The Duality of Perception: Rob Zombie's Double Take on an Already Mistook Movie

[Madloomis78]

I'm interested in this "work print." I've never heard of it personally.

[Pepaa]

In my opinion - the theatrical cut is the best of a bad pair of films. Halloween II was just disgraceful, but at least in the theatrical ending it managed to create something slightly interesting and ambiguous. The director's cut ending with Michael yelling "DIE!" is just the worst hands down.

I FRIGGIN LOVE YOU!!!! I WAS ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED WITH THAT RUBBISH I MEAN I LITERALLY STOOD UP IN MY BEDROOM LIKE YO DID MICHAEL JUST SPEAK?? REALLY JUST HORRIBLE!!!!! ROB SHOULD BE SLAPPED FOR THAT ISH SMH.

AND I HATED THAT RAPE SCENE THAT WAS SO NOT NEEDED THE WAY HE ESCAPED IN THE THEATRICAL VERSION WAS EPIC HE LEFT THAT HALLWAY RED LOL I LOVED THAT BUT NO ROB BEING ROB HAD TO HAVE SOME TRASH SCENE OF A GIRL GETTING RAPED IN ORDER FOR MIKE TO ESCAPE IN THE DCUT..

BUT THO THE AUTHOR I LOVE YOU POINT EVEN THO I DONT USE THIS VERSION OF H2 MUCH I FEEL YOU HOMIE :)

[CoreyCasualty]

I saw this movie opening day and really loved Zombies vision. I really disliked Zombies remake of Halloween, but I really thought the weird direction he took with this one (H2) was refreshing. When it was released on DVD I had to buy it, and I bought the Directors Cut. I have to say that I despise the ending in the directors cut. I didn't have that sense of "coming full circle" as the Theatrical Cut did. Hearing "Laurie's Theme" in the end made me really pumped, showing Zombies homage to John Carpenter. All in all the Theatrical ending is very solid. I don't care at all for the Directors cut ending.

[hm4life]

In my honest opinion RZ halloween movies destroys anything preceding it, the story, the creative path he took, and making it in his own way.

[iamthebearman]

I agree that the Theatrical Ending was a better ending to H2. While the Director's Cut was a better movie than the Theatrical Edition from front to back, it was the Director's Cut ending that kept it from being an all-time great slasher movie, imo.
While I had no problem with the lead characters dying at the end in the D.C. I didn't like how they died.
The anonymous police gunfire that kills Michael & Laurie doesn't work for me. The issues between Michael, Laurie, Loomis, and Brackett should have been settled between them, not Haddonfield's Finest.
On a side note, that was exactly what Zombie did with his original ending to Halloween, anonymous police gunfire kills Michael. Thank goodness Zombie re-shot the ending and gave us, imo, the classic fifteen minute conclusion between Michael & Laurie, with Laurie shooting Michael in the head. Resolution should be between the main characters, imo.
The Theatrical ending to H2 accomplished this: Michael butchers Loomis, Brackett shoots Michael, Laurie butchers Michael, and Laurie plays herself off as the killer when she dons the mask at the end. You see, the issues were handled between the main characters.
So... this got me to thinking... Could a better version of the Director's Cut be created?
I believe I've answered Yes! to that question and below is my review of a new version of H2 I created.
I have this newly created version on my computer.

Halloween II - The Ultimate Cut

Here's what I did:
I used the Director's Cut as my movie.
I then inserted almost every deleted scene into the movie.
I eliminated the Director's Cut ending and replaced it with the Theatrical ending.
In my opinion, this version makes the movie more suspenseful and allows more character development. It also plays more off "Two Years Later" with the added deleted scenes. I always preferred Two Years Later, not one.

The first Deleted scene I inserted was "Hanging" where Laurie hallucinates a vision of Michael hanging her from a tree while she is at work.
After Laurie's first therapist scene, instead of going to Loomis arriving for his lecture, I re-edited it so the next scene is Laurie showing up for work at Uncle Meat's. The next scene after that would have been the close up of Young Michael at the lecture being told his mother is dead. Instead, I inserted the Hanging scene there, and then we see Loomis showing up in his limo for the lecture. Then the lecture scene immediately follows. Basically, we don't see Loomis until Laurie's scenes are done. Then we transition to Loomis and keep his scenes together.
The next Deleted scene I added was the reporter asking Loomis his thoughts on the WWMD? shirts. That scene comes into play later at the Loomis book signing.
The next Deleted scene I added was the one of Brackett, Annie, and Laurie eating pizza and Brackett bringing up his concerns about the Phantom Jam.
That's the end of editing for October 29th a.k.a. Day One.

