The past couple of months we have been bringing news on Rob Zombie’s upcoming horror sequel remake –this might be the first sequel remake I’ve heard of – Halloween 2. The title has flip-flopped between H2 and Halloween 2 over the course of filming. IMDB still lists the movie as H2 but by watching the trailer, it would appear the Zombie and Dimension Films have settled on Halloween 2.
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Dimension Films and The Weinstein Company have started a new YouTube channel dedicated to their upcoming horror films, but right now there are only three clips from Halloween 2 posted there. One is the trailer, one is a behind the scenes clip, both of which you can watch below, and the third is a “special message” from Zombie.
The “special message” is utter horse poop and shows the reason why Zombie should be neither in front nor behind a camera. The trailer leaves me with mixed feelings. Sure it’s cut together decently enough but it doesn’t have any scenes which stand out and grab your attention. What it does do is give us everything but a photograph of Michael Myers’ face.
Personally, I don’t want to see Michael’s face. Hiding his face to the audience is what made him a mystery and watching him kill with literally no emotion made it even scarier. By letting us see Michael’s face, Zombie takes that edge away. What’s next, Jason Voorhees without a mask? Removing the mask is not original nor is it fresh; it’s just plain stupid horror story-telling.
Watch the trailer and see what you think:
The behind the scenes clip seems very self-indulgent to me. It’s a minute and a half long and Zombie’s voice or face is present for almost thirty seconds of the clip and he’s mostly giving his opinion the entire time.
Come to think of it, Zombie is a very self-indulgent person anyway. It showed in his music, the title of both bands, White Zombie and Rob Zombie, so it stands to reason that he would bring that same attitude to his movie making.
Watch the clip and listen for this line were he says:
“You know the first movie you’re trying to deal in a John Carpenter world, and those are characters he wrote and not me. So they’re not characters I would have come up with or the way I would have handled it.”
Really Rob? So you and John Carpenter do not have the same story writing skills? That would be the BIGGEST understatement I’ve heard in a while. To tell the truth, if Zombie didn’t have the brand name Halloween to help push this nonsense, his movie would be an utter flop. To see an example his writing (I use that term very loosely) go rent House of 1000 Corpses -- compare that with any of Carpenter’s movies and then tell me who is better.
Also, don’t tell us that everything in this movie is “fresh” and we won’t say “been there, done that” when the start of your trailer is a lone woman covered in blood walking down the street. (Begin sarcasm) Oh yeah, the scene where the girl is in the bathroom and closes the medicine cabinet to see Michael standing there, that’s completely “fresh.” As is the scene of the girl being grabbed from behind with a knife to her throat. Simply amazing direction and screen writing there! I don’t know why directors haven’t put that into more horror films. You are truly cutting edge! (end sarcasm)
He did get slightly better on the second film, The Devils Rejects, but ultimately all of his films rely on the same type of horror to scare people – people getting viciously hurt and killed. Zombie and his also strange wife Sheri Moon Zombie are basically getting paid to bring their sadistic thoughts and tendencies to life. Now that is scary!
The only two positives with this film so far I can think of are Malcolm McDowell (Clockwork Orange) and “Weird” Al Yankovic (UHF) are in the movie. That’s right, IMDB reports Yankovic playing a bit part. Weird Al is to music, what Bruce Campbell is to movies so if he really plays a part in the movie, I’ll watch it just to find him.
Am I being overly critical of Rob Zombie and his latest cinematic effort or do you think he deserves more credit than I am giving him? Are you actually looking forward to Halloween 2?
Halloween 2 (the re-quel) comes to theaters on August 28, 2009.
Source: Coming Soon
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32 Comments
I just think that who ever wrote this crap needs to shut up and watch the movie when it comes out before they state their opinion.
Wow this was a real Rob Zombie bashfest wasn’t it? Even though I hated House of 1000 Corpses i was a big fan of The Devil’s Rejects i thought the Freebird scene was an incredible way for our villains to go out I truly enjoyed Zombie’s Halloween remake and thought it was a great take on the Michael Myers character i love the way he is able to make an audience care about the people that are brutally killing everyone on the screen that being said i think it is unfair to judge Halloween 2 at this point and btw he never said he was better than Carpenter just that he would have done it differently different people have different visions just because he would have taken the movie in a different direction himself doesnt necessarily mean he thinks hes better
Danielle the problem is that the first movie was so utterly terrible that it makes it pretty easy to base an opinion on the sequel without seeing it. Lets face it Zombie is destroying Myers. In my opinion the best horror icon in history is being destroyed by a terrible film maker.
