Remaking the classics is a tough gig and when it was announced that Kentucky Fried Horror auteur Rob Zombie was hired to give everybody's favorite "boogeyman" a unnecessary makeover, the movie nerds screamed in vengeance and studied the production under a microscope. When the film came out very few nerds liked it and considered it an abomination to the original classic. The general horror movie going public and Rob Zombie fans liked the film very much. For the most part I thought the movie had it's moments and therefore liked the movie. The key word is like because my relationship with Halloween is a strange one. I have seen three versions of Zombie's remake (workprint, theatrical, and director's cut) and love certain things about all of them but ultimately find myself unhappy with the finished product, the director's cut. Like it or not Zombie did make the remake his own and that I find very cool.

Halloween II is more in line with the style of Rob Zombie. The film nerds hate it but not as much as the first one. The experience I had seemed quite different than others. Rob Zombie's new film I found quite entertaining and most of all unique. You could even say that the new Halloween II is something like an art-house slasher horror film. Not everything works in the film. Maybe the unexplained is just a sign of rushed filmmaking, or it may just be the imagination of Rob Zombie? I like the work of Rob so I am going to give him the benefit of doubt and pick the latter.

This last installment picks up at the moment where the first one ended. Warning, spoilers from here on out! After shooting Michael, Laurie wanders around in the neighborhood until the Sheriff finds her and takes her to the hospital. Michael Myers is presumed dead and loaded into a meat wagon to be taken to the morgue. The transport gets into an accident that awakens Michael. After Michael gathers his senses, he is visited with a vision of the dead mother and his young self. This encounter is followed by a hospital nightmare. It has been a year since the brutal night Michael came home. Laurie is now living with her best friend and trying to live a normal life, but has been forever changed from that horrific Halloween night. Michael Myers has been living in the woods for a year and is ready to return to finish what he started.

Not one of the best films I have seen this year but a vast improvement to the first movie.

Halloween II gets a C+