User reviews

Halloween II picks up where the last film left off with Laurie Strode a complete and utter basket case. She lashes out at her friends, her psychiatrist, and anyone else in her way. To make matters worse, Dr. Loomis has just released a new tell-all book about the events of the last film, revealing that Laurie is actually Michael Myers' sister which sends her into an even deeper depression as the anniversary rolls around and Michael returns to carve up a new batch of victims.

Writer/director Rob Zombie deserves a massive amount of credit for doing his own thing here. Whereas his first film felt like a less effective paint by numbers remake of John Carpenter's film with just a few of his own flourishes poking through, his sequel is one of the more interesting installments in the series.

There's a lot in this film that feels forced or out of place like most scenes with Michael Myers visiting with visions of his mother, his younger self, and a random white horse, but the dramatic moments between survivors Laurie, Annie, and Annie's father are heartbreaking and played with an unbearable amount of realism.

Yes I'm one of the few people who thoroughly enjoyed rob zombie's remake of halloween. So I was extremely excited to find out he was making the second one.

I love Zombie's directing style and I do think he is somewhat talented. But this movie just wasn't his best. The style and feel of the film was perfect. But the storyline was complete trash. He should have stuck to the original story.

Zombie's "re-imagining" of the second coming of Michael Myers was way off. Yeah he spiced up the original with Michael's backstory, but he completely redid the second one.

So if you just want to see people get stabbed with a cool directorial style and nice lighting(oh and boobs, lots of those) then yeah you might like it.

But for what it's worth, the backbone of any good movie is good source material, and the source material for this was Zombie's lackluster screenplay.

Shame. The first one was so promising. This one definitely ended it. Not only because Zombie says he won't direct another, but because it went so far downhill from the first one it basically killed itself.

Oh and the final scene in the movie is ridiculously laughable and will most likely give you a WTF look on your face.

5/10 for this one. Just don't take it too seriously and think of it as another slasher flick and you may enjoy it for what it is. Just another slasher flick. Nothing special here.

For a person who took a strong disliking to Rob Zombie's Halloween remake, I must say the follow-up, HALLOWEEN II was a breath of fresh air for an avid fan of the Halloween series. It might not be a return to the "Gone of the Wind" of horror movies, but an overall improvement in story, suspense, as well as a pacing that clearly shows Zombie was not in clutches and struggle of trying to rehash John Carpenter's original film while trying to put a spin on it. There were story elements to pick a bone with and the constraints of the 2007 film are obvious. Luckily, Zombie has his white-trash-reality pieces to a minimum in this movie. Though there are accidental homages to the Rick Rosenthal's Halloween II, don't be mistaken. This entry is very different and something completely of Rob Zombie's sole vision. THIS IS NOT A REMAKE, THIS IS A PURE SEQUEL.

The direction was much more focal and clear and Zombie actually delivers some scares, which the first round lacked very much. I also liked the element of Michael Myers having a serious sense of overkill on his victims. And it was also enlightening to see emotional points as well as examinations of the crazed mind, as Michael sees apparitions of his mother as well as him as a child, and as Laurie learns more about herself, begins to have visions and dreams of her own, leading us to question her mental state as events unfold. The characters were way better and the rhythm of the film was refreshing.

Not that it didn't have its moments with necessity to nitpick a bit. Though the "death rides a pale horse" theme of the movie was an awesome story element, it also seemed at times corny as hell. People who aren't big fans of Sheri Moon being in his movies might find it somewhat hard to stomach, but overall the concept had legs. The "ogre" hobo look made Michael Myers seem less threatening at times, but there's also some cool shots as he wanders on his journey. My biggest stake with this film is how much the Dr. Loomis character has strayed into a complete slimeball, instead of the crazed doctor out to get Michael. That left a disheartening taste in my mouth. The score lacked the Halloween themes until the ending, but thankfully what was there throughout wasn't a pretentious modern horror score, playing as more of an ambiance than a shrieking powerful score, which intensified the film a bit to my surprise.

