Rob Zombie's H2

GrizzlyMan

Cheers for that copy of the script, im sure it will be a great read - As the crow (part one) has always being one of my favourite Movies

Necronomicon

I'd love to see a Zombie version of The Crow. Original film aside, the franchise has been seriously abused. Whatever about the sequels, let us not forget the Marc Dacasscos television series. *Shudder*

G-Bal

I saw it earlier this evening, and am still processing it. Don't really know what to make of it, really. Definitely not as bad as Halloween: Resurrection, anyway!

The film seems to follow four story arcs, in that it deals with Laurie's reaction to coping with the attack by Myers one year ago, how the Bracketts (Sheriff and Annie) are dealing with it, Sam Loomis' book tour (in which he has cashed in on the events of the previous year) and Myers himself, and his visions of his younger self, his mother Deborah, and a white horse.

(Spoilers will follow...) Stuff I liked about the film included the domestic scenes featuring the Bracketts and Laurie, who are now all living together in the aftermath of Zombie's original. This helped to ground the film a little, and add at least two sympathetic characters in Annie and the Sheriff (played excellently by genre favourites Danielle Harris and Brad Dourif, respectively.) For some reason, though, which bothered me a little, the cluttered, untidy, and grungy feel of the living arrangements didn't seem to reflect the characters living within. The house, which was daubed with pentagrams and satanic iconography may indicate the change in Laurie's character and personality, but didn't at all reflect that of the Bracketts, who seemed to be doing ok, as it were, one year removed from the previous film. I know it's a minor point, but I think it was a very bad choice in production design. That aside, I liked these scenes.

The Loomis arc was really well done, I have to say, and I genuinely thought Malcolm McDowell did a superb job making the Loomis character his own, in this one. There was a lot of humour during the promotion of his book, and I think the addition of Linda's father confronting him was a nice touch. That said, I think the completion of his arc was completely unrealistic and at odds with the character as portrayed by McDowell. The idea that his fame-hungry media whore would return to try and help with the Myers/Laurie situation didn't make sense to me. As far as Loomis being a million miles away from the Carpenter version of him, I can understand that this is Zombie's take on the character-- I didn't think, however, that he did justice to his vision of him in the completion of this arc.

Michael Myers spends most of the film wandering around killing off side characters (including My Bloody Valentine's Betsy Rue) in particularly gruesome and excessive ways, and having visions. The "white horse" thing didn't do much for me, I've gotta say. There was an explanation for its relevance in dream studies in the opening title card, but it stank of pretentious symbolism throughout the rest of the film, and was unnecessary. I don't really get why these scenes were added, to be honest and why Laurie would be seeing her "mother" in these visions as well (seeing as they had never really met. Deborah killed herself, in the original, while Laurie/Angel was still a baby.)

I've no idea whether I actually liked this film or not! It's a tough call. I liked the build-up of Brackett as one of the lead protagonists (essentially filling the void left by the original Loomis character) but I felt that there was really no payoff for his character, especially since Annie was killed by Myers. I thought Laurie's character was a little more sympathetic this time around, but I didn't buy her drastic personality change after the "revelation" that she was Myers' sister. Fundamentally, I felt the conclusion was ludicrous, and the vision of Laurie emerging from the barn wearing Myers' mask was comical as opposed to scary, and made little sense in the grand scheme of things. (It certainly got a laugh at the screening I saw.)

I haven't seen Zombie's other films, like House of 1000 Corpses or The Devil's Rejects, but based on his Halloween stuff, I would say he has potential as a director, but his writing of characters, and general vision, leaves a little to be desired at times.



Good:

• Danielle Harris and Brad Dourif
• Loomis' character in this one. McDowell hams it up nicely.
• Scout Taylor-Compton isn't as annoying in this one!
• Deborah Myers' first flashback-- I liked her character in the first one.
• Not as much vulgar language in this one.

Not So Good:

• There's really not that much suspense.
• The kills are a little OTT, and unnecessary for stock characters
• Laurie's friends made no impression at all
• Loomis coming to the rescue made no sense for his character
• Production design for the Brackett house
• No mention (that I heard) of how Myers survived a point-blank bullet to the head
• An uneven pace through the film
• A pretty lousy conclusion
• The visions-- what purpose did they really serve?

The not-so-good may outweigh the good, but I still wouldn't say I hated the film. I don't tend to nitpick that much with regular films, but I do like the Halloween franchise a lot, so would tend to have more of an interest in it. If anyone else has seen it, it'd be good to hear what ye thought...

beans

A total aside, but I noticed that Samuel Loomis is the name of the boyfriend from 'Psycho' the other night!

Den_M

God I really hated this film, such a waste of 8 quid. Scout Taylor-Compton was so bloody annoying, so were her 'rock chick' friends. The script was still overly loaded with swearing and typical American teenager slang-speak. The deaths got old really quickly and the dream sequences (or whatever they were supposed to be) were laughable. I'm sick of seeing Rob Zombies wife in his films, she can't bloody act, same as Kevin Smiths. I didn't like the previous Zombie Halloween film but at least there was some invention and style to it, and the kid was a bit creepy. This was just terrible all the way through. Give me Halloween H20 any day (as far as recent Halloween films go). Also, Loomis' character was such a dick and really one dimensional. Poor McDowell, a quality actor having to work with a shoddy script like that.

Poppycock!