While not everyone was a fan, I really enjoyed Rob Zombie’s Halloween, which was released in 2007. Halloween 2009 was a really cool and gritty remake/reimagining of the classic John Carpenter story, and I was very excited to see what he would do for a sequel. We did not have to wait too long as in 2009, we got Rob Zombie’s Halloween II.
How to Download Halloween II (2009)
Halloween II was released on August 28, 2009. You can download or stream the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice.
The Movie Review
At the time, I remember being a bit disappointed when I came out of the theatre. I did not dislike the movie, and sure, it had some epic kills and gore, but it just felt a bit weird. Weird is actually probably the best way to describe this movie. Rob Zombie certainly did way more of his own thing here than he did with the first. Most of our cast is back from the first movie including, Scout Taylor Compton, Tyler Mane, Malcolm McDowell, Brad Dourif and Danielle Harris.
Rewatching with a New Perspective
Before I get into the movie, I have to talk about the frame of mind I was in when I watched Halloween II again for the first time in quite a few years. I did a bit of reading about it and read an article where Rob Zombie talked about how he really wanted to show that Laurie was also psychotic, but it manifested in a different way. When you know that the movie is about the psyche of Laurie as well as Michael going on a rampage trying to find her, it does make the movie make more sense. With that in mind, I actually liked this more than I remembered doing so the last time I watched it.
A Continuation of Trauma
Rob Zombie’s Halloween II starts right at the end of the first movie, we have Laurie freaking out over “killing” Michael Myers while the cops take him away. We fast forward a year, and things are not good for Laurie. Laurie is having a very hard time dealing with what went down a year prior, and it is made even worse thanks to Dr. Loomis. Also, Michael managed to escape the cops, but as it has been a year, the authorities have presumed him dead. When it comes to Michael Myers, you never assume that he is dead.
Michael’s Visions and the White Horse Motif
We get some strange flashbacks of Michael when he was a boy, and this leads to the whole his mother in white and a white horse thing that the movie is pretty well known for. Michael’s attachment to his mother and his sister is a big part of the movie, and Michael heads to Haddonfield after a vision of his mother tells him to find his sister. Laurie is also having hallucinations during this time as well.
Laurie Strode’s Shocking Discovery
Laurie actually finds out that she is Michael’s sister due to Dr. Loomis! Dr. Loomis decides to write a tell-all book about Michael Myers, and this part of the movie is something I really liked. It was interesting to see Dr. Loomis cash in like this and him get backlash for basically exploiting the deaths of people. Also, now that Laurie finds out that she is Michael’s sister, she also starts having more messed up hallucinations.
Slasher Fans Rejoice: Blood, Gore, and Chaos
Of course, in addition to all this “psyche” stuff going on, we also get a bunch of very grisly and gruesome kills as Michael makes his way to Laurie. I remember some people complaining about the blood and guts in this movie, and I just could not get my head around complaining that a slasher movie, let alone a Michael Myers movie, was being criticized for this! Especially when you consider how these days movies like Terrifier (which is awesome, by the way) are beloved for their over the top blood and gore.
Before I watched this, I would have said that I would have given Rob Zombie’s Halloween II a 6/10, however, I got way more into this after reading about what Rob Zombie intended the movie to be as I could actually see his vision this time while watching it. Hey, I can still see why for some people this is just too weird and it does suck that he never made Halloween 3D which was supposed to be the third movie of this story. However, as a back to back viewing, both his Halloween movies are a lot of fun.
