According to Shock Til You Drop, director Rob Zombie has been saying for some time now that Halloween II – the second chapter in his reboot of the Halloween franchise first started by John Carpenter back in 1978 – has a whole different version that never made it to theaters. Of course, as with all these cases, Halloween II “The Alterno Version” was promised as a “director’s cut” to be released on DVD.

Well, with Halloween II passing quietly through theaters back in August, and the DVD release not far off, the subject of the director’s cut has once again come up, with Zombie dropping a few details about what we would get from this cut-never-seen.

So is it worth your time to take another stab at Halloween II? You be the judge:

Patrick Lussier, director of My Bloody Valentine 3D and editor of a ton of Wes Craven movies, (including the Scream series) has been apparently chatting with Dimension Films about directing the upcoming Halloween 3D, which is supposedly due out in the summer of 2010.

Rob Zombie (The Devil’s Rejects) had taken on directing responsibilities for the 2007  Halloween reboot and Halloween II which is in theaters now. Bob Weinstein (co-head of the Weinstein Co., parent corporation of Dimension Films) recently let it be known that Zombie won’t be directing Halloween 3D, despite the fact that the film is set to pick up right where Halloween II left off.

Short Version: Halloween II is the most ambitious and most accomplished movie I’ve seen from Rob Zombie. But it’s still not quite what I would call “a good film.”

Screen Rant Reviews Halloween II

Halloween II picks up literally where writer/director Rob Zombie’s 2007 Halloween reboot left off: Michael Myers shot down by his little sister Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton), while Laurie herself is left battered, bloody and half-crazed by her ordeal. The first third of the sequel pretty much revels in the repercussions of the first film, focusing on the survivors and the hell they go through physically, mentally and emotionally as their wounds (literal and metaphorical) are treated and the gore is wiped clean. This first third is also the only real nod to Rick Rosenthal’s 1981 sequel to John Carpenter’s original Halloween, which was almost entirely set in the hospital Laurie Strode is being treated in following Michael’s Halloween massacre.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll tell you right up front that I am not a fan of the Halloween franchise; never have been, never will be.  However, on some carnal, visceral, murderous, sadistic level I appreciate Rob Zombie, even if he is a one-trick pony.  I feel like every time I see one of his movies, there’s a haunting scene around a dinner table; a tense scene with someone silhouetted in moonlight/headlights; a startling scene where someone is revealed as the mirror closes; and of course there’s gratuitous everything: violence, nudity, profanity – the Zombie triple-play.

However, just because I know what’s coming doesn’t mean I won’t partake; I mean damn I saw Titanic, and no matter how much you hope and pray, that boat’s going down.

And now we all have to opportunity to see a little more of what’s coming.  Bloody-Disgusting recently released a heretofore unused trailer of Zombie’s upcoming sequel, Halloween 2, which is surprisingly superior to the previously released trailer we’ve seen.  And the masses seem to concur. 

In case you are wondering, NO, you aren’t reading a title with a twist. It would appear that Rob Zombie is actually done with the Halloween franchise after his latest attempt, Halloween 2, hits theaters August 28, 2009.

In the quick video interview below with MTV, Zombie was asked if he would ever consider doing Halloween 3. Before the interviewer could even get the sentence out Zombie responded:

Rob Zombie’s upcoming horror remake sequel, Halloween II, has a new poster and trailer. It’s not the first we’ve seen of each for the movie, but none have been particularly awesome so far and these latest two items do nothing to change that impression.

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.

Last month Screen Rant reported that Michael Myers would appear mask-less for most (try 70%) of the upcoming horror sequel H2: Halloween 2, by director Rob Zombie. The information came from FX artist Wayne Toth, who assured fans that the change really works.

Well, new information has come to light from Zombie himself that that information given by Toth was taken out of context, and isn’t true.

It was only a few days ago that Screen Rant reported on the news that Michael Myers will be mask-less for most of H2: Halloween 2, Rob Zombie’s upcoming sequel to his take on the classic horror Halloween. And yet the first official image released of him has the masked killer, well… fully masked.

Reportedly this sequel picks up right after where the last one ended which, not to give too much away mind you, admittedly is an interesting idea to go with considering just how the last one left off. Anyway, check out the first official image of Myers from the movie below:

One of the things fans of the original Halloween (and the character of Michael Myers) would consider most important would be the mask. Even for those who may not have seen the film, the look of the character (but particularly that mask) is iconic.

They obviously updated the mask for Rob Zombie’s horrible remake of the film – not drastically, mind you, but enough to make it work better in our current movie-going age. Taking that into consideration, you’d expect that they’d continue with that mask for the sequel H2: Halloween 2, right? Wrong. According to make-up FX artist Wayne Toth, Myers will be without the mask for at least 70% of the movie!

It’s that time of the week again. Sunday is here and therefore we must be due a Weekend Movie News Wrap Up. This week we look at the box office as well as:

No Cleo for Hugh Jackman; Mars attacks G.I. Joe; Thor lands in present day and Zombie unleashes a look at Michael Myers in Halloween 2.

It’s hard to believe that we are now into December. It seems like only yesterday I was talking about the big summer releases – and now we are looking forward to next years big movies.

This weeks Weekend Movie News Wrap Up features the obligatory box office wrap up as well as:

La Beouf is The Associate; Stiller talks Zoolander 2; who is Angelina Jolie? Zombie returns to Halloween and Brownlow Vs Captain Blood.