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Two out of Five stars
Running time: 105 mins

Pointless, frequently annoying remake that adds nothing to the original sequel, unless you count some nonsense about a white horse.

What's it all about?
More of a sequel to the 2007 remake than a remake of the 1981 sequel, Halloween II is directed by Rob Zombie and once again stars Scout Taylor-Compton as Laurie Strode. The film initially follows the path of the original sequel and has unstoppable, mask-clad killer Michael Myers (Tyler Mane) waking up from almost certain death and pursuing Laurie (who is, in fact, his younger sister) in a hospital, but this is quickly revealed (in the first of a handful of annoying dream sequences) to be all in Laurie's head.

Instead, it takes a full year for Michael to get round to chasing Laurie again, this time egged on by imaginary visions of his mother (Sheri Moon Zombie, aka Mrs Zombie), himself as a child (Chase Vanek) and an apparently Freudian white horse that a caption helpfully explains before the film starts. Meanwhile, Dr Samuel Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) is also back in town and his successful book tour is rudely interrupted by the news that Michael is on the loose again.

The Good
Rob Zombie's 2007 remake put an interesting spin on the original film by adding prequel details and essentially telling the story from Michael's point of view. Unfortunately, Halloween II adds nothing to the original sequel, unless you count all the nonsense with the horse and the revelation that Michael likes to eat raw dead dogs. (This is intercut with Sheriff Brad Dourif eating meat and teasing Laurie about her vegetarianism, which is presumably Zombie's idea of a joke.) McDowell is the only one who seems to be really enjoying himself, while Taylor-Compton's Laurie is oddly distant this time round, heightened by Zombie's decision to frequently film her either in long shot or from behind a door.

The Bad
The film's biggest problem is that it's never particularly scary – the deaths themselves are just nasty (a stripper's death is especially horrible), with Zombie relying heavily on a strongly suggestive soundtrack of bone-crunching noises and squelches rather than visuals; in several cases, the impacts of Michael's blows occur just out of shot.

Worth seeing?
In short, Halloween II is a particularly pointless and not very scary remake that adds nothing either to the 2007 remake or the 1981 sequel.