Where all the movies have entertained to a small or large extent, the Halloween series in general has had its extreme highs and unbearable lows. And though there are story elements in this movie that some might dislike (including the "un-reality" sequences), it sure beats Michael's Curse of Thorn or the Man in Black from Halloween 5 & 6, where the filmmakers strayed away from continuity. Only to get busy in series reboots like H20 and Resurrection (the latter being the worst of all the sequels and the first being a weak recharge). What I recommend for next time is a straight ahead sequel to tie up all the loose ends left by sequels that failed to take things in different directions, seeing as tho this is Rob's last venture into Halloweenland. But as his closing film in the Halloween saga, this movie was a serious improvement and I give kudos to this as opposed to a remake that half loved and half could barely fathom.

7/10

Some people either like or hate Rob Zombie's remake, but most can agree the sequel is just one big mess. It's quite the experience i must say. Zombie managed to make the characters more irritating with a lot more unnecessary swearing, i swear youll hear the F word every minute in this movie. It seems like it's trying hard to make us care for Laurie but we don't. Shes so damn obnoxious & whiny with zero sympathy. Annie is written kinda bad too. She gets so mad at her dad cuz he calls a cop to watch her even though she was almost killed by Michael the year prior. Dr. Loomis is pretty much unrecognisable in this movie and every scene hes in other than the ending is pointless. The kills are even more bloody & brutal than before & I hate the excessive grunting Michael does too. The ghostly mom visions with the white horse are ridiculous and this whole relationship with his Mom just feels too much like Jason Voorhees. Only character I cared about in this movie was Brad Dourif as sheriff bracket.

As for positives I actually like the hobo Myers approach to this version. It's a more realistic way of what a killer would be doing till next Halloween. I didn't mind him having the mask off either cuz when he puts it back on it makes it feel a little more special. And it's a pretty stylistic movie. I like the grain of the camera Rob shot the movie with. And there's some pretty cool decorations especially at that party scene. Definitely feels more like the Halloween season compared to some of the other sequels in the series. Other than that this movie is just plain bad. And like the first one I recommend tracking down the theatrical version. Unrated director's cut is just too long for a slasher movie & that versions ending is terrible. Also you get a lot less screaming & annoyance from Laurie.

It was quite the dilemma deciding whether Halloween II was a good film or a bad one. One thing is certain: it's a "weird" film, undoubtedly the most bizarre major studio release of the year. Rob Zombie's sequel or "vision" – as it's being touted – seems to have been envisioned with the aid of various hallucinogenics and mind-altering substances, withering away whatever was left of the original John Carpenter Halloween mythology after Rob Zombie's remake and leaving a nonsensical, uber-violent mess in its wake. This isn't a so-bad-it's-good movie, nor would I call it a just-plain-bad one; this is a so-weird-it's-good movie, a blood-drenched collage of absurdities and irrationality, which like a train wreck (a term some would use to refer to previous Zombie efforts), is hard to look away from. Little of the iconic original Halloween is left here – all that's left is Michael Meyer's mask, which itself is less recognizable beneath the grime and torn pieces – but perhaps it would be foolish to try to match the original masterpiece anyway. Zombie has crafted something entirely different; something quite frankly silly, dumb and, for lack of a more politically correct term, "retarded", but nonetheless entertaining, not in spite of, but because of this.

Picking up where the remake left off, Halloween II sees Laurie Strode recovering from her ordeal with psychopath Michael Meyers. Mentally-traumatized after both the Halloween day massacre of nearly everyone she knew and her own dispatching of Meyers – by way of shot to the head -, Laurie finds herself dreading the one-year anniversary of the serial killings, plagued with the irrational fear that the deceased Meyers will return to small-town Haddonfield to finish her off. Well, low-and-behold, Meyers is alive, and he makes it his mission to track down Laurie and finish what he started.

