Written by “The Film Nest” writer, Rob R. (Raging Rob in the Comments section).

In recent years, there has been a trend of remaking all of the great horror franchises of the past 30 years. This “new” concept started in 2003 with the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and is still continuing with the release of Rob Zombie’s sequel Halloween II. In 2007, rock musician Rob Zombie took on the task of remaking John Carpenter’s 1978 horror classic Halloween. Zombie wrote, produced and directed the re-imagining, which tried to delve deeper into what makes a serial killer. I think this was one of the film’s flaws. The reason Michael Myers was such a frightening figure in the original film, was that he was such a mysterious figure made of pure evil. There was no explaining why one night the young Myers picked up a knife and began killing. He did it because he was a psychopathic child, no further explanation needed.

The “process” that created the killer Michael Myers which opens the film, wasn’t my main problem with the movie because it was at least interesting to watch. The same cannot be said of the last hour, as it turned into a generic slasher film that used up every cliche in the horror “how-to” manual. The second half of Halloween relied on blood and gore to entertain instead of creating any genuine suspense or tension, as the original had done so brilliantly.

"Gee Mister, what are you supposed to be?"

Flash forward two years and a sequel to the remake of Halloween is being released in theaters. The story for Halloween II (or H2 as it is being called), picks up immediately after the events of the last film, as Laurie has survived Michael’s attack and is rushed to the hospital. Michael has also survived the events of the first film and is none too pleased that he wasn’t able to reunite with his baby sister. So, in true psycho killer fashion, he sets off on yet another murderous rampage to find her.

Rob Zombie has said in interviews that after the getting the origin story out of the way with the first film, this sequel will give him the chance to create a more extreme version of the legendary character. From what I can tell this includes adding a hoodie. Zombie also stated that this film will be more realistic, and will also deal with Laurie’s emotional state after the attack by her brother Michael.

Michael's tattered scarf completes his hip ensemble.

The first Halloween didn’t exactly set the box office on fire but, it was only budgeted at $15 million and earned 4 times that domestically, a nice feat for horror. This sequel, I expect to do identical business, maybe a little bit less, since the remake concept is what drew most non-fans to the theater in the first place. If you’re a horror fan, you will be there on opening night. If you’re like me and only a casual fan of the series, you will probably wait for a matinee to check this one out. In my eyes, Halloween II has to bring something fresh (or at least less horror film clichés) to the table to make up for the disappointing first film.

Halloween II slashes screens August 28th.  You can watch the trailer here.