I'm going to go back a few years to the first "Halloween" film that Rob Zombie created. It was a decent remake of the classic and possibly the best "slasher" film out there, but it was still no where near the fore mentioned film. Skip a few years ahead and we have a completely new and re-envisioned sequel. I recently heard Rob Zombie in an interview for the SyFy channel, saying something to the effect that this is an original film and one of his main goals was to humanize Michael Myers. That is like taking Freddy Kruger and slapping a pink sweater and some plastic knives on him; it is horror movie blasphemy! That was not the only issue with this second rate horror movie: the story was bad, the acting was bad, and the whole film was bad.
I want to talk about the icon known as Michael Myers first, as this was my biggest problem with this film. Zombie "humanized" the character by allowing him to grunt and scream during his murder scenes. Now, this may not seem like a big deal, but one of the things that made the original character so terrifying was the fact that he was silent in everything he did. The only emotion you would ever see from him was maybe a head tilt. By adding this, it took away from the terror and almost made him comical. Add to this that it seemed as though every female character sucked in a tank of helium before going in to film and it's quite funny to watch. By the end of the film, I was happy to see them all killed! The character of Dr. Samuel Loomis was also ruined. He was somehow transformed into an egotistical schmuck that is obnoxious from the moment he hits the screen.
As far as the story goes, it was badly written and a bit too far out in left field, especially to be considered a part of this iconic series, old or new. As I stated earlier, this is an original story and is not a remake of the first "Halloween II" film. With the addition of young Michael and Mrs. Myers in their pointless roles, the film takes a more eccentric turn, which does not work at all.
I laughed through much of the film, thanks to the grunting and surprisingly loud slaughter of many characters. There were many scenes that were meant to scare, but you could see them coming several minutes before they actually happened. I actually enjoyed Zombie's first take on this series, but this was just a sad attempt. The very idea that a third film is already in the works, in 3-D none-the-less, makes me sick. Skip this until October 31st and have a good laugh with your friends. It's an embarrassment to such an icon.
Grade: D+