Review Rating: 7
Spooky Spoilers everywhere!
Laurie Strode and Dr. Loomis deal with the aftermath of Michael Meyers’ bloody rampage of a year before, while Michael himself prepares for a family reunion and homecoming.
I’m honestly surprised and a bit saddened – there were parts that were phenomenal and parts that were just plain bad and unnecessary, and neither of those categories can add up to a movie worth absolutely loving, or totally despising. I actually liked Rob Zombie’s H1, it told a hell of a story and had a progression one could follow. But now, we’re being presented with segments of a story, mostly told in what appear to be dreams or ghostly visions.
RZ’s obvious glee for the Halloween genre is everywhere, and it’s almost childlike in his efforts to blast your mind with one after another gothic-inspired death scene or flash of pin-up girl boobie. I was gratified to see Laurie and her friends in adorable Rocky Horror Picture Show homage costumes when they went to the Halloween party, that really does indicate a more modern take in the movie. Michael himself gets a new twist or two, including one that actually gave me a pause – since when is Michael Meyers a cannibal? When did that happen, and why? I mean, the movie shows it, they clearly define what it is Michael’s doing, but the visions of mommy darkest never makes any reference to it. And throughout the movie, Michael of course kills a lot of people in very violent ways, but this time he makes noise! Wait, noise? He doesn’t speak of course, but Michael Meyers grunts and growls and shouts in wordless apparent rage while he kills folks. Which didn’t make a lot of sense to me, as I always figured Michael Meyers was an iconic horror figure due in no small part to his tenacity and total silence.
And now on to the things I didn’t like. (Better sit down, you may be here awhile.) Scout Taylor-Compton, who plays Laurie Strode in the movie, spends most of the movie with her hair in those twists that look like the unkempt start of dreadlocks, and that is just sooo unattractive. Sheri Moon Zombie, RZ’s wife, returns in her role as Michael’s mother, but it’s remarkably different this time. Mommy dearest has turned into Mommy darkest, she’s trailing a young Michael in a clown costume (?!), and this iconic white horse. The very beginning of the movie has a blurb from a psychiatry journal, referring to the meaning of the white horse in psychoses, and I guess that’s why Mother keeps bringing the equine with her. But really, it wasn’t necessary and muddles things with an attempt at symbology for a character who already has plenty. And then there’s the character Loomis, and what they did to him. Malcolm McDowell gamely declaims his part, but the part they gave him turned Loomis into a greedy arrogant jackass, and that’s just terrible. Loomis is supposed to help save Laurie, not show up at the last minute to salve his own conscience and get sliced open for his trouble. And then of course there’s the ending itself, which, being a fan of the whole Halloween series, I saw coming a mile off. We knew that something like that was bound to happen, but in the original series the transfer of power, or the curse, or whatever you want to call it, didn’t happen until like movie four. So why do it so early?
Don’t read too much into the story, and you may enjoy the movie, or at least parts of it.