Harefooted Halloween: Halloween II (2009)

What I Liked: Like its predecessor the gritty production design is cool.  They went for even more blood and dirt and clutter this time.  Michael’s mask is barely holding together so he wears a hoodie to help conceal more of his bearded face.  And of course there’s awesome Halloween decorations all over the goddamn place.  I mean I love it but this doesn’t exist in real life right?  No town really gets this adorably decked out for the boos, do they?

What I Didn’t Like: Again, like the beginning of the first film the opener is stupid.  I guess spoiler but the first twenty five minutes or so is a fake out dream sequence where Laurie is being chased down by Michael in a hospital.  You could even count this as a double switcheroo because you wouldn’t be wrong to think they’re redoing the ’81 Halloween II where the whole thing is set in a hospital.  Now while this stretch isn’t as bad as showcasing Michael’s shitty home life filled with unbearably repugnant characters it still amounts to a waste of time.

There’s not much of a story and what’s here is rather aimless.  Michael disappeared after being shot in the head by Laurie (which admittedly was a badass way to close out the first picture: gun shot, screams, hard cut to black) and has been wandering the world (or just the immediate area, who knows?) for two years.  He decides to strike Haddonfield once again on Halloween because well, it’s a Halloween movie.  There’s supposed to be a big revelation that Laurie is Michael’s sister and when she finds out she completely loses her shit.  The sorta big problem is the previous film already told us this.  So Laurie might be learning this for the first time but it’s old new for the audience effectively deadening this character turn.

Overall Impressions: There’s nothing all that special about this entry.  I think Rob Zombie (31) tried to make it more psychological and a character study on Michael Myers (Taylor Mane returns in another good performance) and Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton (Grey’s Anatomy)).  They both have visions of their dead mother (Sheri Moon Zombie (3 from Hell)) leading a white horse around even though Laurie never knew her.  Maybe there’s a supernatural psychic connection?  I dunno.  And I’m sure these figments mean something, innocence, guiding force, haunted past, etc.  A decent amount of time is spent on Laurie grappling with the fact that Michael is her brother and how it’s causing her to have a mental breakdown.  But for whatever reason none of it is very effective.  All the actors seem to be trying hard though giving it all they got.  The entire package just doesn’t come together.

Not a lot of redeeming qualities here.  The obnoxiousness of the previous film isn’t nearly as prevalent so the lows aren’t as low.  However, on the flipside the highs aren’t nearly as high.  It’s not shot or edited as well, there aren’t any thought provoking twists in the story, the characters aren’t that exciting and the murder setups are standard.  Unfortunately it lands in the zone of unremarkable.