This is my brain on…Rob Zombie’s Halloween II
I curl up, cozy with Dante on one side of me and nice cup of tea in hand. The blanket is tucked into either side of my legs, a nice burrito, just like when I was a kid. There’s a certain safety in this, a knowledge that here, in my home, I am protected.
I push play and we slow fade into the 70s (I think?), with Sherri Moon Zombie reprising her role as Deborah Meyers and a new towheaded weirdo kid taking the place of the old Young Michael. This scene presents us with a porcelain white horse and little else, before we’re thrust into the future/present, starting off where the first Halloween ended, with a gunshot and Laurie Strode’s (Scout Taylor-Compton) piercing scream. We meet Laurie wandering down the street, somehow walking on a leg that is broken, and covered in head to toe blood.
The thing about Rob Zombie’s film making style is that, as an audience, we are never, ever safe. Not from aggressively white trash foul mouthed dirt-bags, not from overtly sexual fetishization of violence, and not from the type of pitch black blood that no actual person bleeds.
Halloween II is Rob Zombie’s recovery from the behind-the-scenes shit show of his first Halloween. He has been vocal about evil Harvey Weinstein’s abusive over-lording of the first production, and this follow up feels like a nasty “fuck you” to the whole process. But through that, there is a revelatory uniqueness in the story that Zombie tells and the way he tells it. He is threatening us by taking away the symphonic storytelling of the original masterpiece and replacing Carpenter’s subtlety with the kind of hardcore, late-night scramble vision we used to sneak-watch when we were kids.
Halloween and this follow up strive to dig up the mind of Michael Meyers, one of film’s greatest boogeymen. There have been many criticisms of Zombie’s script and attempt at humanizing Meyers. The story line leans heavy into the nature/nurture aspect of villainy; something that fans of Michael Meyers probably never wanted to think about. I don’t have the issue these critics have. The man took one of the greatest monsters of all time and created his own version. The fever dream psychosis of Meyers and his mommy issues in Halloween II have only the name to connect this film to the original. There is no fan-servicing, no subtle, or not so subtle winks (see: 2018’s Halloween), and no mercy. I feel safe in my home, but I don’t feel safe watching this film.
There is an issue in this and Zombie’s first Halloween, and that comes from the script. Every character in these two films sound exactly the same. From the moment we meet Deborah Meyers, Young Michael and the rest of the Meyers clan, they all talk like backwoods white trash. Then we meet a young bully, he talks like trash. Then Laurie is introduced and she talks…y’all get the point. That carries through both films, with more “fucks” thrown around than a Tarantino film. Even Dr. Loomis (played by always incredible Malcolm McDowell) sounds like he stumbled out of a trailer park in Florida, with an iconic line like “When I want your opinion, I’ll beat it out of you”, it’s hard to imagine this is the same Dr. Loomis as played by Donald Pleasence in the original. But, fuck it, it isn’t old Donald, it’s new Loomis.
The strangest aspect of Halloween II is the emphasis on dreams and the psychic connection between Laurie and Michael, as shown through jerky cam visions and Laurie’s steady mental erosion as she suffers from trauma. Scout Taylor-Compton’s portrayal of Laurie was alright in the first film, but in II she is full-tilt off the rails, slurring through the performance as if she’d sold her soul for the role and the devil’s come to collect. The shining light in this and the first film is Danielle Harris, genre queen, and her portrayal of Laurie’s bff Annie. Harris is a veteran horror actress and her controlled portrayal of the real victim of the first movie (I mean, Annie was cut to ribbons by Michael and managed to survive) is a testament to her lasting contribution to the genre. With other great roles played by horror icons Brad Dourif, Margot Kidder, and Caroline Williams, as well as a surprise guest spot by Octavia Spencer in a truly horrifying early kill, Halloween II brings more than enough talent to the table.
When all is said and done, at the end of the movie, Dante is still curled beside me and I’m not exactly pulling my curtains and locking my doors. In other words, it ain’t scary. But it is different, and it does give off some real video nasty vibes. This film, like Rob Zombie’s Halloween, is not for everyone, but it certainly isn’t for no one. You got that right.
Could do without: The totally unnecessary full frontal nudity. Michael grunting as he kills. Laurie Strode dreadlocks.
Could do with more: Character development and dialogue variance. Transylvania Terror Train.