Halloween II (2009) review

Once again, Rob Zombie amazes, frightens, horrifies, and even enlightens us with another film which is being called the final installment of the new story-arc in the Halloween franchise. If you really love having the living crap scared out of you, this isn't going to disappoint at all. Zombie continues his theme of the horror of violence in American life and culture and its repercussions, giving us the best of both worlds: b-horror bliss fused with elements of high cinema and social criticism.

The original 1981 sequel was a terrible disappointment, even coming from writer/director John Carpenter and the late Debra Hill (a woman whose loss I'll always mourn, a great movie producer), it wasn't good at all and the direction was flat and uninspired, and we won't even go into how bad Halloween III (1983) was, it's unwatchable and literally has nothing to do with any of the series in any incarnation.

Part of this is because it took a good two years for the original Halloween to gain a following, and by that time, Carpenter was putting the finishing-touches on The Fog (1980) and beginning pre-production on the infamous remake of The Thing (1982). He and his production company were stretched too far, and it showed in that original sequel that can only be called a meaningless and gratuitous piece of drivel. But there's still no real reason for the existence of the original sequel to the legendary Halloween other than money, to keep a franchise going, and it would get unimaginably worse as time went on. That's not the case with Rob Zombie's sequel to his own reimagining of Carpenter's and Hill's original storyline, and that's why he felt the responsibility to have meaning and a message behind the violence of the film that is both unflinching and even self-accusatory, a very brave act for a filmmaker of almost any stature.

The basic story elements of the original sequel are in-place: Michael Myers somehow survives being shot and enigmatically disappears, returning to kill Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton). It's been established already in the first Zombie remake that Laurie is really Michael's sister, and he wants a family reunion. This was never handled with any real insight or imagination by the original sequel, but Zombie takes a page from expressionist film and also introduces us to Jung's concept of the "shadow self" and the archetype (deep psychological symbols common to all humanity), this time in the form of phantasms of the young Michael and his dead mother (Sherri Moon Zombie), sometimes accompanied by a white horse. There is a hinting that Michael and Laurie have some kind of psychic-link, but this is kept very ambiguous and there are no real answers, a nice touch. The 1981 version is almost entirely isolated to a hospital, not the case in Rob Zombie's version, which wisely dispenses with just about the entire plot of its original.

After a prologue that I don't want to give away, we're taken into Laurie's very sad life just one year after the horrific events of the first film, and another Halloween is approaching. While she's treated well living with Sheriff Lee Brackett (Brad Dourif) and his daughter Annie (Danielle Harris), her life is tormented. This isn't the same girl we met in the first film at all. She's become very traumatized and cynical, and it shows. Her preoccupation with nihilistic youth culture makes that pretty loud and clear, and her nights are punctuated with nightmares of that night...but also of some very curious archetypes of Michael Myers as a child and his late mother, dressed in white, signifying a strange obverse of purity. Bizarrely, Laurie begins seeing archetypes from the mind of Michael Myers (starting with the dreams, very Jungian), and on one occasion, as he's disemboweling and eating an animal on his path to her and destiny, she connects with it and becomes nauseous and has a bout with vomiting.

In the mean time, Dr. Sam Loomis (Malcolm MacDowell) has become even more famous as a bestselling crime and psychology author, and it shows. He's become what he calls himself in one later scene when he views himself and his shadow self in the mirror: an "asshole." He couldn't be more correct. His new book on Michael Myers and his primadonna behavior at PR events and book-signings shows us that Dr. Loomis has become nothing more than an exploiter and an opportunist, and his new book exposes and damages the life of Laurie in telling the world that she's the sister of Michael Myers. The psychological effect on her is profound and permanent and there's no going back afterward.

Even Loomis's literary agent hates him for it, one of the movie's real shockers! As in the original 1978 Halloween and Zombie's reimagining, these lives will eventually converge with tragic results, but it all began back in the squalor of the Myers home during the 1970s, hence the occasional nod to past pop songs, a nice tip of the hat to Kenneth Anger whose style is also echoed in the visual style of the film. And so, after leaving a trail of dead bodies, things finally do converge once again in Haddonfield, Illinois, with "mother Myers" beckoning Michael and Laurie to an inevitable conclusion. To tell you any more would be to ruin it, but rest assured that there is a finality to it all, even with the ending that's right out of the original Psycho (1960).

