RockySchlockyRobot

I'm not a huge fan of the original, as many others are. It's been hailed as a slasher classic for many years but I always just preferred Halloween. However, I must say that now my love for the original has grown, which is about the only thing I can thank the remake for.

Because people, the remake IS as dire as you thought it would be and it almost made me physically ill. I feel even worse writing this review because the movie was directed by Glen Morgan, so great in his work with James Wong and a solid genre choice that had fans retaining a tiny sliver of optimism. Throw that sliver away.

Whereas the original movie had the sense to leave the killer mysterious and unexplained, the remake gives us the background spread throughout the first half of the movie.

Whereas the original may have had a few cliché moments, the remake seems to revel in contrivance and sheer nonsense, veering perilously close to parody in more than one scene. The excuse for the police taking their time to get to the house is ridiculous as is the "let's all just stick together" argument while everyone splits up. And the least said about the "I'm the killer so I'll just wait right here while everyone screams at each other" scene the better.

It's just irredeemably bad and everything, I mean everything, is by the numbers teeny popcorn fare. A hint of nudity, an overexplanation of everything, more kills, more gore and yet nothing half as effective as that seen in the original and a final reel that holds no surprises and yet seems to think it does. And that's before . . . . . well, I'd better not ruin it for anyone still gullible enough to think this may provide a passable 90 minutes.

Wow. This sequel moves almost completely away from the tension and atmosphere of the first movie but still, somehow, manages to be almost as good, thanks to some real kitsch moments and fun ideas.

Angela, kind of head demon nowadays, is back and although the house form the first movie is still the focal point the demons do get a little road trip this time around too. There's more death scenes, some more decent gore and more . . . . . . . . . . super nuns. Yes, you read that right. A super nun who kicks ass in a nun style-ee. Fantastic.

It's things like that which make this movie a whole lot of fun. The super nun, who's also as strict as can be, the religious student with an unhealthy interest in demonology, the dumb characters who you can't wait to see die. Sometimes these things are really annoying but here they just get added to the mix in a way that continues the sense of fun from the first movie (there are a nice couple of links to the first movie as well).

With this and the next movie we have sequels that, while not up to the same standard, are certainly far from awful considering how quickly many franchises start to slide in quality.

I like Renny Harlin. I have yet to see a movie from him that I hate and that includes the ill-received Cutthroat Island (before pirates were trendy again). So I watched this movie with mixed feelings. You see, I hate Andrew Dice Clay. The man sums up everything I dislike about dumb American comedy. I have nothing against American comedy, some of the better acts (Bill Hicks, Steven Wright, Steve Martin, Mitch Hedberg, Rchard Pryor, etc, etc) deserve to be right up there with the best of the bunch. But, sadly, many of the more popular acts seem to rely on a mixture of unsubtle punchlines recognised by the audience because they are LOUD or stale material mixed with flag-waving patriotism. Clay falls into the former group.

He's unfunny, he's brash and he's a complete dick. BUT that's fitting for the character he plays. Sadly, it doesn't make him any more enjoyable. It just means that I have to try to enjoy a Renny Harlin action comedy with one of the worst lead characters I've ever seen.

The sad thing is that the rest of the cast is a veritable goldmine. Gilbert Gottfried, Wayne Newton, Lauren Holly, Priscilla Presley, Vince Neill and Ed O'Neill all appear and all do well in their supporting roles. The movie is also helped by a script that is chock full of gems. Some of these lines are even delivered by Clay, which weakens their comedy kudos, but most of them just appear and make you chuckle instantly.

The plot hanging over everything is flimsy, nothing is too subtle and Clay is the biggest downside of the matter but Harlin walks the line between reality and cartoon incredulity far better than, for example, Sam Raimi in Crimewave. It's big, dumb fun and those who like Clay will derive a lot more pleasure from it than I did.