Halloween II is Rob Zombie’s sequel to his own remake of John Carpenter’s original Halloween.  This version largely leaves Carpenter’s storyline behind and sees Michael Myers resurrected by his mother and a white horse after an ambulance accident.  Two years later, he returns to Haddonfield and murders many people while trying to get to his sister.  Malcolm McDowell, who is ossified and terrible in the film, returns as Dr. Loomis and helps to end Michael’s reign of terror.

Zombie’s remake of the original has some elements to recommend it such as a psychologically interesting take on family trauma and an intense level of violence. The sequel keeps the latter but is absolutely void of any subtext or insight.  The magical elements of the plot, such as the white horse, don’t work (is it Michael’s hallucination or is it really there?) and the whole affair feels slapped together.  The script is simply terrible with profanity substituting for dialogue.  People don’t speak like this anywhere, ever.  This hopefully will bring an end to the up and down series because it suggests that there is nowhere else to go.  ☆.

MJM  07-20-2012