October 30th a.k.a. Day Two
Opens with Michael walking through a field and instead of cutting to Loomis at the Myers' house, I inserted the Big Foot deleted scene. I enjoyed a lot of the Deleted scenes involving Brackett and the cops at the police station. Good humor and the scenes all worked together in the movie.
After that scene, it cuts to Loomis at the Myers' house.
The next Deleted scene I added was an extended take of Brackett watching Loomis on the news that night. The scene has Brackett watching the segment and scenes of Michael walking to his mother's grave and talking with her, followed by a brief shot of Laurie looking in the mirror and then it picks up with Laurie drinking beer in her room.
That's the end of editing for October 30th a.k.a. Day Two

October 31st a.k.a. Day Three
Instead of opening with Brackett reading the Loomis book, I inserted the Beer Man deleted scene that picks up at the aftermath of the Rabbit in Red the next day. I thought this was the most suspenseful of all the deleted scenes. After Laurie wakes up from that dream, then it transitions into Brackett reading the Loomis book.
The next Deleted scene I inserted was "Chett The Bringer of Death" showing his WWMD? shirt to Loomis at the book signing.
From there, I used deleted scenes of Brackett at the Sheriff's station with other cops and re-edited them to intertwine with Laurie screaming in her car after she leaves the Brackett house and Annie calling Brackett to tell him "Angel says fuck you!". I also intertwined the Deleted scenes of Darren showing up at the Brackett house to keep Annie company while Annie is on the phone with her dad. There's good stuff between Annie & Darren and Sheriff Brackett calling Annie multiple times.
Then it picks up when Laurie arrives at her friends' house to reveal she's Michael's sister.
The final deleted scene I added came when Laurie and Mia go to the Brackett house. Laurie breaks down and reveals her love for Annie by saying "She's like my sister", then noticing the running water dripping from the ceiling. Then it transitions to the next scene where Laurie & Mia walk upstairs to find Annie dying.
The final edit is putting in the Theatrical ending in place of the Director's ending.

Total running time is 2 hours and 11 minutes.

Overall, I thought the deleted scenes and changing a few scene transitions gave the movie more dynamic. Annie ended up having more scenes, which I thought was lacking from the other two cuts. Sheriff Brackett and the other cops get more scenes, too. Plus, the two best Deleted scenes made it in, "Hanging" and "Beer Man". Those two scenes added more to the mental breakdown of Laurie.
The Theatrical ending made the movie more surreal and engaging, after keeping the Director's Cut whole and adding in the deleted stuff. The resolution between the characters were kept to themselves, unlike the Director's Cut use of anonymous police gunfire that kills off the main characters. I always liked how Brackett had a hand in wounding Michael considering that Michael killed Annie.
But what made me excited watching my cut for the first time was when Laurie came out of the shack wearing Michael's mask, with the Carpenter music playing in the background. It felt like Laurie was the killer of her work friends, Annie, Loomis, and Michael. She went completely insane and the final shot of her in the mental ward gives off that impression further.

If anybody has the two editions of the movie on DVD and the proper software, it's quite fun to re-edit this movie. It really gives the movie a new feel, just like the Director's Cut gave the movie a new feel. Now, I refuse to watch the TC or DC because I have, what I call, the UC, Ultimate Cut.
On top of that, my editing was flawless. My use of the deleted scenes do not seem out of place (at least to me) and it's almost impossible to see where I did re-editing. If you've seen the DC enough times, you would obviously see the changes but it never feels "choppy" or "re-edited" but rather feels like a whole new movie.

So that's pretty much how I created Halloween II - The Ultimate Cut. If I am able to upload a few of my edited scenes to show all of you who are interested, I will. Obviously, videos speak better than text. Anybody can do this themselves, it just requires time, patience, precision, and a little innovation. Well worth it when you're done if you liked this movie.
Thanks for putting up with my long post.

[Madloomis78]

Dude, this is amazing! I would love to see this. You have just made editing not sound mundane. I would love to take a try at it, but I don't have the software.

[iamthebearman]

Thanks for the reply. I included a sample clip to give you an idea of what I did with the movie.
I'm using a sample from my rough edit of H2: The Ultimate Cut. This is not my final edit.
Obviously there are a few problems with this sample: the watermark logo, the darkness of the video, and the sequence editing isn't as good as in my final cut.
This sample starts out with Laurie finishing her therapy session. In the DC the next scene would be Loomis arriving in his limo. I edited it so the next scene is Laurie showing up for work. After this scene in the DC, the next scene would be the start of Loomis' lecture but here, I inserted the "Hanging" deleted scene. Then we go to Loomis arriving for the lecture, then it continues right into the lecture. I liked keeping Laurie's scenes all together and then have Loomis' scenes all together during October 29th a.k.a. Day One.