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Halloween II (Unrated Director's Cut) |  | Director: Rob Zombie
Actors: Scout Taylor-Compton, Malcolm McDowell, Tyler Mane, Sheri Moon Zombie
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $28.96
Buy Used: $1.37
as of 7/31/2010 03:06 CDT details
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Seller: Frawley Books and Media
Rating:  210 reviews
Sales Rank: 869
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Subtitled), English (Original Language)
Rating: Unrated
Region: 99
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Running Time: 119 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: COLD34443D
UPC: 043396344433
EAN: 0043396344433
ASIN: B002YICNE2
Release Date: January 12, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 01/12/2010 Run time: 119 minutes
Amazon.com
Rocker turned writer-director Rob Zombie returns to the horror field with this visually ambitious and aggressively brutal follow-up to his 2007 reinvention of John Carpenter’s seminal slasher Halloween. The 1981 sequel to the Carpenter film is completely ignored here (and for good reason) in favor of an extension of the central focus of Zombie’s Halloween, and all of his films, for that matter: the corruption at the heart of the nuclear family. Here, Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor Compton) is attempting to heal the psychic wounds from her previous encounter with brother Michael Myers (Tyler Mane) by bonding with Sheriff Brackett (Brad Dourif, a pleasure to watch as always) and his daughter Anne (Danielle Harris, herself a vet from the original run of Halloween sequels). Her previous surrogate father, Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) has forsaken his connection to Laurie by exploiting his connection to Michael with a tell-all book; meanwhile, Michael himself roams the lonely outskirts of Haddonfield, driven by visions of his mother (Sheri Moon Zombie) and a single-minded urge to bond with his sister at any cost.Aesthetically, H2 is striking, thanks largely to the ashen color scheme by cinematographer Brandon Trost (Crank 2: High Voltage), which underscores the doom-laded spiral track each of the main characters seem to travel in the film. And Zombie is to be commended for venturing outside of his comfort zone--the grimy, pop-culture ironic, white trash environment his characters frequently inhabit--with the scenes between Michael and his mother. But again, his ambitions don’t meet with his abilities--Moon looks impressive, but her apocalyptic mutterings ring more silly than spectral, especially when she’s forced to play opposite an enormous pale horse (insert heavy-handed Biblical imagery here). Most fans will find these moments more tedious than inspired, and a distraction from the murders, which retain Zombie’s preference for mayhem. He succeeds in this department, but if the end result is a menu of ugly killings, the point of revamping the Halloween franchise is somewhat moot, since the threadbare follow-ups to the Carpenter original already achieved that goal. Zombie’s knack for offbeat casting remains his most inspired talent: Haddonfield is filled with cult icons like Caroline Williams (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), Margot Kidder, and Daniel Roebuck, who jostle for space with rough-hewn character players like Duane Whitaker, Mark Boone Junior, and Dayton Callie (Deadwood) and left-field cameos by Howard Hesseman and “Weird Al” Yankovic. --Paul Gaita
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 210
 Laurie's crazy and someone even hits a cow July 27, 2010
N. P. Stathoulopoulos (Brooklyn, NY)
The Amazonites have spoken and this movie got killed, lambasted by some as 'the worst Halloween movie', though there's no way it can approach the horror of the botched Curse or the Busta-Rhymes-was-the-best-part Resurrection.
I'm still not sure why this was given an August '09 release rather than...October/Halloween. Presumably, they didn't want to run up against the latest Saw offering, and perhaps they sensed the buzz of Paranormal Activity. Instead, they ran it against The Final Destination 3D, which still fared better.
Folks seem to love or hate the Rob Zombie Halloween excursions. Say this about Zombie...he is a horror movie fan and he tries something more personal this time around. Yes, we all know and (presumably) love the original Halloween II, where Michael Myers stalks Laurie in the eerily empty corridors of Haddonfield Memorial Hospital. And yes, we all know that it was revealed that Laurie was, in fact, Michael's sister, a plot twist conceived by John Carpenter when he ran out of ideas.) So what should we expect when someone remakes 're-boots' or jump-starts a series and then remakes the sequel, too?
Yes, there are similar elements and plot points from earlier Halloween films, including the original Part II (the hospital, the sister angle, which we knew from the first Zombie installment, etc). But this is not a remake of the original Part II. Rob Zombie is going his own way with the blessing of the Akkad clan, and I think he does some interesting things story and plot-wise. There are clearly some expressionistic nods to Italian horror directors (Bava, Argento), and there's a strong nod to the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder and general insanity after you've been chased by a knife-wielding lunatic. The early scenes---again, picking up right after the events of the original---are well done, if unsettling. There's the frenetic activity of the paramedics and authorities, the hospital atmosphere, the loving close-ups of emergency surgery and various injuries, and the spooky recurrence of The Moody Blues on TV. There's a very nightmarish feel to everything and the looks and sounds are appropriately unsettling. There's a focus on the trauma---the screaming! the terror! The film is much more concerned with the idea that this Laurie Strode is losing her marbles, and is hardly the wholesome and pure Laurie of the previous series. Zombie prefers some of the more disturbing elements of the material over the scary ones...which is his world are nearly one and the same. There is always the risk of wallowing in the downbeat versus showing that the filmmakers actually had any fun making this. I think they did, but Halloween II definitely toes the line.
