I must say that I am very surprised at the apparent "disgust" that there seems to be for this film. Every review that I have read seems to bash it for not being the original 1981 "Carpenter" Halloween II. I agree that this film was a HUGE change of pace for the characters, but then again... so was Zombie's first installation in this series. I thought both films were very refreshing and took the premise of the story to new and very interesting territories. I'm not going to get into the details of the film at all, as there have been a ton of reviews posted that pretty much sum up the overall scope of the film. A lot of what was included was a hodgepodge of personal opinion coming from individuals who went in to see this film with the notion that it was a "remake" of the original Halloween sequel.
It wasn't, at all, and no one should go and watch this film expecting such an outcome. This was Zombie's story... not John Carpenter's... not Debra Hill's... and if you are planning on watching the film at some point, or if you're going to write a review of this film, make sure you keep that in mind. Seriously, every review I have read here has the same biased opinion that "Oh it sucks because it is not identical to the original sequel nor does it follow the original premise of the Halloween series". This outlook is completely ridiculous! This is a fresh take on a story that had become very stale, i.e. the sorry excuse for a film that was Halloween Resurrection. I am a huge fan of the Halloween series, and Rob Zombie is the best thing that has happened to it since JC released the original film, hands down. The one plot point I will bring up is the presence of Sheri Moon Zombie in this film as Michael's mother's ghost, or a hallucination, or a vision, or whatever you want to call it. I have heard countless comparisons between this and the underlying premise of "Friday the 13th". All I can say is, I don't get it.
For one, Mrs. Voorhees was the original killer, and I don't really recall her being a vision that Jason had... at least not one that was as obvious as what was going on in this film. AND... Sheri really wasn't the driving force for Michael to kill in this film in my opinion. She was the catalyst to an extent, but not the main focus of what and why the events were transpiring. Laurie had visions of Sheri as well, and we didn't see her running around slashing and stomping peoples faces in... my point is that the correlation between these two films and a similar plot point is false, and is completely unsupported in my opinion. All in all, I thought the film was very solid. It was very obvious it was a Rob Zombie flick, and I think he did a wonderful job of bringing a new vision and outlook to what had become a weak franchise. In the end, if John Carpenter's 1981 "Halloween II" release is what you are expecting here, you might as well just go get the DVD and watch that, because that is not what Zombie is providing, nor should it be. But, if you want to see a fresh new take on a series that had become completely irrelevant, and enjoy a film that showcases wonderful and truly great production, then you might want to catch RZ's Halloween II. Sorry the review was so long! I even wanted to create custom lanyards of this movie and wear it to my office.