Halloween 2 (2009) Blu-ray Review

Review:

*Originally written December 3rd, 2018*

After revisiting Rob Zombie's first Halloween film and being pleasantly surprised, I thought maybe it was time to go back to this one and see if it was as terrible as I remember, or I was just wrong. While Halloween 2 suffers from a lot of the same problems as the first, it's not quite as bad as I remember, but it is far from good.

Zombie's decision to shoot on 16mm film makes for an ugly and nasty looking film that retains a lot of the grittiness and feeling of trashiness he was going for. It also captures the pure barbaric nature of the Myers violence, but Zombie fails to film his kills with any real tension or decent framing. This is something that gets worse in Zombie's career as he went on to favour shakey-cam in the truly awful 31. 

There's a baffling amount of story decisions in Halloween 2 that just feel off and far too weird for a film like this. I appreciate Zombie was let off the leash for this one and allowed to do his own thing, but this is far removed from the spirit of the Halloween franchise we know. We learn more about Michael's motivation from his hallucinations of his dead mother who orders him to get his sister back. It's nice to explore what's making Michael tick, but it is done in such lame and purely executed fashion that it's hard not to cringe. It's a huge creative misstep and I feel someone should have been handling Zombie's ideas a bit more.

Speaking of missteps, part of me both loves and hates the opening the film, a 20 minute prologue that ultimately meant nothing to the film. It's clearly a homage to the original Halloween 2's hospital setting, but having this event as a dream sequence feels like an outrageous amount of padding to get the film up to an acceptable length. What's most frustrating about it is the hospital scene actually has some real tension and brutality here, far better than anything later in the film. I just wished they saved it for something that actually happens in the film.

It's not all bad though, Malcolm McDowell is back and wonderful as ever as Dr. Loomis. I'd guess a lot of fans would not be a fan of this portrayal of Loomis as it portrays him as a money hungry profiteer off the misery of the people who had died in the previous film and his failure to treat Michael. It's not particularly deep or clever, but it's fun to see McDowell play Loomis as such a sellout in a performance that clearly isn't taking itself as seriously as the rest of the film.

I was also pretty impressed with Scout Taylor-Thompson's role as Laurie Strode this time, they actually do a lot of interesting things with her in the first half as she learns the truth about her connection to Michael while she suffers from PTSD after the events of the first one. It's no Jamie Lee Curtis from Halloween 2018, but it's definitely a step above a lot of other horror film final girls.

Some part of me wishes we got a trilogy of the Rob Zombie Halloween films, while we waited 9 years for the Excellent David Gordon Green film, it would have been nice to see this canon of the story told and wrapped up. Whether it would have been better or worse than this one is another story, because the ending stinger implies something a lot more stupid than this one. Hey-ho, this canon is dead now so it doesn't matter anyway.


Rob Zombie's Halloween 2 is a huge misstep after the decent first, but it still has Zombie's aggressive flare and enough interesting moments to make it one of the better Halloween films. I feel I'm giving this a really low score, despite kind of enjoying it, but it really is a mess. I might like this one more in the future. After this watch, I'm surprised and confused as to why I hated this so much when it came out?

4/10 Dans

Halloween 2 is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
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Halloween (2007) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written November 2nd, 2018*

Jesus Christ, I have to get this out the way first. How is this so hard to get hold of in the UK? Its less successful sequel is released on both Blu-ray and DVD here, while this one only got a DVD release that is out of print and is selling for around £30 on Amazon (The fuck?). I had to import this from the US only to find it was region locked, which has never been a problem for me, but for whatever reason my PS4, Xbox One or PS3 could not play it, despite being used as a multi-region player several times. I decided fuck it and just torrented it and just shelving the Blu-ray. I'm genuinely curious though, what went wrong with the distribution of this in the UK? 

Onto the film, yes. Rob Zombie's Halloween. It's... interesting. Not entirely successful, but by far one of the better horror remakes that at least doesn't make the mistake of being a shot for shot remake of the original and tries to do its own thing with Zombie's typical charm and endearing characters.

From what I remember from this (I'd seen it once about 10 years ago), they explored a lot of Michael Myers childhood and sorta ruin the mystery of the character, but I much preferred the stuff with Michael as a deeply, deeply disturbed child with a rough home life and utterly disgusting family.

This is where the Rob Zombie'isms kick in. From the opening scene you know you're in for a Rob Zombie film. It opens with abrasive heavy metal music and around 30 uses of the word "Fuck" before the opening scene ends. It's hard to sympathise with a family that act like this, so when Michael inevitable kills them, it was more a relief. Zombie really knows how to create some truly awful characters with no merit. 

Daeg Faerch does a good enough job as young Michael as its quickly revealed he murders small animals before setting sights on bigger targets, he mostly shines in his scenes in the mental institution with Malcolm McDowell's Dr. Loomis. Having them spend time together while Michael was young is a smart move and brings a lot more than what could have been a generic remake. McDowell's Loomis doesn't hold the same gravitas as Pleasance though, but he puts his own spin on the character and it more or less works.

