Halloween II

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.