Halloween II: Review By Messenger

I have never been 50/50 on a movie before. But this is one. I can see why many will not like this movie but I for one enjoy Zombie's take on Halloween.

THE GOOD:

Unlike many horror movies character development is never a strong suit. With H2 Zombie takes his time to show what the survivors of the first are going through. Or how they have changed. Loomis is a good example, he has become a greedy press whor* who comes to terms with what he selling to the world about Michael and the murders.

I love how RZ made Michael a looming presence, a wrath, a psychotic, evil need to finish what he has started.

Duality of Michael in H2 is something the fans of the original might not like but I do. How he handles the light and dark side of Michael was something I was glad to see. But mind you the original MM was one dimensional, a dark soul, which is what made him an iconic character. Here, he is layered, something you can pick apart.

Showing how something like MM lives and survives was also a neat little tid-bit, a new view of Michael that I was glad to see.

The over all look is something I liked a lot. The dirty, gritty aesthetic is something I always like about Zombies movies.

THE BAD:

The acting, I wouldn't really call it bad, but it just wasn't smooth. You could tell that the actors weren't hitting that spot that they needed to, to deliver a convincing performance.

The mother plot line. I agree it reminds me of Friday the 13th but to be fair, in the original Michael was obsessed with killing his sister. Which is where I can in H2 why that would be a natural progression but I personally would have left it alone.

Seeing Michael Myer's face is like seeing your mother naked, you just don't want to see it, for different reasons obviously. Though it was in heavy shadow I just would have preferred that he face was never shown.

The ending was a bit cliche for me. Though it seems he took the plot line from H5 (I think it was), It still didn't really hit home.

*SPOILER*

Loomis's character arc seemed a little rushed. I personally didn't feel that he as a character, a person has come to the realization of what he has done. Especially to warrant his reaction to Micheal's reappearance.

After viewing H2 I do believe that Zombie is slowly coming into his own as writer and director. I still have faith that he can make some killer movies (pun intended) but he needs to create his own original work.