Rob Zombie returns to the world of Michael Myers in this sequel to his 2007 Halloween remake. Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton) survived and is now plagued by the pain of all the trauma she endured. Not to mention being the sister of a psychopath. Michael also survived and is biding his time before making his move on Halloween night. He grew a beard in his spare time.

Rounding out the cast is Brad Dourif as the sheriff and Malcolm McDowell as the iconic Dr. Loomis, whose primary driving force is selling books and making money off of the Michael Myers legacy. Both actors were more or less wasted on one-dimensional characters. Why bother even having Loomis if he’s just going to be a douche-bag?

The cinematography was murky and drab with spazzed out camera work for many of the kill sequences. Too many scenes were impossible to tell what was going on. What it lacked in visuals, it made up for in a story that managed to be true to the Halloween series, but still fresh enough and quite brutal as well.

Some areas where it could have done better were cutting down on all the Laurie Strode yelling and being pissed off. Then, there was a little too much about Michael’s inner driving force of killing for his mom, his younger self, and the white horse. The idea of giving him motivation is not a bad one, but the way it kept returning to the same thing was repetitive in the wrong way. It was also a huge misstep to show Michael without the mask and downplay the boogeyman/Shape unseen menace. Michael is scariest when you know he’s there, but you barely see him.

Rob Zombie knows horror and is mostly effective in what he set out to do. With a bit of script polish and some better cinematography, this could have been something to marvel at.

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