Back in 2007, Rob Zombie created his remake of the 1978 classic Halloween. Zombie’s version did reasonably well at the box office, which inevitably led to 2009’s Halloween II.

Set a year after the violent end of the first film, Halloween II shows the aftermath of those events. Maniacal killer Michael Myers (Tyler Mane) remains at large while his younger sister Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton) – the target of Michael’s demented rampage – struggles to deal with the physical and emotional damage.

Michael’s MIA status doesn’t help, and Laurie continues to fear that her brother will come for her again. She experiences those feelings for good reason, as Michael indeed desires a “reunion” – and will kill anyone who gets in his path.

Because I thought Zombie’s Halloween flopped on most levels, I can’t say I mustered a lot of enthusiasm for the chance to see his sequel. However, given the massive flaws of the first film, I thought Halloween II offered much room for improvement – and it also came with more opportunity for Zombie’s own imprint, as his Halloween in many ways gave us a fairly literal remake of John Carpenter’s original.

Actually, the Zombie Halloween branched out in one significant way: it delivered ample backstory for young Michael. Zombie attempted to explain the Making of a Madman – and it failed, as those explorations seemed borderline nonsensical.

Any hopes that Halloween II would improve on its predecessor vanished in short order, as the first few minutes demonstrated what we’d get: heaping piles of graphic content without the slightest hint of logic to be found.

While its efforts failed, I did like the ----fact Zombie tried to explain how Michael became the nutbag we know and love. Sure, those scenes stunk to high heavens, but I have to credit Zombie’s desire to branch out in that way.

Zombie offers a different form of “meaning” with Halloween II, as it posits a Michael who fantasizes about white horses and who sees visions of his mother (Sheri Moon Zombie) as a glowing angel. These attempts at substance never go anywhere and they seem more than a little idiotic.

That becomes especially true when the movie tries to attach Laurie to the same theme. Zombie already failed to offer a logical explanation for Michael’s psychoses in the first film, and his continued endeavors become more and more embarrassing.

When he doesn’t indulge his pretensions, Zombie gives us a mean-spirited disaster, one that barely connects to the prior movie. Continuing characters seem bizarrely altered to the point where they come across as unrecognizable.

I get that dramatic events such as those in the prior film would strongly impact the participants, but this doesn’t explain why Laurie and Loomis literally feel like different people. They bear virtually no resemblance to their prior selves, and these changes exist for plot convenience, not for logical circumstances.

The decision to make Laurie wholly unlikable seems like a particularly bad choice. While I get that she would suffer from issues connected to the first film’s events, it seems like a terrible idea to render her so unpleasant. We actively dislike Laurie so we don’t care what happens to her.

In addition to lapses in logic, the film barely attempts a story. The first 25 minutes simply offers a violent flashback – that ends up as a dream, in cheap fashion – and the rest of the flick fails to give us a real narrative.

Instead, Halloween II mixes pointless character moments – like Loomis’s press conference and a “family dinner” – with music video-style “visions”. Zombie clearly lacks any idea where he wants this tale to go, so the film leaps from one incoherent sequence to another, with nothing to involve the viewer.

None of this makes Zombie’s 2007 Halloween any good, but I will admit I hate it less now that I’ve seen the sequel. I didn’t think Zombie could go downhill after his crummy remake, but the inane, witless Halloween II proves me wrong.

Note that the Blu-ray includes an “Unrated Director’s Cut” of Halloween II. This 119-minute version adds about 14 minutes to the theatrical edition.

Because I never saw the shorter film, I can’t offer my impressions of the changes, but I wanted to note the presence of the Director’s Cut. Based on Zombie’s remarks during his commentary, it appears he made substantial changes for his longer version.

Halloween II appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This presentation showed its 16mm roots.

Actually, I suspect most of my complaints related to the original photography, as Halloween II opted for a slightly degraded feel. In particular, the movie boasted a lot of grain, a factor that appeared to be a conscious stylistic choice – one that didn’t work. The grain felt self-conscious and distracting, but I couldn’t fault the transfer for its presence.

Sharpness was mainly positive. The image lacked great clarity, but it showed reasonable accuracy. No shimmering or jaggies appeared, and I saw no edge haloes or print flaws.

Colors tended toward the usual orange and teal, though not to an overbearing degree. The hues weren’t memorable but they seemed acceptable.

Blacks were fairly dark, and low-light shots demonstrated decent clarity, though a few could be a bit dim. Nothing here excelled, but the image appeared to replicate the source.

As for the film’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, it delivered a moderate sense of life. Thunder rumbled across the soundscape, and more violent moments managed to use the channels in a workable manner. Music also spread across the speakers well. None of this gave us a great soundfield, but the audio added to the tale.

Quality seemed satisfactory. Speech remained natural and concise, while music appeared full and dynamic. Effects followed suit, as those elements were lively and vivid. This meant we got a good but unexceptional soundtrack.

While not packed with extras ala the Halloween Blu-ray, Halloween II does offer a decent array of materials, and we launch with an audio commentary from writer/director Rob Zombie. He provides a running, screen-specific look at story/character areas, editing and alterations for the Director's Cut, sets and locations, various stunts and effects, music, cast and performances, and connected domains.

While I don't like his movies, I do enjoy Zombie's commentaries, as he always offers informative chats about his work. That trend continues here, as Zombie delivers another detailed examination of his film. Lots of good material shows up in this useful and engaging discussion.

23 Deleted/Alternate Scenes fill a total of 25 minutes, 14 seconds. That’s a whole lot of extra sequences – do any of them add to the experience?

Nope. We get minor, irrelevant character tidbits and additional scenes of graphic violence. I do like the dollop of nudity thrown in here, but otherwise, the deleted scenes lack purpose.

A Blooper Reel goes for four minutes, 26 seconds. It shows the standard goofs and giggles, none of which become especially entertaining.

Next we get nine minutes, 37 seconds of Audition Footage. This gives us tryout reels for seven actors – including one who would would win an Oscar two years after this film’s release. I like this material.

More behind the scenes footage arrives via Makeup Test Footage. We find a three-minute, 35-second compilation that presents silent shots of the actors in costume/makeup. It’s a decent collection but it’d work better with commentary.

After this we locate eight minutes, 40 seconds of Uncle Seymour Coffins’ Standup Routines. We find outtakes of the Halloween party’s MC (Jeff Daniel Phillips) as he offers supposed jokes. Nothing even vaguely entertaining emerges, and Phillips’ annoying performance makes the bad material even worse.

We also discover six Captain Clegg and the Night Creatures Music Videos. These span a total of 19 minutes, 11 seconds and present videos for six songs. These tend to mix movie shots, cheap lip-synch footage of the band and old spooky cartoons.

The videos are as basic as can be and the songs aren’t good. That’s a recipe for boredom.

Previews provides ads for The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, Universal Soldier: Regeneration, Blood: The Last Vampire, Zombieland, District 9, Moon, 2012, The Stepfather, Michael Jackson’s This Is It and Black Dynamite. No trailer for Halloween II appears here.

Rob Zombie’s 2007 Halloween remake flopped in most possible ways, and his 2009 sequel stinks even worse. Stupid, disjointed, illogical and pointless, the movie boasts no positive elements. The Blu-ray brings us generally good picture and audio along with a reasonable mix of bonus materials. Halloween II doesn’t live up to even the lowest of expectations.