The general plot outline is as generic as can be, but it's hard to fathom or comprehend the insanity that occurs. Michael Meyers, the original mask-wearing soulless psychopath, the "pure evil" murderer, the "Big Cheese" of all horror movie villains, has now been transformed into a homeless vagrant who randomly eats dogs. Yep, that's right, he's a hobo that eats dogs now. When a film is remade, one expects some alterations, but this is akin to remaking Indiana Jones and turning him an extraterrestrial who molests children. There is practically no semblance of the original character...and the new ones just messed. As well, Meyer's is followed by his deceased mother, himself in child-form and a gigantic white horse, seemingly all figments of his imagination. Except they interact with Laurie as well...making them ghosts? Except Meyers isn't deceased, so it makes absolutely no sense for there to be a ghost version of him. Maybe Laurie is inexplicably psychic and seeing into Meyer's mind? Or maybe Zombie just ate a few too many shrooms. Either way, this mom-boy-horse trio follows Meyer's around as he kills various victims, instructing him on what to do next. It's as stupid as it sounds.

Dr. Loomis has also been changed significantly. The remake hinted at Loomis profiteering slightly off the Meyers incident, but here it has been taken to ridiculous proportions. He's now a prima donna celebrity who travels around in a jet black limo with his publicist, throws hissy fits at reporters and threatens to beat on woman. One sequence has Dr. Loomis appearing on a talk show alongside Weird Al Yankovic, with the famed disc-joker lampooning the doctor and Michael Meyers (making puns about whether this is the same guy who starred in Austin Powers) until Loomis finally explodes with anger on air at the hosts assertion that Meyers is a shark. If it sounds like this has nothing to do with the film, it's because it doesn't. This irrelevance not only pertains to the Weird Al scene, but all of Dr. Loomis's scenes. His entire role is a completely separate, unrelated tangent in which he gallivants around the country promoting his book. For that matter, even Laurie and Michael have about ten minutes in the way of plot. Laurie, up until the last fifteen minutes, never encounters Michael. The near entirety of Halloween II is Michael fighting random people – farmers, strippers, tough-guy scumbags – while Laurie lives her life as per usual.

The rest of the film is a compilation of pumpkin people, vans running into cows, "golden showers", discussions about fornicating with corpses, and sex with a guy in a wolf costume who sounded suspiciously like Michael Cera. It's weird, undoubtedly convoluted, but in the end it's pretty entertaining. It's punctuated with displays of head smashings, throat slittings, and other displays of excessively graphic violence. Nudity is slightly down from the first one, but there are still several scenes involving bared breasts. In the end, between all the nonsense, gore and nudity, Halloween II is a big-budgeted, toned-down Hollywood stab at a Troma movie. In other words, a pretty fun movie.

I'm one of the few who actually enjoyed Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween – a lot. For reasons I won't get into here I enjoyed it immensely, but at the same time I could completely understand why so many disliked it. It took some of the things that made the original Halloween so great in many people's eyes and switched them around completely. Those who despised the first Halloween for that reason will likely loathe this second installment with a passion. However, if one can go into Halloween II not expecting a Halloween movie – or even a reasonably scary horror – they might just have a good time. It's not "bad" per say – although it's hard to say what Zombie intended it to be – but it's enjoyable in its bizarreness. Worth checking out if you don't mind Carpenter's story being completely bastardized.

• Dylan, allhorrorfilms.com

Wildly disturbing and absurdly bizarre! I appreciate enjoying something that not many others do, it makes me proud to be different. Awesome how Rob Zombie didn't want his vision ruined so he took the honor of directing rather than anyone else. I love how gross and nightmare fueled this Halloween II is! Scout Taylor Thompson really did incredible even if not many others did she deserves credit and so does Tyler Mane! I also understand the hate this gets, sure it has many flaws, but come on does every horror have to be perfect, no way and this is great for down times like at night. Lastly I love the soundtrack!!

