Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

Halloween II (2009)

Director: Rob Zombie

Time Out rating

Average user rating

1 review

Movie review

From Time Out London

Rob Zombie tries hard to differentiate the second film in his rebooted ‘Halloween’ series from the first. This is obvious in the grubby 16mm visuals that act as a squalid entry into the head of Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton), sister of psychopath Michael Myers. She’s now living elsewhere and has no idea of her lineage outside her subconscious: she’s tortured in her dreams, and Zombie opens with a doozy that pays homage to the original sequel while bettering it in almost all respects.

When his heroine wakes up, however, the writer-director loses his footing. Laurie’s story holds interest thanks to Taylor-Compton’s dedication. But a side plot involving Michael’s old psychiatrist Sam (Malcolm McDowell) weighs down the proceedings with limp satire. Zombie is still committed to showing how violence perverts all touched by it, yet his carnivalesque approach undercuts his empathy. He panders to the cheap seats whenever he’s not being scary.

Author: Keith Uhlich

Time Out London Issue 2042: 8 - 15 October, 2009

Email Tweet Share

User reviews of this film

Grant said...

Posted on Mar 26 2010 19:36 Even more savage and gruesome than its predecessor as the passive-aggressive Giant Haystacks, sorry, Grizzly Adams, sorry, Michael Myers wonders the countryside in search of Laurie Strode/Angel Myers/A White Horse/Whatever. The ol’lummox brutally murderizes whoever happens to be around, generally leaving his hapless vics a shade less appealing than road kill. Meanwhile Scout Barely-Competent as Laurie/Angel has not lost the propensity to irritate the bejeezus out of anyone unfortunate enough to have to witness her performance. This film is populated with so many unlikeable people that it is not humanly possible to keep a tally, no wonder poor, hard-done-by Mikey has gone on a killing spree. Malcolm McDowell has a bit of fun with his Loomis-as-total-heel role but there's not much else to enjoy about any of the other characters. Many of the locations seem to come from a Silent Hill videogame, even the 'normal' characters' homes. It's not terrible, it's kind of watchable but it is not scary at all, just extremely violent and rather pointless. Kudos to Zombie for distilling the original 1981 storyline in rapid time but unfortunately we are left with his own meandering and messy (in every sense of the word) storytelling for the majority of the movie.

Report as inappropriate