'Halloween II' revives spirit of original

Rob Zombie's 'Halloween II' includes aspects of the original movie but makes certain the two are distinct.

Rob Zombie’s Halloween II, which officially opens Friday with midnight showings at Green Hills 16, Opry Mills 20 and its IMAX theater, is perhaps the perfect illustration of how marketing and business strategies rule contemporary Hollywood for better or worse (often the latter).

Zombie remade John Carpenter’s 1978 Halloween, perhaps one of the very few slasher films that might legitimately be deemed a work of art, in 2007. At the time, he said publicly that he wouldn’t do a sequel and that he was expending all his efforts into making sure that his remake was worthy of being compared to the Carpenter original.

Flash forward two years later and Zombie’s now doing Halloween II, thus making him one of the few directors to helm a sequel that’s also a remake of a sequel (if that makes any sense). Part of this was the fact that Halloween did respectably. Another factor is that there’s almost nothing coming out on the last weekend of summer and before the Labor Day vacation and fall film period.

Halloween II continues the killing spree and violent activities of Michael Myers (Tyler Mane), but presents it through the eyes of Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton). However, Zombie has also been telling both film writers in magazines like Variety and fans online that he’s going to make some changes in direction, add new characters and generally operate without concern about whether he follows the thematic path established by Carpenter in the 1981 version of Halloween II. Though he’s bringing back Malcolm McDowell to reprise his Dr. Loomis character, Zombie does plan to ensure that no one confuses his sequel with Carpenter’s.

One change will be a new actor to portray the young Michael Myers, as Zombie feels Daeg Faerch had changed physically too much to accurately represent a youthful version of Myers. He’s also planning to focus more on the psychological impact of Myers’ crime sprees, despite having no plans to cut back on the usual array of violent deaths. He’s reportedly going to emphasize how seeing all her family and friends murdered unhinges Laurie Strode to the point she’s almost as deranged as Myers.

No one goes to Halloween II looking for social significance or high-caliber action. This is strictly a blood- and-guts proposition, though Carpenter at his best could also inject elements and degrees of cleverness and style into the mix. Zombie came close in portions of Halloween to capturing that same odd blend of quirky and revolting, and the fact he no longer feels obligated to strictly follow a template may prove a boon for those who have been following the various Halloween films since 1978.

It probably won’t dominate the box office, but Halloween II will likely do respectably for a series that has a long-established, loyal following.

Halloween II
Written and directed by: Rob Zombie; original characters by John Carpenter and Debra Hill
Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Tyler Mane, Sheri Moon Zombie, Brad Dourif, Danielle Harris, Scout Taylor-Compton
Time: 101 minutes
Rating: R