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Review: Halloween II

Rob Zombie's newest bloody mess
By BRETT MICHEL  |  September 2, 2009
0.5 0.5 Stars

 

Rob Zombie's remake of a sequel to a film he remade begins where his previous film left off, with a bloodied Laurie Strode (returning Scout Taylor-Compton) wandering the autumnal streets of Haddonfield, Illinois, after she's killed (we think) masked psychopath Michael Myers (Tyler Mane, likewise returning), who also happens to be her brother. (No spoiler here: this same "surprise" was originally revealed in Rick Rosenthal's 1981 follow-up to John Carpenter's 1978 classic.)

The hospital-set carnage that follows may be straight out of the original sequel, but here it serves only as a 15-minute-long, audience-angering dream sequence before the real plot begins, one year later, with the not-quite-dead Myers (frequently unmasked, he resembles a bearded hobo . . . or possibly Rob Zombie) resuming his stalking of sis, goaded on by ghostly visions of their equestrian mom (Sheri Moon Zombie, Rob's wife) and her white steed, and "arty" imagery in an artless, bloody mess.

Related: Review: My Bloody Valentine 3-D, Photos: Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie at Rock & Shock, Meta P. has a simpler plan, More more >
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ARTICLES BY BRETT MICHEL
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