Where things start to get messy however is with its second half. When Michael is grown up and escapes the mental institution, it becomes a pretty generic and uninspired slasher, which is a shame because the first half did a good job of being its own beast. I know it had to become a slasher at some point, and it's not bad at all, it just feels very samey with stuff I've seen before. Especially in regards to David Gordon Green's 2018 film, which has genuine creativity and tension.

The second half really is a blurry mess of tits and gore. Michael pretty much just goes on a rampage killing horny teenagers while trying to find his sister and kill her? I don't know, the film isn't very clear? It implies he wants to kill her as he didn't as a child, but he wastes every chance he has to the point where I'm not sure what his plan was.

Zombie at least brings a lot of graphic violence and unflinching gore to the kills. What they lack in tension, he really makes up for in brutality. There's an argument that Zombie takes thing too far, the rape in the mental institution just feels a bit off and Michael killing people that are nice to him is pretty horrible, but that at least adds to what a monster Michael is. 


So yeah, Rob Zombie's Halloween has been pretty panned over the years, but for the most part I like it. It's completely different from the original while paying homage to it at times and it definitely has Rob Zombie's voice. I just wish the second half was an interesting as the first. Oh, and someone sort out a real Blu-ray release for this in the UK please. 

6/10 Dans

Aside from an out of print DVD, Halloween has no release in the UK
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Halloween (2018) - Cinema Review

Review:

*Originally written October 24th, 2018*

Well, here we are. A film that had a lot to live up to. A film that promised to wipe the slate clean of all the garbage Halloween sequels and be the sequel we deserved to John Carpenter's horror-slasher classic of the '70s. There were lots of question marks as to whether this to work or not, but with a solid crew behind it and John Carpenter returning to produce and score, plus Jamie Lee Curtis back as Laurie Strode, they've not only managed to make a successful sequel to the original, but one of the best slasher films in years.

The Halloween franchise is one of I've held dear since my childhood. I first got acquainted with the series during late night showings of the sequels when I was very young. I couldn't tell you which sequels they were, but there was something about Michael Myers and his cold, relentless brutality that stuck with me. I eventually got to see whole series eventually, and while they got worse with each one, I still liked the mythology and presence of Myers. I even have a soft-spot for Rob Zombies first remake, not the sequel though, that was one of the lowest lows of the series. 

So after a a lot of bad sequels and remakes that killed the franchise for 9 years, we're finally back with Laurie Strode as the lead and its a direct sequel to the original that ignores every following sequel, and it is beautiful. Rather than the overly complicated and increasingly silly backstory behind Michael Myers, he's returning to what he should be, the embodiment of pure evil. A silent killer that brutally murders people without remorse and for no real reason. 

We open with him at a mental institution for the criminally insane as he is awaited transportation for a maximum security prison. He's interviewed by two people who do a true crime podcast, leading to an insanely effective cold open that involves a chained up Michael and his original mask before smash cutting to the opening credits that pay homage to the originals opening, while doing something new with it. 

You know where this is going though, Michael breaks out and returns to Haddonfield for another round of teenager slaughtering mayhem. But the twist is this time Laurie is waiting for him and she's been preparing for 40 years to finish Michael off. I rarely expect excellent performances from a horror film, but Jamie Lee Curtis is fantastic here, playing Laurie as a much more prepared and stronger character that has shades of Sarah Connor from Terminator 2 while having her own tragic back story. Seeing the mental repercussions of Michael's original killing spree on Laurie's friends was a fantastic touch, that really ground the film in some sort of reality and makes Laurie easy to root for.

What makes this sequel of Halloween work is how it doesn't try to over explain Michael or give him a reason for his crimes. His psychiatrist has spent decades trying to understand him, but came up with nothing. He doesn't even seem to have a real vendetta against Laurie at all either, he will simply kill anyone he comes into contact with. He doesn't even seem to care about Laurie, she even comes for him, not the other way around. Making for a great role reversal and an insanely unexpected and expectation subverting third act that involves three generations of the Strode women.

In terms of brutality and gore, Halloween certainly earns its 18 rating, people are stabbed, shot and beaten to death in unflinching and increasingly brutal ways. Michael's penchant for violence has never been more unchained that is has been here, he is an absolute tanking force of nature that makes you feel every uncomfortable moment of his rampage. It even goes to some surprisingly dark places most mainstream horror franchises wouldn't touch. There's even a beautiful series of long takes as Michael weaves in out of houses, killing the inhabitants and getting hold of whatever weapon he can while John Carpenter's gorgeous and varied score blares in the background. It was a moment of pure cinematic nirvana.

Even with the brutality and gore, David Gordon Green manages to direct the film with an insane amount of confidence and tension as all these kills are earned and are built up. It's rare a horror film doesn't rely on multiple jump scares and rather let's the scene build as we know what Michael is capable of, but watching as the characters have no way out of their horrific situation. One of the little touches I loved was that we never saw Michael's face too. While he spends the first act without his mask, we only ever see the back of his head or very out of focus shots of his face, it just adds a little bit more to that mystery of Michael and the only time we see his face is from archive footage from the original after seeing him be unmasked as a 6 year old after murdering his sister.