Interestingly, the only moment of the film where John Carpenter's original score cues come are in the final scene and the credits. Welcome to the dark side of America and the products of abuse and neglect, coupled with a culture rife with violence cues and the actual thing itself. The shadow world is here, now, and Zombie's trying to show us the bloody-maw before it's too late. Family truly is forever in the world of the mind, the Platonic forms, and the realm of the archetype, birth imagery-and-all. A must see. Ignore the bad reviews, this is the real deal, real horror.

Anticipating Rob Zombie's Halloween II

WWW--YES, I loved Rob Zombie's reimaging of John Carpenter's original Halloween, I thought it was extraordinary and worthwhile, almost a "what if" of filmmaking--think Peckinpah doing a slasher.

All the more reason to do a reimagining of the 1981 sequel, since it, well, sucked. Everything that the original Halloween was accused of--namely, being bloody and gratuitous--were writ large in the original Halloween II, it never justified its existence. Zombie's films justify themselves purely on their stylistic charms, but he does have point-of-view, something that's sorely lacking in most of today's cinema. Where are the great directors? Maybe Rob Zombie has yet to prove his mettle as a "great" director," but he's gradually convincing me, and I've been watching movies for at least 36 years.

Other than maybe Guillermo Del Toro, I'd have to say that Rob Zombie is one of the only noteworthy directors my generation has yet to produce. Whenever they make a new film, I'm as excited as I ever was or am when the new Terry Gilliam or David Cronenberg film becomes news.

Why? Zombie actually has something to say, and I thought his first remake in this series was a good anti-violence tract, it made me cringe the way a horror movie's supposed to, but it didn't allow me to like the carnage. This irritated a lot of the audience I saw it with a couple years ago, your typical Indiana goober crowd. Zombie went for the Kubrick approach from A Clockwork Orange or Peckinpah's masterstrokes in Straw Dogs and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia: show violence and its consequences, show it for what it is, ugly and tragic. More of the same? Bring it on, I want more...

Rob Zombie's Halloween (2007) review

In 1978, I tried to see the original John Carpenter film, but I was only ten-years-old. Interestingly, the local theater played it again in 1980, as the word-of-mouth on the film had spread and it had become a major independent hit.

For a long time it was the most successful independent film ever made, though the lousy Blair Witch Project ended that record. What can I write about the original that hasn't already been written? It's incredible, and very atmospheric, a favorite, and still pretty plausible and creepy. It could happen. The same could be said for the new version.

Rob Zombie has given genuine horror fans a wonderful gift: we don't have to feel bad about missing the original when it came out anymore. This is equally good and pays incredible respect to the original, and Zombie discussed the project and his take on it with John Carpenter beforehand, something that wasn't done with the so-so 'Dawn of the Dead' remake.

Shot in the same widescreen Panavision (2.35:1), we get a familiar story with some significant changes: gone is the possible supernatural quality of Michael Myers, a phantasm who becomes something non-human, a part of the holiday itself. He's just 'the shape' emerging fully-formed in the 1978 version. In Zombie's recasting of the original screenplay by John Carpenter and Debra Hill (RIP), the focus isn't on the mystery surrounding the killer, but offers some explanations as to why he is what he is.

This version makes the killer and his victims human, and this is where a number of so-called horror fans are going to be split. To make his point clear, the director begins the film before the prologue killings of the original, and paints a more contemporary and honest view of American family life, while setting it as a period piece in the late-1970s (the time of the original film's release).

It's a very vivid recreation of the decade that was my childhood, and it has an aspect of social realism to it, regardless of the stylization of the film itself. It's an awfully realistic depiction of squalid American working-class family life during that era, which I bore witness to in other families around my neighborhood. These are the people nobody cares about. Little has changed, as the movie makes clear, and the seeds are now bearing their fruit.

