relationship with Michael. And Michael himself is dead, though his body has gone missing. Bad things happen soon after. The thing is, it's not really a slasher. It's more cerebral and weird than that. More of this movie takes place in the dream world than Inception, and Michael is painted as a more sympathetic character than most. It's an interesting take on the character, and one that isn't trying to be anything like the original continuty. I thought it was great.

It's also a very different style than anything that came before it. It feels almost more like a 70's giallo film. Primary colours are everywhere, and different colour filters and lights are in almost every shot. It also has some of the best shot composition Zombie's ever done. I've said it before that more horror films need to strive to be beautiful, and this is very nearly that.

The acting is also excellent. Malcolm McDowell as Loomis stands out especially in my mind. His character is wracked by guilt by everything that has happened, but refuses to acknowledge it. Instead, he focuses on his book, and trying to dodge criticism from all sides. It's fascinating to watch.

I know this movie is pretty despised in most circles, and I get that. It's very weird, you could argue it doesn't make much sense, and it feels very different from all that came before it. I don't nessesarily think that's always a bad thing, though. It defied expectations, and did some very interesting things. It may have failed at some of them, but it's always interesting to watch. There is a shortage of really excellent kills though. Most of them are just Michael stabbing someone over and over with a very large knife, which is a shame. The sound design does sell the brutality of it.

Halloween 2 is, in my opinion, a very cool film. Most people don't like it, and you probably won't either, but it should be seen. If only to judge for yourselves. And with that, I'm done. The sick thing is, I may be watching another movie tomorrow. I may have a few things to say about it. In any case, I will be back sooner than you know. Happy Halloween!