@Danielle – My opinion is based soley on Zombie’s own statements during the behind-the-scenes clip. I will watch the movie and I have seen his 1st 3 attempts, of which Devils Rejects would be his best. I make no opinion of the film that he hasn’t shown in the trailer or clip. In the movie industry, you are judged by your previous attempts at directing, which is why Uwe Bolle will have to make the next “Chariots of Fire” to get ahead in this game.
@Johnny Darknight – Actually he didn’t say on it the clip but he said it to Malcolm McDowell to get him in the movie.
Check out the clip at spot :20. McDowell says “He (Zombie) said to me ‘I wouldn’t make the film if I didn’t think I could do better than the first one’” SO explain to me why someone would want to take a story they didn’t like and use characters they didn’t like then make a movie from it using the same name? Because, my friend, it’s easier to paint the Mona Lisa when you are tracing over the original. Name branding is all he is going for here. If he had a truly original horror story then he should have gone for it. I would have much more respect for that.
Remember these are just my opinions and of course not everyone with agree with me (just ask my wife). I do however appreciate your comments and enjoy discussion. If I’m proven wrong, by all means I will admit it.
6. I think Halloween movie is somewhat boring since you know… during Halloween, time there MUST be no zombie or stuff like that! They just make children scared of Halloween! This movie is nonsense but good. At the first time, I watched the movie was on the August 2008 and it was so cool and thrilling me apart. I thought it was so cool to see a movie with the character wearing so much incredible masks and he changes it like almost every day. I hope Halloween movie will be ended soon so that children won’t be scared with Halloween time. I like Halloween movie but it is scary and not good for children…
I had some grammar mistake on my comment before. let me change it.
I think Halloween movie is somewhat boring since you know… during Halloween, time there MUST be no zombie or stuff like that! They just make children scared of Halloween! This movie is nonsense but good. At the first time, I watched the movie on the August 2008 and it was so cool and thrilling me apart. I thought it was so cool to see a movie with the character wearing so much incredible masks and he changed it like almost every day. However, I hope Halloween movie will be ended soon so that children won’t be scared with Halloween time. I like Halloween movie but it is scary and not good for children…
WTF?
Anyway I’m shocked at how many people actually liked the Zombie butchering of a horror classic. The film took all the scary out of the original and gave us a neutered horror film. There wasn’t one scary moment in Rob’s remake the most frightening parts were the cheap scares because the parts that were suppose to actually frighten you had been stolen. If you want to see a horror classic and example of what all horror films should attempt to be take a peak at the original and see what Zombie did to a great film. If you ask me the remake was just as bad as the Psycho remake.
Zombie thinks hes better than Carpenter? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
@daniel f
You were actually scared when you saw the original halloween? i Saw them when i was young and that would have been the last movie i think to scare me to tell you the truth. That movie just looked like an amateurs guide to stalking people. I mean i liked the movie but it did not scare me in the least nor did i ever think of him as a horror icon but i do agree with you with the whole taking his mask off and showing his origin… i do believe zombie should have left that alone…
Yeah dude, you were way too brutal. seriously though, hes a very brilliant guy and i dont see how you have any right to judge him on self indulgence. His band was named after a movie and plenty of other bands use their front mans name as the title. so seriously, lets just watch the movie and find out for ourselves.
Ps: John Carpenter and Rob Zombie are awesome for different reasons. they aren’t comparable and im sure Rob knows that. Don’t be so quick to judge
I think there may be a generation gap between those that like Zombie’s movies and those that don’t. I wasn’t able to finish even half of House of a 1000 Corpses, but my niece (who was 17 at the time) loves it. Even from the H2 trailer I can tell I won’t like the movie. Just doesn’t look intelligent.
Did you just call Rob Zombie a brilliant? Yikes.
I agree completly with this article. Rob Zombie constantly contradicts himself and even when he was making the remake, I got the impression he didnt really care about the original. His ridiculous complaints about how did Myers learn to drive ect. were not really valid points and then he goes and makes several completly over the top scenes in his version! He has also called the sequels “pathetic” – now I agree a few of them were poor but all of them? Pathetic? I’d prefer to watch Halloween 2,3,4 and even H20 anyday over that pathetic remake.
