Product Description
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Rob Zombie's H2 (HALLOWEEN) picks up at the exact moment that
2007's box-office smash, HALLOWEEN stopped and follows the
aftermath of Michael Myers's (Tyler Mane) murderous rampage
through the eyes of heroine Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor Compton).
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Rocker turned writer-director Rob Zombie returns to the horror
field with this visually ambitious and aggressively brutal
follow-up to his 2007 reinvention of John Carpenter’s seminal
slasher Halloween. The 1981 sequel to the Carpenter film is
completely ignored here (and for good reason) in favor of an
extension of the central focus of Zombie’s Halloween, and all of
his films, for that matter: the corruption at the heart of the
nuclear family. Here, Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor Compton) is
attempting to heal the psychic wounds from her previous encounter
with brother Michael Myers (Tyler Mane) by bonding with Sheriff
Brackett (Brad Dourif, a pleasure to watch as always) and his
daughter Anne (Danielle Harris, herself a vet from the original
run of Halloween sequels). Her previous surrogate her, Dr.
Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) has forsaken his connection to Laurie
by exploiting his connection to Michael with a tell-all book;
meanwhile, Michael himself roams the lonely outskirts of
Haddonfield, driven by visions of his mother (Sheri Moon Zombie)
and a single-minded urge to bond with his sister at any cost.
Aesthetically, H2 is striking, thanks largely to the ashen color
scheme by cinematographer Brandon Trost (Crank 2: High Voltage),
which underscores the doom-laded spiral track each of the main
characters seem to travel in the film. And Zombie is to be
commended for venturing outside of his comfort zone--the grimy,
pop-culture ironic, white t environment his characters
frequently inhabit--with the scenes between Michael and his
mother. But again, his ambitions don’t meet with his
abilities--Moon looks impressive, but her apocalyptic mutterings
ring more silly than spectral, especially when she’s forced to
play site an enormous pale horse (insert heavy-handed
Biblical imagery here). Most fans will find these moments more
tedious than inspired, and a distraction from the murders, which
retain Zombie’s preference for mayhem. He succeeds in this
department, but if the end result is a menu of ugly killings, the
point of revamping the Halloween franchise is somewhat moot,
since the threadbare follow-ups to the Carpenter original already
achieved that goal. Zombie’s knack for offbeat casting remains
his most inspired talent: Haddonfield is filled with cult icons
like Caroline Williams (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), Margot
Kidder, and Daniel Roebuck, who jostle for space with rough-hewn
character players like Duane Whitaker, Mark Boone Junior, and
Dayton Callie (Deadwood) and left-field cameos by Howard Hesseman
and “Weird Al” Yankovic. --Paul Gaita
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Set Contains:
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If the supplemental features are any indication as to what life
was like on the set of Halloween II, every day was either an
insurable challenge or a laugh riot. Writer-director Rob
Zombie's commentary is the most telling of the extras; Zombie
details, in rueful but bemused tones, the daily struggle to
complete the film with local technicians, driving rain, short
days, and punishing weather. He also points out the many
shortcuts he was forced to take to see his vision to the screen,
and he details the 14 minutes of scenes deleted from the
theatrical release (mostly inconsequential, though "The Pit" in
the hospital basement is impressively nasty) that constitute the
director's cut. Not everything about Halloween II was a chore, as
the blooper reel indicates; it's nothing one hasn't seen before
(blown takes, misfired props), but it does give the impression
that the cast had a good time on the set. Less intriguing are the
numerous deleted and extended scenes; there's a considerable
a of prolonged gore in the murder of Lou Martini (Daniel
Roebuck), but most of the scenes are comprised of dialogue--not
Zombie's strong suit, and since the film is already too long to
begin with, the idea of sitting through more tedious scenes might
not be appealing to viewers. Audition footage for some of the
minor and supporting roles offers passing interest, but the
extended "comedy" routines of faux horror movie host Uncle
Seymour Coffins, and the multiple music videos by the cleverly
named but utterly bland Captain Clegg and the Night Creatures,
are forgettable at best. The extras are rounded out by a wealth
of Sony movie previews, including District 9, Moon, and The
Stepher. --Paul Gaita
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