Zombie's Second Shot With "The Shape"
Fri, January 23, 2009 
H2, sequel to Rob Zombie’s 2007 remake of John Carpenter’s terrifying classic, Halloween, is stirring up quite a lot of curiosity in the horror community. Much of the buzz is probably due to the claims of H2 being an entirely original concept, rather than a remake of Rick Rosenthal’s original sequel.
Zombie discussed the film with friend and fellow filmmaker, Tim Sullivan. He said the movie will focus on the Laurie Strode character and her “journey in the aftermath of what is an incredibly horrible way to figure out who she is,” as opposed to the first film’s focus, Michael Meyers. “[The film] takes place over some time, but it starts that night and then essentially, I mean… the first one, Laurie has no idea what just happened. But then she wakes up the next day and someone’s going, 'Oh by the way, your parents are dead. All your friends are dead. And actually, your brother is uh, Charles Manson,’” says Zombie, “she’s not the happy-go-lucky girl, now she’s [a] very fucked up famous person, trying to make sense of this.”
Most of the principal cast - at least the ones who survived the first film - will be returning for the sequel, including Scout-Taylor Compton, Tyler Mane and Danielle Harris. Zombie is pretty sure Malcolm McDowell will reprise his role as Dr. Samuel Loomis, but there has been no confirmation as of yet. If McDowell declines, Zombie stated he’ll “just not have the character, because [he thinks] it’d be too weird.”
Zombie talks more about H2, as well as the complications and restraints he encountered with it’s predecessor, in the full interview.
Now, just because Laurie is the center of attention this time around doesn’t mean we won’t get to see plenty of what makes (or made) Halloween so frightening - Michael Meyers. It’s been confirmed in a few minor role casting sides that Michael will still be lurking around Haddonfield, gruesomely murdering cops and horny teens. And he’ll don the same dirty mask while doing so. Only this time, there’s a small addition to the mask (shown right) which speculators say explains Meyers’ survival of the seemingly-fatal shot to the head at the end of Rob Zombie’s Halloween - a small bullet hole on the right cheek of the mask.
I admit, I’m slightly excited about this flick. Not because I am a fan of Zombie’s first take on the Boogeyman, but because of the freedom and material he has to work with to create something that could potentially be unique and new. My main gripe with his Halloween was the tiring and humanizing origin of what was, in the original, “The Shape” - a soulless, evil monster. Now, I know, it was supposed to be different… what reason, other than change, would merit a “reimagining” of a nearly-flawless classic? But Zombie essentially removed what made Meyers so terrifying by subjecting us to what seemed like hours of a young, slightly-demented boy being tormented by his ridiculously dysfunctional family and middle school bullies, almost as if he wanted us to sympathize with the knife-wielding maniac. Not only that, but it took time away from the fairly decent present day portion of the film. With the origin now out of the way, though, Zombie now has time to do more of what he did right in the first, while also having the elbow room to tell his own story. And I think that may be just what the franchise needs.
H2 is set to release in theaters on August 28th, 2009.
Reader Comments (2)
Well the upside to this is that we won't have to wade through the first hour of unintresting, loudmouthed, dispicible characters in order to get to the thrills, spills and chills. The first film, (Zombie's) however, left me a bit cold as I deemed it a bit too brutal. That's Myers now- not so much as a nearly unstoppable, mysterious bogeyman (or the appearance of one) but a big insane mute brute. While Zombie did make it his own, he still can't top John Carpenter. By the way, if this thing winds up being a cash whore, I'd like to see Zombie remake Halloween III: Season Of The Witch -the one without Myers. Only this time, Myers mixes it up alongside the Silver Shamrock company....
I know, I shouldn't give people funny ideas...
If you throw in the Wheelers from Wizard Of Oz 2, then Halloween 3 would be a goldmine.