448: Rob Zombie's Halloween II

[Speaker 0]:\nAlright. Well, let's end off with Halloween two, which came out in two thousand and nine, written and direct by Rob Zombie, stars basically the same cast. And the synopsis is Laurie Strode struggles to come to terms with her brother Michael's deadly return to Hatfield, Illinois. Meanwhile, Michael prepares for another reunion with his sister. This one got even worse reviews, I'm pretty sure, than the first one did. However, I don't know if it's because this one feels slightly more original, quote, unquote, than the first one. The story feels a little bit more fleshed out, but, also, Rob Zombie style should be eighty minutes or less every time. It doesn't matter the story. And this movie, even though I think it's slightly superior, I might give it a pass, I guess, star rating wise. It is so bloated and unnecessarily long, but really like how Michael Myers looks in this, the overall storyline and his wandering around Hanfield. A lot of scenes take place at night, but I think it's shot pretty well. It looks better than the first one, I think. The mask of Michael Myers is awesome. The opening sequence on the road is very effective. So there's some good kills in this and better kills, I think, than in the first one where not to say that they're comedic, but they're at least a little bit more creative, and I didn't see all of them coming as much as I did in the first one. The scene behind the bar or, like, the strip club with the guy is very effective. The final sequence in the hut, the shack, whatever, that's fairly well done, but that whole third act goes on much longer than it needs to, and the resolve is not super interesting. So it's one that if you need to complete your Halloween universe, check it out, but both of these, just as with the first, are way towards the bottom. There's not enough going on. I always wanna like these movies. I always wanna give them a pass. I wanna forgive the flaws, and I'll still watch them. Like, I've seen both twice now at this point, and I might watch them again at some point. There's a time and place for a weird Rob Zombie movie, but you really gotta be in the right mood. So other than that oh, the sequence out in the rain with the security guard, I think it is. That's probably my favorite part of the whole movie. That's really well shot. Good suspense and intensity. The hospital scene is very good too. So there are good sequences, relatively speaking, that in the first one, maybe it was him getting his feet wet, but there's a little bit more confidence, some more visceral power in this and intensity than the first one had. So this one sticks with me more, the good parts and the bad parts, whereas the first one feels a little bit more forgettable, both the story itself and the emotional weight, the horror aspect of it all, so this one slightly edges out the first one. That one is a three, light three, out of five. \n\n