|
|
|
|
 |
In order to be accurate in describing the feelings of watching Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN II you have to be able to remove yourself from the fact that they are promoting this as a HALLOWEEN film, a Michael Myer's film and you must look at it as a ROB ZOMBIE film. This has nothing to do with building upon or completing the saga of Michael Myer's and Laurie Strode it has more to do with Rob Zombie sending a giant FU to those that found reason to bash his first visit to HADDONFIELD. From almost the first frame of the film what came across to me was the fact that Rob was doing everything he could to piss off any reviewer he could think of that got on him for the "trailer trash" dialogue and other assorted things that he inserted to make the film more "him" the first time around.
Within the first few moments of the film we get a character that after being in a car crash spends the next several minutes just saying FUCK over and over and over and over again. Zombie lets it be known early that this is his version of HALLOWEEN and if you don't like well then that is just your damn problem and just in case you don't pick up on it during the film if you make it to the end credits you are once again treated to LOVE HURTS by Nazareth, the final FU from Mr. Zombie.
The first 30 minutes of this film are the best and once the "BIG" reveal of the fact that the whole first reel is nothing but a dream things go down hill and I mean fast.
Zombie makes every effort to move all the characters into territories that until you see it for yourself will probably find it hard to believe that he could. Laurie is now a emotionally disturbed goth, punk, whack job. Loomis is a self promoting diva and Michael has been living as a bearded homeless man but it seems that their lives are about to once again collide and when they do things get kind of messy.
I'm not going to lie to you. I didn't enjoy this film at all. Zombie really needs to stop remaking other peoples work and move onto something original. He really isn't a bad film maker he's just not a particularly good story teller. He needs to stop writing his own stuff and just work on bringing his twisted sense of film making to someone else s words, preferable someone who can write text in which every other word isn't a word you couldn't say in front of your mother.
I'm the last person to be offended by any type of profanity and when used properly (Cheech's "pussy" speech in FROM DUSK TILL DAWN") it can be both humorous and effective but when overused and not used in any way to propel the story forward it just comes across as demeaning and stupid. Welcome to Halloween II.
You really end up just not giving a shit about any of the character's that ZOMBIE creates. They all come off as vile, silly, uneducated scum bags that quite frankly the world is probably better off without. I mean the opening scene is two ambulance drivers talking about screwing a corpse. I'm not sure who is more vile Micheal Myer's in the back or the two muck dwellers driving. In the end none of it matters as the film just gets stranger and more silly with every passing moment and by the time the ending comes up you are just quite frankly glad to be able to get the hell out of the theater.
Now, with all that being said it seems that fan reaction is surprisingly positive towards the film. I spent a few hours surfing around prior to writing this review and most reviewers pretty much completely pan the project but the overwhelming majority of just everyday fans seem to be eating it up and overall box office wise the film appears that it will come in third almost 11 million behind THE FINAL DESTINATION so that has got to be a little disappointing to all involved with the film even though they still covered their production costs and made a couple million to boot. The estimated cost of making HALLOWEEN II was 15 million and it looks like the weekend will pull in a little over $17 mil so this one is going to make DIMENSION some money but I can't help but think they were hoping for a $25 mil plus opening weekend. Just to give you a little comparison THE FINAL DESTINATION is going to end up bringing in about $28 mil but it cost almost $40 mil to make so even though they win the weekend they still come out in the red.
Now, back to the film itself. I mentioned above that HALLOWEEN II to me played out more like a giant FU to all who bashed his first foray into Haddonfield and if that is in fact true then good for you Rob, you did it. You made a completely original take on a time tested formula. You reinvented characters, reworked horror mythos and put your foul mouthed, hillbilly, "I'm gonna skull fuck you" trademark all over what was once a respected and beloved horror franchise.
The best way I can say what I'm trying to say is that as a Michael Myer's fan I personally find ZOMBIE'S version one that I would not want to have a poster of hanging on my wall. The violence and swearing is shocking only for a few moments, in order to become legendary, in order to become iconic something has to be offered up that sparks interest and demands attention. Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN II does neither.
It wouldn't surprise me if this one is in the dollar theaters by mid Sept. and out on DVD in time for HALLOWEEN.
What a huge waste of a talented mans time. I still maintain that ZOMBIE is a good film maker and he's got a classic in their somewhere. I hear now that he is next going to remake THE BLOB but minus the "red blobby thing". Oh shit, here we go again.
|
|
Submit your Horror News
here.
Discuss
ROB ZOMBIE'S HALLOWEEN II
in our
Forums |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 | | | |