In my review of Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds," I wrote that those put off by "Death Proof" would also likely be put off by his latest. Go figure that one week later, I am applying the same notion to Rob Zombie's sequel to his 2007 remake of "Halloween." One of the most heatedly derided remakes to date, I found Zombie's take impassioned and sincere while transcending John Carpenter's minimal, workmanlike low-budget-horror-flick terrain. While not a perfect film, "Halloween" epitomized (to me, anyway) the creative potential of the remake when placed in the right hands.

"Halloween II" finds Zombie returning to the Michael Myers maelstrom while tightening already-established character arcs, employing a harshly gritty style (courtesy of DP Brandon Trost), and topping it all off with a heapin' helpin' of carnage. Whereas "Halloween" focused on the inception and evolution of Michael Myers (Tyler Mane) from a murderous youth to the hulking masked madman we all know and love, Zombie's thematic focus this time out is "family" (and its many incarnations), using the traumatized character of Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton) as its axis.

Picking up one year after the fateful night her brother decided to come home, Laurie has become a punked-out version of her former virginal suburbanite self, and now resides with Sheriff Lee (Brad Dourif, sporting a Ted Nugent hairdo) and Annie Brackett (Danielle Harris). Meanwhile, the Eve of All Hallows is looming over Haddonfield like a shadowy blanket, with a rejuvenated, hooded-angel-of-death Michael Myers making a pilgrimage back home, guided by the specters of his younger self (Chase Wright Vanek) and his mother, Deborah (Sheri Moon Zombie). In the meantime, Dr. Sam Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) has become a pop-psychology celebrity, authoring yet another book on his last run-in with the notorious Myers.

With "Halloween II," Zombie drops the slick, polished look of the initial film, replacing instead with dark, grainy stock punctuated by flashes of neon and the soft focus of black & white. In many ways, the director has created a film that, like his characters, is schizophrenic in its style, cleverly threading complex dream sequences into reality, and cutting away from scenes with little warning. While the employment of dream sequences in most films is a cheap tactic for a "GOTCHA!" moment, Zombie keeps his motives ambiguous: do the dreams represent a psychic link between Laurie and Michael? the erosion of Laurie's sanity? Michael's distorted concept of pilgrimage? Either (and every) way, they give the proceedings a richly layered psychological weight that, in addition to their shock value, make us feel that the characters each have something at stake. The events leading up to the brilliantly-staged climax are both unpredictable and surprisingly affecting.

Unlike the "Saw" sequels (which have become the bane of the discriminating horror fan's existence), bathed in a hypocritical morality amid all the twisted flesh, spilled blood, and dungeon locations, Zombie is cognizant of death as something horrifying and destructive--the murders in "Halloween II" are played straight, executed with a fury that is disquieting; Myers has become a driven beast whose path of destruction possesses a joyless, workmanlike quality, removing any potential glamorization from the act. Every flesh-tearing slash, every helpless scream, cuts to the bone.

Quite admirably, Zombie uses his second go-'round with Myers as a chance to tie up character arcs and plot threads that felt truncated in the over-ambitious "Halloween": Loomis, who seems detached from most of the main plot, is given a chance to redeem his greedy, bottom-feeder ways; Sheriff Brackett gets to exhibit a paternal side, but also an authoritarian mentality once the code of law is broken (he has several great, emotionally wrenching scenes near the end of the film); as Deborah, Sheri Moon Zombie's detached, trancelike performance is apt for the physical manifestation of the voice guiding a psychotic mind. Amid the carnage of his corpse-strewn landscape, Zombie's interest in character interaction and moral ambiguity gives "Halloween II" a depth that, for those with the stomach to take it, is downright refreshing.

This movie has badly damaged the Zombie brand of horror movie. I liked Rob Zombie's earlier slasher\horror flicks. Movies like "Devils Rejects" and "House of 1000 Corpses" combined genuine real life psycho characters with tongue-in-cheek humor that made the movie viewer feel in on the joke. These movies didn't take themselves very seriously, and while gory, were also at least a little bit fun to watch.