Zombie is just a one trick pony. Same idiotic annoying characters, more shaky cam and some real “gritty and raw” dialouge are all to be expected.
I loved Halloween 1, 2 and 6. I think 6 gets over looked it was a very enjoyable film and it featured one of my top actors Paul Rudd.
Rob Zombie is not brilliant at all when it comes to film. There was nothing intelligent in any of his movies as of yet. They are for the most part just blood and gore. His Halloween take was the same format with a little Wikipedia research into psychiatric illness. I am not a huge fan of the Halloween series, but his take on the movie is just a lame explanation of the original with more drunks.
I loved White Zombie’s first 2 albums. Loved ‘em. They were heavy, fresh and different than any other metal that had come before. After that, he got generic sounding.
As for his movies, I think he’s a horrible movie maker. I saw Devil’s Rejects and was just grossed out by it. Not scared, grossed out. I didn’t even bother seeing his version of Halloween. If his idea of horror is just blood and gore, than I will stick with the original, thank you.
Rob Zombie should just quit directing and go back to making music.
“Keys to success,,,”
Maniac kills young people gets away at the end… Soak, rinse, repeat,,,
This is Halloween, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and all the Jason vs Freddy films…
Boring, headache inducing mindless stale garbage…
How people get off on seeing people die over and over again boggles my mind.
I liked “Devils Rejects” but these lame horror remakes of the 80′z are about as fresh as sour milk……..
Rob Zombie, get a real name and try something new. Your becoming a walking parody… What’s next “Ghosts of Mars?”
790, I liked the first movie of each of those trilogies, but you’re correct, they became formulaic and stale with the successive sequels. I don’t even bother with the horror genre any more because NOTHING that they make will ever top Alien or Aliens, IMO.
I’m not much of a horror fan I liked Hitchcock and then Halloween. There were a couple other movies here and there, but for the most part not a fan. I enjoyed Friday the 13 and Nightmare on Elm street when I was a kid, but they were not good films or even good horror films. They were mindless garbage that was kind of fun to watch as a child and maybe once as an adult, but they were nothing worth praising. Especially their sequels.
Oh and how bad did everyone think that Jason remake was? Man that thing sucked.
Didn’t Rob Zombie say in an interview once that thinks it pathetic for directors make remakes of movies?
I suffered through House of 1000 Corpses. Utter crap.
Vic
I liked House of 1000 Corpses a lot more than the Halloween remake. I noticed everything Zombie does has to feature really white trash type characters.
LOL that jerk-off Rob Zombie thinks he’s better than John Carpenter?? LMAO, that guy’s a riot…
Zombie should have stuck to music and not bothered with films. Everything he’s put out has been forgettable junk. And that includes the Halloween remake. I don’t recall where i read it, but someone made a good point about a month or two ago stating that in H2, it’s no longer about the figure, it’s about Michael and who he is deep down. Uh, we don’t care who he is deep down. He’s a serial killer and that’s all we need to know. Whoever told Zombie that he’s a good film maker should be beaten so we can quit being subjected to this crap.
Rules: No profanity or personal attacks.
Wow. You all broke that one big time. Zombie is just making what he thinks is best… and if the Akaad family likes it, then it gets made. T
From what I’ve read, Zombie is doing us a favor and giving us a back story, something interesting to take away from the films. No one here can say with a straight face that the original movies had any sort of back story.
Example: A kid, demasked and dumbfounded, with a knife he could probably barely hold right let alone wield? And the parents’ reaction to a child holding a bloddy knife is to just stand there? Oh boy, that’s chocked full of plausibility. Oh, and how Michael’s mask in the original and the sequel remained sparkling clean, and his overalls show no signs of blood, let alone the bullet holes from an emptied pistol from Loomis?
If you believe for one second that the original is more plausible and scarier, you’re really a very confused person, and I feel sad for you. I have been the largest fan of this franchise for I don’t know how long now and I can tell you that most people like the first movie because they re-hash how hot Jamie Lee used to be in her prime. They also relish in how campy the original is. Time has not been good to Michael.
I applaud Rob for trying to assemble a more solidified story arc. He’s making Michael a character that could actually exist in real life. And that is what horror is supposed to do, make you look over your shoulder.