Rather than the brief glimpses of a straight-laced 1963 Myers family, we see a disaster of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse. This wouldn't have been possible in 1978 to the degree it's depicted by Zombie and his collaborators (if you wanted an 'R-rating' then), and actor William Forsythe (Patty Hearst, Dick Tracy, The Devil's Rejects, and much more) does a fine job playing an abusive step-father to Sheri Moon's stripper mother. It's not a healthy home environment.

What I found mind-blowing, however, was just how well Rob Zombie remembers the cultural landscape of late-1970s America, it was jaw-dropping. From the expletive-laden, sexually humiliating slang of the kids bullying young Michael in a school bathroom, to the music, the kitsch (t-shirts and joke-stickers abound), and the attitudes, he's brought the 1970s to gasping, breathing life again. It's an incredible time-capsule, and it made for what is a great way to adapt the story to a contemporary culture and setting: NOW.

As one would expect, there is a lot of movie history and homage to be found in this film, and it's a real joy, but the director decided to take-up the aesthetic of Kubrick and Peckinpah in his depictions of violence and murder. What's that you say? Read on.

If you've ever watched a Sam Peckinpah film, you already know what I mean. If you've ever watched--truly watched--Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" (1971-72--cut and re-released due to an early 'X-rating'), you understand what an anti-violence movie must do in order to get its message across: it has to show mayhem for what it is, which is drawn-out, ugly, and something that has consequences for the perpetrators and society. You're not supposed to get-off on the violence, you're supposed to be repulsed and fearful of it.

Insofar as violence and murder are concerned, it's well-established that once the door has been opened, it's rare that it ever gets shut until all the players are dead or neutralized in some fashion. Will gore hounds love Zombie's 'Halloween'? Yes and no. They'll enjoy the brutality and grimness--there's plenty of that on-offer here--but they're not going to find the violence entirely enjoyable or even tolerable...that is, if they're normal.

From "The Wild Bunch" (1969), to "Straw Dogs" (1971), and even to "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia" (1974) and his final film, "The Osterman Weekend" (1983), Sam Peckinpah wanted to show us that violence has consequences and that it is something ugly and to be feared. His message was cautionary, and that same message is apparent in Rob Zombie's take on Halloween. It's not meant to replace the original at all, but to compliment it.

The story-jump of fifteen-to-twenty-years is covered more here--the time that Michael Myers is locked-away in the mental institution, and his time with Dr. Sam Loomis. As most fans of the original remember, it was the late Donald Pleasance who played this part, and exceptionally well. Cult legend Malcolm MacDowell lends the same authority to the role, we well as cementing the anti-violence message of the film by his mere presence, and his performance is of a more caring Loomis. He pities Michael Myers, and in a nice touch, his relationship with the killer is extended back further as a school counselor.

As in the last two Rob Zombie movies, we get a gaggle of b-movie legends: the great Ken Foree (1978's Dawn of the Dead, From Beyond, and much more), the incredible Bill Moseley (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, House of 1,000 Corpses, etc.), Joe Pilato (The Matrix, and almost everything else), the great Udo Kier (Andy Warhol's Dracula, Shadow of the Vampire), Brad Dourif (Blue Velvet, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Dune), Clint Howard (everything), Danny Trejo (Grindhouse, Maniac Cop 2, Whore, From Dusk Till Dawn, etc.), Richard Lynch (God Told Me To, The Sword & the Sorcerer, Deathsport, Vampire, and more), and several others who will please most movie buffs.

But what I found really smart was casting the Laurie Strode character (originally played by Jamie Lee Curtis) with someone with a low-profile as an actress--Scout Taylor-Compton. Little Daeg Faerch as '10-year-old Michael Myers' is the real eye opener here, and he makes the movie very unsettling. Imagine watching a child descend into insanity--I cannot think of anything more disturbing, but that's what Zombie depicts. It's like a slice of Poe, it's the essence of horror. We get to see the process unfold, even after the initial murders, and it's not exactly entertaining. It's truly horrifying to watch a little boy transform into a killer.

