The Halloween horror franchise is one of the most famous horror franchises ever. It started way back in 1978 with the release of John Carpenter's horror masterpiece Halloween, a film that forever changed the horror genre. Halloween did so well with audiences that it led to countless sequels, most of which are of "questionable" quality. But just when everyone though the franchise was finally dead, Rob Zombie came along with plans to remake the original classic. And that remake was not well received, it wasn't considered terrible, but it was nowhere near as good as the boundary pushing original. But even with the mixed reaction to the original Rob Zombie decided to continue with the series and make a sequel to the first remake. And while this remake was completely panned upon its original release, it has now found a small cult following.
The majority of Halloween 2 takes place two years after the incidents of the first film. Laurie, who is Michael Myers little sister, whom he had been trying to kill in the previous film, is still living in Haddonfield and her foster family are trying to conceal her identity as Michael's sister. And meanwhile Samuel Harris has gone on to make a fortune of the the tragedy of the first film by selling books about Michael Myers. As Halloween approaches Laurie, who goes struggles to cope, as she is viciously reminded of the horrible events that happened to years earlier. And to make matters worse Myers has come back to Haddonfield to try and finish what he started two years ago.
Halloween 2 is a film that had some really good ideas, the best of which being to start trying to experiment with surrealist horror in the film. Also the film occasionally boasts some pretty impressive visuals, which is nice. But undeniably the best part about Halloween 2 is the opening part in the hospital. While most of the film takes place two years after the events of Rob Zombie's first film the first 20 or so minutes take place immediately after the first film. And these 20 or so minutes are amazing, first of all they are unrelentingly brutal and disturbing. Even little things like the dialogue between police officers in this opening scene is down right disgusting and volatile. The opening also has a great oppressive atmosphere, that feels liked being covered in a heavy blanket of dread and terror. This Great atmosphere will unfortunately not come back for the rest of the film.
After the opening scene the film slowly decreases in quality, and quickly devolves into a complete mess. One of the biggest problems with Halloween 2, is that it didn't go all the way with the surrealism and the brutality of the first scene. It just will occasionally experiment with it a little bit and then leave it alone for a while, which was really disappointing. Another huge problem with Halloween 2, is that it kept cutting away from the protagonist. This breaks the movies flow, and prevents it from creating any atmosphere or building any tension. The film would have been so much better if it just focused on Laurie and created a little private surrealist hell for her where she was tormented by figments from her past. Another thing that would have made Halloween 2 better, is if it wasn't a "Halloween" film. The connection to the franchise is just holding it back. If the film was not connected to the tired old story it could have experimented much more. At the end of the day Halloween 2 isn't terrible, but most of the film is horribly un- scary, dull, and forgettable, and I don't think I can recommend it to most people. But that opening scene is pretty good.
4.8
The majority of Halloween 2 takes place two years after the incidents of the first film. Laurie, who is Michael Myers little sister, whom he had been trying to kill in the previous film, is still living in Haddonfield and her foster family are trying to conceal her identity as Michael's sister. And meanwhile Samuel Harris has gone on to make a fortune of the the tragedy of the first film by selling books about Michael Myers. As Halloween approaches Laurie, who goes struggles to cope, as she is viciously reminded of the horrible events that happened to years earlier. And to make matters worse Myers has come back to Haddonfield to try and finish what he started two years ago.
Halloween 2 is a film that had some really good ideas, the best of which being to start trying to experiment with surrealist horror in the film. Also the film occasionally boasts some pretty impressive visuals, which is nice. But undeniably the best part about Halloween 2 is the opening part in the hospital. While most of the film takes place two years after the events of Rob Zombie's first film the first 20 or so minutes take place immediately after the first film. And these 20 or so minutes are amazing, first of all they are unrelentingly brutal and disturbing. Even little things like the dialogue between police officers in this opening scene is down right disgusting and volatile. The opening also has a great oppressive atmosphere, that feels liked being covered in a heavy blanket of dread and terror. This Great atmosphere will unfortunately not come back for the rest of the film.
After the opening scene the film slowly decreases in quality, and quickly devolves into a complete mess. One of the biggest problems with Halloween 2, is that it didn't go all the way with the surrealism and the brutality of the first scene. It just will occasionally experiment with it a little bit and then leave it alone for a while, which was really disappointing. Another huge problem with Halloween 2, is that it kept cutting away from the protagonist. This breaks the movies flow, and prevents it from creating any atmosphere or building any tension. The film would have been so much better if it just focused on Laurie and created a little private surrealist hell for her where she was tormented by figments from her past. Another thing that would have made Halloween 2 better, is if it wasn't a "Halloween" film. The connection to the franchise is just holding it back. If the film was not connected to the tired old story it could have experimented much more. At the end of the day Halloween 2 isn't terrible, but most of the film is horribly un- scary, dull, and forgettable, and I don't think I can recommend it to most people. But that opening scene is pretty good.
4.8