Zombie obviously tried to bring some of that camp levity to "Halloween II", notably by including "Weird Al" Yankovic in a cameo role, which helped a little. I think the movie could have used a lot more of "Weird Al" and a bit less of Mrs. Zombie (Zombie's wife played a leading role in this turkey, some type of angel of death as Jason's Mommy...don't ask, too stupid for words).

Unfortunately, this move really stunk. It was just bloody disembowelment after decapitation after evisceration. It was a stupid and bloody mess and a complete waste of time.

Stay away from this stinker.

I don't know where to begin after coming in from seeing Rob Zombie's Halloween II. The comments/reviews that I've read so far sum it all up perfectly. It's bad beyond belief. It's not scary or suspenseful. There are just back to back ugly, mean-spirited, and brutal killings. The main characters aren't likable at all especially Scout Taylor Compton as Laurie Strode. We cared for and wanted to see Jamie Lee Curtis survive every time she played Laurie. Compton is so bad, she should have been the first to get wiped out. There is no real story either, just ideas and visuals ripped from Freddy, Jason, and Leatherface plus other stuff that must have come from cocaine and or meth usage. Think of the worst Nightmare, Friday, Texas Chainsaw, or SAW volume you've viewed. I guarantee that this is worse. Zombie should start paying people like Sam Raimi, Wes Craven, Sean Cunningham and others to ghost direct his films. Uwe Boll could do a better job.

John Carpenter's 1978 'Halloween' is wholly deserving of its status as a horror classic. To this day it's still one of the freakiest films personally seen and introduced the world to one of horror's most iconic villainous characters Michael Myers.

Its numerous sequels were wildly variable, with 'Halloween H20' being the only above decent one for me (the fourth one was also watchable but not much more) and 'Halloween: Resurrection' being proof that the series shouldn't have been resurrected and that it should have ended at 'H20', a perfect place to stop. Something that was further felt in Rob Zombie's awful first 'Halloween' outing from 2007. His second 'Halloween' film, this one, is even worse and even more pointless than its predecessor.

The only real good thing here is the make-up which is pretty good. Brad Dourif comes off best in the acting department and does his best but he deserves better and has been better too.

Everything else fails...and not just by a little. Catastrophically. The rest of the acting is scarier than Michael Myers himself (at his least creepy here) in how bad it is. Scout Taylor-Compton, in an embarrassingly appalling career-killing performance, and Sheri Moon Zombie, who should be nowhere near in front of a film camera, are especially bad. The film also brings the worst out of Malcolm McDowell, actually a good actor wasted in a very poorly written and used role.

All the characters are bland, annoying or both, nobody is remotely likeable here or worth rooting for (even those intended to be) and the dialogue down there with the worst of SyFy and The Asylum, and worse. The production values are too gimmicky, Zombie continually seems to think taking a self-indulgent smug approach to his directing is being cool and the music is constantly at odds with the mood and the action, nothing atmospheric or appealing here and more outdated attempts at being cool.

Overused and a vast majority of the time gratuitous expletives, artificial gore and sickeningly brutal violence completely get in the way of a coherent or engaging story, that's instead paper-thin, unintentionally silly, nonsensical, dull and contrived. As well as tension, suspense, chills or terror (none in sight). The whole Deborah and white horse stuff was not needed, felt completely misplaced and just added absurdity to the story, while the ending is as slap in the face a joke as it comes.

In summary, awful and had no point to it whatsoever. 1/10 Bethany Cox

I have been a huge Michael Myers fans for many years since the original (1978) and beyond that. John Carpenter set a blueprint for what many slasher flicks copied and some mastered. Michael Myers is the original slasher and only a sick twisted mind as is ROB ZOMBIE could remake and in a sick twisted way make it his own!!! Halloween 2 is not a remake as the movie does not take place inside a hospital and its not a hide and go seek fest. This movie is a runaway train. Michael Myers in H2 is a beast that kills for the fun of killing. Rob Zombie really made Michael Myers into a beast, a killing machine. The plot is pretty simple as are all the Halloween movies, but the unique twist I find is that Rob Zombie tried in his own way to explain what motivates Michael, what keeps Michael going as no other Halloween movie even tried to do. The movie is not one i would take my child to see because as I said its a murder fest and it's done so sick and twisted no child should see it. Rob Zombie yes is not a great story teller, doesn't have the most interesting characters but he is a breath of fresh air in the horror/slasher genre. He takes in back old school to the early 70's and shows you what a slasher movie is really about.