I was also pleasantly surprised by Danny McBride and Green's script, which I had no idea what to expect. McBride obviously being majorly comedy focused in his career was something I had my reservations about, but they mostly knock it out the park. There are moments of humour spread throughout, but they don't do that Marvel thing by throwing a lame joke into a middle of a scene that's meant to be tense only to ruin it, but they leave all that stuff on the outside, letting the scenes of horror breathe massively. My only real complaint about the script is the bizarre and out of place character turn late into the film that comes out of nowhere and is wrapped up so quickly that I have no idea why it was even there. That aside, it's all pretty great and there are  huge amount of nods to the original that pay homage to it while making its own original take on such iconic imagery.


Halloween 2018 is everything I possibly could have hoped for, it wraps up a story that started 40 years ago perfectly and makes up for much of franchises short-coming while being its own beast. A tense, violent and horrific ride that was a complete blast and might just be the best horror film of the year. It's rare that a film comes along where all I want to do is just watch it again, but here we are. Go see Halloween, support good horror films.


9/10 Dans

Halloween is in cinemas now in the UK and has a 4K Steelbook available to pre-order from HMV
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Halloween (1978) - 4K UHD Review

Review:

*Originally written October 3rd, 2018*

John Carpenter's Halloween is always one that impresses me. At its core its a very simplistic and basic slasher, but one that works far better than most do. I finally watched all the sequels I'd never seen before last year and returning to the original before the release of the "Official" sequel this month was an interesting experience.

The sequels are plagued in that way a lot of horror film franchises are, it tries to explain the villain. Giving him an overly convoluted back story that completely destroys the mystery behind them. I'm a little fuzzy on what happened in the sequels, but if I remember right, it was something to do with a cult? I'm having trouble remembering, but I know I hated whatever they tried to do.

Thankfully, despite the awful sequels, Halloween still holds up. Michael Myers is an absolute force of nature. A completely psychotic monster incapable of any empathy or remorse. He never speaks and his motivations are unclear, aside from his desire to kill whatever gets in his way. From the effective POV opening of Michael as a child as he stabs his sister to death is still one of the best openings to a horror film ever. It's brutal and unsettling. Made worse by the reveal that the person behind these acts is a small child. It's a ballsy move and one that still really works. 

The use of POV shots really works. As Michael doesn't say anything, we're put in his shoes, only hearing and seeing what he sees. It's dark and unsettling, but really creates an atmosphere. One that the sequels failed to capture. Carpenter's direction really brings things alive. It's only 90 minutes, things go very quickly, but everything is set-up neatly and the stakes are all set from the get-go.

Donald Pleasance's Dr. Loomis let's the viewer know what Michael is like. There's a lot of unspoken history between Loomis and Michael. You know he'd spent years of his life ensuring that Michael reminds locked up, as he knows what he is capable of and stops at nothing to see him captured or killed. It's a performance of unexpected gravitas and easily the strongest the film had to offer.

That's not to say the performances are bad, but aside from Pleasance and Jamie Lee Curtis, everyone else is, well... not great... Most of Michael's fodder are just annoying teens that you sort of want to see die. It's a genre formula that works, but I couldn't help but feel I'd care a bit more if I'd invested a little more time in this characters. 

I also miss when films actually had iconic theme songs and the Halloween film is absolute gold. I always forget Carpenter was also the composer, fair play to him to creating one of the most iconic theme songs of film history. Modern films really need to step up their game and make some memorable theme songs for there films. Honestly, can you name the last film that actually had a memorable theme that will be remembered in time like they used to?

In terms of villain design, Michael Myers is still one of simplicity that still delivers an unsettling feel to this day. A completely white and faceless mask that does little to hide the fact there is something behind it with absolutely no one. You all know the history behind Myers mask, but it's still great to see. Despite getting an 18 rating, I'm always taken back by just how tame Michael's kills are too, it's more the manner of how callous and methodical Michael is with his killing, rather than going for grotesque kills, it instead goes for pretty straight forward strangles and stabbings that feel more real. While it's fun, I do sort of hate the horror franchise mentality of having one up the previous film by getting more and more absurd with each film, I much prefer the simplicity of the original.

Halloween's Blu-ray release in the UK was one I was always pretty fond of, it was one of the first Blu-rays I owned in fact, so that may have had an impact, but this new 4K UHD transfer is pretty damn good. There is so much more detail in the night scenes and it still retains a natural amount of grain. I was a little worried about this transfer going in, but it looks damn good. 


Halloween is a definitive slasher, one that still holds up today, it's not adverse to cliches you've seen today, but you gotta remember it was one of the first to make these dents in the genre. It's a stripped back, bare bones and iconic slasher. The best of the series by far.

9/10 Dans

Halloween is out now in the UK on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD
Watch the trailer below:

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