So I watched the directors cut of the remake of Halloween II the other day, and I have to say it actually handles the revelation of Laurie being Michael's sister much better. Incorporating the sister angle into Zombie's remake of the original just pointed out plot holes in the original (too much of a coincidence that Laurie goes by the Myers house, and Michael recognizes her), but the remake actually milks a good performance of Scout Taylor Compton.
In the original II, Laurie is doped up the entire film, so she's a non-character. Her being doped up somehow brings out repressed memories of her asking her mother about being adopted, and seeing Michael in the mental institute. Was that actually supposed to have happened, or did Michael and Laurie share a psychic connection?
I like the inclusion of the psychic connection in the remake, as it takes the ball introduced in Halloween 4 (that that murderous gene runs in the family) and explains it in more reasonable, ambiguous terms than "druid cult did it". It's either that Michael is being haunted by his mother's ghost, and she's endowing him with such horrific power, OR (and I prefer this idea) he's so filled with fury that it's not only swelled his body with hate, rage, and evil to ridiculous proporations, but also projects his evil outward onto Laurie, like a psychic taint. There's even a third option that Laurie's struggling at the end of the remake is a shared hallucination she and Michael share, prompted by the trauma of the night and her reading of Loomis's book.
I think the remake doesn't get enough credit. The director's cut even adds an interesting subplot about What Would Michael Do? shirts sold on the internet, and the fan that rants to Loomis at his book signing. The fan seems to be Zombie's portrayal of rabid fans of the original movies. The fan even says "Michael is so much better than those other guys" followed by a long pause, then "Dahmer and that bitch Bundy" implying that the other guys could be horror movie icons like Freddy, Jason, Leatherface. I think that character works much the same way as the movie critic discussing Marx brothers movies in The Devil's Rejects.
Unfortunately, although it's a beautifully shot film and creates a real, bleak sense of dread, it's horribly written. Some of the actors pull it off (Danielle Harris, Brad Douriff, the therapist, Compton to a degree), but "fuck" must be said like five hundred times and these characters are so quick to vulgarity that it doesn't sound natural.
/rant