I completely agree that House of 1000 corpses wasn’t very good. It was Rob’s first forray into big-screen horror, and while overall the movie was just a series of ramblings and mish-mash of Rob’s alt-shock artistic vision, it did create compelling characters that Rob carried over into The Devil’s Rejects, which was an INFINITELY better film, and a quite fun one to watch.
You cannot tell me that the beating death of that kid in the woods in the Halloween remake wasn’t one the most brutal and scariest things you have seen in modern horror. I actually said out loud “Oh my god, he’s killing that kid!”. I actually was momentarily psyched into believing the scene. And I have seen a lot of horror movies in the last 10 years. Rob’s remake of Halloween was a B in my book, as the long-haired Michael was just a little too “Zombie” for me, but once the mask was on, the Shape was incredibly well represented. So you are dead wrong on that point.
Also, most of these cliche shots “Medicine cabinet, etc” are usually Rob’s throwbacks and shout-outs to the original films. so I believe you are misinterpreting them.
I just think you’re really off base, and you seem to have a lot of prejudice and bias as far as what the filmmaker is doing, just because he’s a polarizing figure in film. I didn’t see a lot of analysis, just a lot of flame-throwing.
Wanna talk garbage? Let’s talk about Michael Bay’s reboots of TCM and Friday the 13th. Those are far more sacrilegious and inferior to their original counterparts. The original Friday the 13th is almost timeless, and Bay has simply put Jason in the ground for good with the unimaginative drek he put to film.
Zombie is presenting an alternative, Bay is just trotting out the same old dog and pony show with kids in shopping mall clothes… Bay insults me as a moviegoer, Zombie sparks debate. Far more valuable in my book.
:p”””’
Kerry I can’t speak for anyone else here but I think my flames directed at Rob stem from the fact that he’s rebooting old material. If he wants to “do me a favor” he should think up some NEW story to tell.
He pulled it off with “Devils Rejects” why can’t he do something new?
Halloween, Friday the 13th, have been done to death literaly. Let’s move on, there’s nothing fresh with these stories.
@ Kerry – Don’t be fooled for a second that Zombie is making this films for the fans of either the Halloween movies or horror films in general. He is making this for HIS fans and HIS fans only. That’s all fine and dandy but he better be prepared to receive harsher criticism for it.
I was unaware that every horror movie that was made required a back story for it to be considered interesting. I can’t recall watching a single horror film where I asked myself “I wonder how the killer got to be this way. I sure wish they would devote a movie to just that.” And what are you talking about with plausibility? Since when was it a requirement for any movie to be plausible?
He’s not making a more “solidified story arc”, he’s making a shock horror film where demented violence extrudes from every scene.
What point am I dead wrong on? I’m talking about the 2nd film and you’re pointing out scenes from the 1st. Please clarify.
Don’t feed me that line about Zombie giving shoutouts to the original films. The man went on camera and said we will see something fresh and original and then he goes and does the same clichéd crap over and over. I’m not being overly critical here; I’m just holding him to his word. If he had not of said it, then I wouldn’t have brought it up.
The piece I wrote is showing the trailers and the behind-the-scenes clip and then commenting on them. Sorry if you thought it was “flame-throwing” but I assure you it was not. I have no preconceived notations about Zombie and am merely judge him based on the work he presents to me – the paying audience member whose money he wants.
Do you run a Bay anti-blog site or something? I didn’t even compare Zombie to other directors (other than Carpenter) and if I was to I wouldn’t use Michael Bay as the benchmark, Uwe Bolle maybe but not Bay. Zombie doesn’t spark debate, Michael Moore, Bill Mahr, Ben Stein, those guys spark debate.
BTW, I did recently say that Zombie would be a good choice to direct a scene in the upcoming Heavy Metal project. His style would fit nicely with some of his original music and art. Directors have to know what genre and style they work well in and stay there – example Ang Lee Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon = Good, The Hulk = Not So Good.
I infinitely hate the original Halloween for being, not only boring, but extremely overrated. Seems to me that everyone “liking” it are just carrying on a dogma that Halloween is a classic. Few exceptions.
I watched Halloween by Rob Zombie clearly expecting that it would be better than the original, because it couldn’t go different for me. Though I didn’t expect it to be that good either.
I was wrong; the remake was actually enjoyable. Better than I expected. Better than the original. Worth watching and definitely not that much of said garbage.
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