If your a Michael Myers fan you will not be disappointed at all the movie is a fresh idea, a fresh look into the mind of Michael Myers. Rob Zombie has showed us what a real horror/slasher killing machine looks like. Many death's in this movie will have the view saying "oh man stop already, he's - she's dead" Myers is relentless and its a good way to end the summer of CGI trash!!! GO SEE HALLOWEEN 2!!!

This is has to be the worst Halloween movie of all time. The theatrical edition sucks and I bet the rest might be bad. Please don't buy this; this is a money grab. The slow motion scene sucks like their not scary in this film at all. The original Halloween II with Jamie Lee Curtis was better like they try hard in that film but in this Rob Zombie made the Halloween franchise a joke. I hope that new reboot is better than this garbage. 1.9/10

Which is surprising considering how bad Halloween 2007 was.

That being said this isn't exactly a Halloween movie. It's a kind of "what if..." movie.

What if Laurie was a sl*t that is going through a mental breakdown What is dr. Loomis was a self-serving *sshole What if Michael had Jason's soul and talked to his mother's ghost

I'm reviewing this film as a stand-alone movie, not as a part of the franchise which it clearly isn't.

Things I liked about this movie:

1. That they made him tall. That weirded me out in the first movie, but here it just works better. That scene with a little kid talking to him is precious. Speaking of which, scenes where Michael isn't just killing everyone he sees are very refreshing.

2. That they showed his face, that they tore off a part of his mask. Tyler Mane gives a great performance with just his gaze.

3. The first 20 minutes (similar to the 2007 movie). If Rob made short films perhaps he'd be a legendary director by now.

Things I didn't like about this movie:

1. Theatrical version. I don't buy the ending at all. The character does a complete 180 in their personality without any foreshadowing whatsoever. They also cut out Laurie's scenes that are crucial for this movie, without them the movie just falls apart.

2. Weird Rob's wall crushing fetish. Thankfully there's less of it than in the first movie.

3. The whole dr. Loomis' arc. He's not as terrible and unnecessary as in the first movie, but he still feels like a filler from start to finish.

4. Laurie's personality. It really contributes to Friday the 13th's vibes, which are very victim-blaming

Overall if Rob really committed to making his own movie instead of keeping all the characters and/or cut the running time in half or so it could even overshadow H20. But as it is, it's only second best.

Haddonfield is once again tormented by Michael Myers, Laurie is still trying to come to terms with events, Dr Loomis is trying to sell his book.

I quite enjoyed the first film, I thoroughly enjoyed this second, it offers up something a little bit different, instead of it simply being a violence only shocker, this one really is an absolute horror fest, the stuff of nightmares. It's bleak, it's twisted, it certainly doesn't hold back.

I mentioned violence, and as with the first there is a lot of it, the violence is brutal and relentless, but this time it's more purposeful, it leaves you breathless.

Michael is seriously imposing, providing physical and mental threats, he's remorseless, he really is out for revenge. The scene where Michael is stood in the headlights, hooded up, that's one of the most striking moments.

The visuals are impressive too, it looks great, the nightmarish black and white sequences look really impressive, and in some way explain why he's doing what he does. I loved the music too, it works at every level, you'll never listen to Nights in White Satin in the same way again, the iconic theme tune is used very sparingly, that worked very well.

I always wish Zombie had done a third, it would have been interesting to see a Season of The Witch, Zombi style.

8/10.