Like most horror flicks, this is not the sum of its parts, but I always give points for atmosphere and demented touches. Actually, the weakest part of the film is the stalking and slasher action itself. It is predictable, methodical, absolutely brutal, and dare I say...sometimes boring. Michael stabs...and stabs...and stabs...and then stabs again...and again...and again. We get it. Am curious what they cut, because it's a hard R rating here. No, Mr. Zombie does not ease up on the slasher gore, and we get at least one close-up of a knife in the head.
The better elements are the psychological angles (exploring...well, insanity), and the Loomis plotline. This is not the same Loomis, tireless in his effort to stop evil on two feet, but rather a burnt out, cynical, media-obsessed sellout who may or may not have an ounce of altruism left in his shell. Again, Malcolm MacDowell is excellent if underused this time. There's also a bit of plot-timeline fudging toward the end during the 'final showdown'.
The movie is demented, and extremely violent and brutal...perhaps too much in that it distracts from the fresh or different elements that Zombie tries to infuse. I still liked this better than most of the rent-a-hack horror output that comes along. Give credit to a horror fan making horror films and trying something else. Of course, you can't win in this genre. You will be condemned if you make the same old movie (which people want to see) or you'll be condemned if you try something out of left field (because people want something fresh). If you want the old Part II, go watch it, it's a different film. But lordy, this is a heck of a lot better than the latter stages of the original Halloween series.
The DVD looks and sounds great. I believe Zombie shot this on 16mm and converted it, so the images look grainier and darker...it's a very stark and appropriate look for this film. The extras include a plethora of deleted scenes, most not essential but some interesting bits, plus the inevitable alternate ending. Note that the ending here differs slightly from from what you saw in the theater (if you were such a fanatic), since this is the 'director's cut'.
Lost direction..... July 26, 2010
Deimos (Alberta)
This movie opened up excellent in classic H2 style, then as the annoying girl playing Lori wakes up and the film starts going to crap. There are cool parts in this film, good gore, the killings are very realistic but the plot is garbage and the ending is the worst I have seen in a long time. I hope these remakes end now unless they can do better and they pick up making a sequal to resurrection which was also better than the Zombie directed Halloween films. Again decent parts in both remake's but they are the weakest in the entire Halloween series.
 boring and pointless July 26, 2010
falcon (canada)
to say i was disappointed in Rob Zombie's followup to his 2007 Remake of Halloween would be an understatement.this thing is no nowhere near as good as that film was.for one thing,its about as exciting as watching paint drying or grass growing.it also goes straight into bizzaro land on more than one occasion,which doesn't really belong in the movie.it doesn't really fit,in my opinion.Zombie really had something going with his first attempt at breathing some much needed life into the franchise and putting his own spin on things.maybe he should have have just left it at that.all i know is he took several steps back with this misfire.for me,Halloween II (2009)is a 2/5
 Super annoying!!! July 25, 2010
Christine Simes
This movie doesn't deserve more than 2 or 3 sentences. So, here it goes. Rob Zombie's Halloween II has stupid characters (whom you wouldn't mind if they all died with the exception of Sheriff Brackett and Lori's poor friend Mya). The dialogue is redundant and unintelligible. You're left with wanting more plot. A waste of time. I was expecting more from Rob Zombie than something as dumb and blunt as this movie. That's it. That's the review.
He Eat's A Dog...Im Serious July 11, 2010
Isamblay Washington
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Where to begin on this piece of s**t movie. Never ever in life have I came close to walking out of a movie, but between this & The Spirit my will power was tested. 1st what makes Michael Myers who he is IS THE MASK but for some reason the director didn't feel like he needed the mask. For most of the movie Michael is without the mask & jump suit (this time he wears a thousand hot a** jackets) & he grunts so much you start to think that at one point he's just going to flat out start talking. The kill's in this movie are way over the top to the point where you just start thinking to yourself are they serious. The sister he's after is 10x more annoying in this one than the last one, Dr. Loomis doesn't care about trying to stop Michael anymore he just cares about selling his book, for some reason there is a white horse that pop's up whenever the mom does & yeah he eats a dog...im so serious
Showing reviews 1-5 of 210
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