Director: Rob Zombie
Cast: Scout Taylor-Compton, Malcom McDowell, Brad Dourif, Danielle Harris, Sheri Moon Zombie, and Tyler Mane.
Plot: Michael Myers (Tyler Mane) is planning a return back to Haddonfield, Illinois and he plans on reuniting with his sister, Laurie (Scout Taylor-Compton). He has visions of his younger self and his mother (Sheri Moon Zombie) telling him that he needs to get her so they be a family again for Halloween. Meanwhile Laurie is struggling mental issues. She keeps having dreams of her maniac brother coming and killing her. She is now living with her friend Annie and her dad Sheriff Lee (Danielle Harris and Brad Dourif). Also going on, Dr. Loomis has released a new book about Michael Myers and in it he reveals to the world that Laurie is Michael’s sister. When she finds this out she freaks out and goes out for a drunken night with her friends. Little does she know that Michael has other plans for her, her friends, and others.
Breakdown: This is definitely a step up from Rob Zombie’s remake from 2007. This time around it isn’t a straight remake of the original sequel and Zombie really puts his vision in this one. However, that doesn’t make the movie all too great. One thing that Rob needs to learn how to do is build up tension. Everytime something is about to jump out and scare the audience you can always tell when its going to happen because it will be dead silent and then out pops Mr. Myers. Not to mention some of the dialogue is just plain bad and needed to be worked on. Zombie needs to work a little more on his writing, direction, and over all craft.
Performances: The performances here range from mediocre to decent. It seems that the supporting actors give better performances. Scout Taylor-Compton plays Laurie again the same way she did in the last movie. She’s still too whiny and not very believable. It makes me miss Jamie Lee Curtis. Malcolm McDowell really does a terrible job as Dr. Loomis, just as he did in the first film. He’s a one note character in both of Zombie’s movies. Tyler Mane does fine as Michael Myers himself. Although this time around he’s added some grunting when he kills off certain characters for some reason. Both Harris and Dourif do fine jobs in their roles and have been the best parts of both films. And Sheri Moon Zombie is given nothing to do in this movie. She’s not a great actress but they could have given her more to do.
Overall: This is a better movie than the first remake and Zombie has stepped it up just a bit this time around, but the movie still comes off as another generic horror movie with a lot of blood and gore. Zombie still has time to grow as a filmmaker and hopefully if he continues to make movies he will get better.