Halloween II (2009)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Sequel to Zombie's 2007 remake starts off shortly after the events in that film as Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton) has a hard time getting over the fact that all of her friends are dead. She doesn't have too long to sit around as brother Michael Myers is back, killing and slaughtering by the orders of the ghost of his mother (Sheri Moon Zombie) but Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) is back as well to try and make up for a damning book he wrote on the earlier events. There's no secret that I didn't care for anything in Zombie's remake and this film here proves that he needs to quit writing screenplays. I think this film, as well as his previous ones, have shown that he can handle the director's chair but as far as writing goes he's starting to become very boring as he doesn't know how to write a story, characters or dialogue. What does someone do when they get scared? Say the "F" word countless times. What does someone do when they're having fun? Say the "F" word countless times. What does someone do when they're sad? Why, of course, say the "F" word countless times. Zombie's screenplays come off like they're written by little children because he can't write dialogue that has anything more than cuss words being thrown around. It's hard to find a single line that doesn't feature some fifth-grade level cussing. Not only that but other logical problems come up like how Michael is able to be deep in the woods on scene but then back in town the next only to appear back in the woods for the next scene. How on Earth does Loomis see the end events on television and yet a second later he's right there? Not to mention a stupid flashback scene where we learn that Michael is going to be seeing his mother's ghost throughout the rest of the movie, which basically is just a stupid way for Zombie to give his wife a part. Even if you take away all the dumb logic you are then treated to countless, graphic and at time vile violence. It's clear Zombie believes that no one should be given pity because even characters we care for get slaughtered. Bad characters die brutal deaths just like the nice people. Taylor-Compton isn't too bad in her role even though it's not written too well. McDowell is one hand to cash a paycheck but Zombie's screenplay mostly has him doing talk shows including one with Weird Al. Brad Dourif comes off the best as Sheriff Brackett and Danielle Harris also gets to come back. As with the first film, this one here features cameos by various people including Caroline Williams (TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2). Now, I would probably say this movie is better than the first due to some nice sequences including one early on where Zombie has a nice scene where a nurse is about to be stabbed but before getting it, we see a close up of her face as it prepares for the blow. This was an effective scene as was one a few minutes later when Laurie is trapped inside a small shack with Myers trying to break through. Once again Zombie's vision is perfectly clear and he moves the film along just fine but with a screenplay so bad there's really no winning in the end. It's clear Zombie has a very good movie in his but it's not going to happen when the only thing he can write is dialogue for white trash, which appears to be the only thing he knows.

I'm not a purist, so I have no axe to grind here.

I enjoy the psychological aspects of Rob Zombie's contribution to this franchise. The dialog is witty while really delivering the essence of what a slasher flick is all about. Zombie generates thick and tense atmosphere without forgetting to tell the story; an accomplishment in both the genre of horror and the sub-genre of slasher movies.

That having been said, Zombie also favors the T&A aspects of horror camp, which takes the class of the film down a notch or two, in my opinion. Gratuitous violence and sex are expected in films of this type, and Zombie doesn't disappoint in this aspect. If anything, he over-delivers in the area of gratuitous violence.

I realize the idiocy of complaining about violence in a slasher flick, but there is a point where the violence and blood effects go over the top and destroy any suspension of disbelief which could have otherwise been possible. While this film doesn't exactly cross that line, it does dance all OVER it, lending a few spots where the viewer must remember s/he is the viewer of a film, and not a witness to events. There are a few scenes featuring violence so horrific, so repugnant, the viewer is compelled to withdraw from it, causing the spell to be broken again, and again.

All in all, it's a splatter flick with deep psychological ruminations. If this is your thing, you'll love it. Just remember it is graphic, Graphic, GRAPHIC.

It rates a conflicted 7.2/10 from...

the Fiend :.

Man Rob Zombie what got into your head? This is why the Halloween series in the 2000s suck! This is like a long rejected Rob Zombie music video. Bad story, bad script, bad plot, bad acting, and bad ending. This is worse than part 6, Resurrection, part 5, and the remake! My head hurts from writing this review. TERRIBLE MOVIE, SKIP IT! If you going to watch it, I recommend you skip the movie and watch the trailer instead.