HALLOWEEN II (D: Rob Zombie, 101 min) Opens Friday (August 28). For venues, times, and trailers, see Movies. Rating: NNN
Halloween II is the best movie to come out of the franchise since the 1978 original.
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That’s not saying much, but the addition of ghosts that impel super-slasher Michael Myers to stalk his sister Laurie (who may see them, too) makes him more than the boring killing machine he’s been all these years and adds another wrinkle to writer/director Rob Zombie’s ongoing theme of family as a transcendently powerful force.
After 20 minutes of slasher gore that follow immediately on the events of the previous film, we skip ahead a year. Laurie (Scout Taylor-Compton) is suffering from post-traumatic stress dis order Myers’s shrink, Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell), is nearby on a book tour, and Myers (Tyler Mane) is making his way back home from parts unknown. It’s all quite dull, so along the way Myers kills eight strangers – half the film’s body count – one by stomping his head to a pulp (the gore highlight).
Zombie’s visual sense is stronger than ever. He has an effective way of starting scenes on claustrophobic close-ups, and he makes his iconic shots look eerie rather than posed. But he still trots out the shakycam and jacks up the volume for every murder. After the first time, it’s numbing, not scary.