Very few films--to my knowledge--have ever depicted a child murdering another child in a drawn-out fashion (think Hitchcock's "Topaz"). The Loomis character adds to the 'whys' of how Michael Myers became a murderer--that he was a 'perfect storm' of 'internal and external influences,' someone with pre-existing tendencies who was pushed too-far by his environment. It might have went in another direction in another home, another community...another life. But it didn't. Rob Zombie's Halloween, then, can only be a classic tragedy that is almost mythic in its examinations of violence and the family.

Wisely utilizing an original score with the original Carpenter themes (albeit adapted) and a bulk of new musical-cues , as well as that same William Shatner Halloween mask, Zombie has scored a classic study in what makes a serial killer while retaining what made the original so good. One could find comparisons to Richard Speck or even Henry Lee Lucas and Ted Bundy. The parallels are there for the curious to examine. A must-see for those concerned about the roots of violence, and a solid addition to the canon of horror. Evil has a destiny alright--constructing its own demise. Rob Zombie has nothing to prove after this film, good job.

Grindhouse: Double Feature (2007) review

This was far better than I expected, and is probably the best deal for your money in 2007. I don't think I've seen a double-feature in over thirty years, so this was a real treat. Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino have made classics here with "Planet Terror" or "Death Proof," making some great additions to the b-movie universe.

As everyone knows by now, there are also trailers for fake-movies, and so, this review will cover each one of them as well. Remember: people used to make out and/or have-sex in the theaters while the originals were playing. They didn't usually bother to watch them--hence the term "grindhouse." I know this because I witnessed couples "doing it" in theaters back then.

"Machete trailer" (director: Robert Rodriguez): This was an obvious homage to all the revenge pictures, and some of the "Death Wish" rip-offs. It's about a Latino hired-assassin (the great Danny Trejo, who's been in almost every Rodriguez movie) a man betrayed by his latest scumbag employer (played by Jeff Fahey). Naturally, they almost kill him in a set-up, but he survives and gains a sidekick in a Catholic Priest (Cheech Marin!!). Hilarity ensues, and the voice-over is as bad and funny as all those real grindhouse trailers. Keeping-with the aesthetic of "Planet Terror," it has the scratchy-print look, frame-jumps, and crackly-sound. I loved it. Rumor has it that this is being lensed now for a direct-to-DVD release when Grindhouse is released to the format."Planet Terror" (director: Robert Rodriguez): Many reviewers have said this is the best-part of the double-feature, and I'd have to agree. That doesn't mean Tarantino's "Death Proof" isn't great, however. Most horror fans will find this satisfying: a biowarfare chemical ("DC-2") has been released and is creating a contagion of infected zombies who are...wow, pretty-disgusting. They're basically becoming swollen pus-bags that are mutating and decaying all at once.

Then, there's the military convoy that ices some Indian scientist who has something they want. He collects the balls of other men, and carries a bag of them around! Most of this is an homage to George Romero and John Carpenter, and there was even a scene where James Brolin's psychotic doctor character gets slimed that has a musical cue from Escape From New York.

In addition to being an homage to Romero's and Carpenter's films, this is a tribute to all the Italian knock-offs, like "Escape From the Bronx," and Sergio Martino's "2019: After the Fall of New York" (1983). Tarantino's cameo also has a reference to Lucio Fulci's "ZOMBI" (1979). You'll know it when you see it. Then you have the chicks: Rose MacGowan's go-go dancer character is pretty bizarre (and hilarious), while Bruce Willis's part is small, but crucial. It's a bigger part than most reviewers have reported, and he shines.

Jeff Fahey is excellent as the Texas BBQ chef, the brother to Michael Biehn's (Terminator) "Sheriff Hague." Overall, the characters are well-drawn, and we see just about every cliche of this kind of movie in Planet Terror. Best of all: we get the misogyny of the b-film with the addition of a feminist response. The women are the heroes here! This theme continues into "Death Proof" with its ending that this writer believes is the death of the "frail woman" in the movies.

I was impressed! The final scene with Bruce Willis even has a little offhanded political-statement to it about the war on terror. I won't spoil it for anyone. Pure horror bliss, and possibly a classic in its own right. Great for the intentional plot-holes, dopey dialog, and a woman with an assault rifle for a leg. Hilarious and satisfying! What could be more terrifying than the two Hispanic babysitters? Be honest.
"Werewolf Women of the SS trailer" (director: Rob Zombie): This was just kickass! Udo Kier (Blood for Dracula), Bill Mosley (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Rob Zombie's Halloween, etc.), Tom Towles (Fortress, House of 1000 Corpses, Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer), Sherry Moon, and Nicholas Cage in his best performance since "Red Rock West" (1993)--this little faux-trailer almost beats the features! This is an obvious homage to the "Ilsa She-Wolf of the SS" movies from the 1970s, a guilty-pleasure! Visually, this is probably the best there is in Grindhouse, which is saying a lot, and it must have cost a fortune. Classic.

"Don't" trailer (director: Edgar Wright): This was funny, and looked like an homage to "Hell House" (1973) and "The Haunting" (1963), but really is just a great example of how wrong-headed marketing was in the glory days of the grindhouse. Alternate-titles were often picked by the distributors, rather than the filmmakers, and so you got movies with names like this! I'm guessing this is an indirect-reference to Mario Bava's "The Whip and the Body" (1963), which had the unfortunate American title, "What?". Yep. Pretty funny.

"Thanksgiving" (director: Eli Roth): I think every horror-fan knows who Mr. Roth is by now, the director of "Cabin Fever" and "Hostel." I love this guy, and his movies are respectable additions to the horror and thriller genres. He really has the same love for b-movies as Tarantino and Rodriguez, and he belongs here just as Rob Zombie does. This was pretty offensive! Of course, that's why it's good, and you're going to have to see this with your own virgin eyes. Word has it that it was this trailer that almost scotched an R-rating from the MPAA. Excellent, and an homage to "Black Christmas" (1974) and many others. Did I say it was offensive? Classic.

"Death Proof" (director: Quentin Tarantino): The reviews of this are unfair. Most of them have said that the movie here is too dialog-heavy, which isn't completely true. Besides, isn't that like saying Fellini's films are "too carnivalesque"? Imagery aside, dialog is why Tarantino is liked so much--dialog! The characters here are just so well-drawn, which is crucial. You have to know these characters first for their impending-deaths to mean anything, and you have to like them at least a little so that you fear for their lives. Yes, Tarantino is commenting on other hot rod action movies, but we're still watching this for characters and for story.

We're introduced to a stable of girlfriends who are extremely mouthy--this is inaccurate?! I've overheard young women talking like this ferchrissakes! So did Tarantino, apparently, and he reproduces the speech of these kind of chicks accurately.

He's done his homework: the dog sure didn't eat it. What most viewers forget is that many of the b-movies were like this: you had to wait for the last-third of the film for the payoff. You necked during the first 2/3rd's. And are the chase scenes great? They might just be the best ones lensed since Sam Peckinpah's "The Getaway" (1972), or even "Bullitt" (1968), or even the excellent "Cannonball" (1976). It's also true that Kurt Russell isn't technically the "star" of Death Proof--the ladies are, and the serial killer known as "Stuntman Mike" has likely overstepped himself targeting a group of stuntwomen.

Russell's barroom scenes are superb, and you can tell that Quentin Tarantino has waited his entire life to write dialog for Kurt. Nobody, and I mean nobody, delivers lines like Kurt Russell. And what a treat this segment is for lovers of muscle cars!! If it's not a classic, it sures comes close. Quentin's next movie will be a remake of Enzo G. Castellari's "Inglorious Bastards" (1977), one of the best b-movie takes on WWII ever (outside of Sam Fuller), and the best rip-off of "The Dirty Dozen" (1967).

Strangely, Tarantino's Death Proof doesn't utilize that many of the scratches, frame-jumps, and the audio-dropouts that Rodriguez's does. It does have the "missing reel" aspect, however and it's pretty grainy in parts like. Not bad. Not bad at all. I cannot wait for the DVD, and expect multiple-editions. In some countries, each film is getting released separately in longer cuts.