Starring: Tyler Mane, Scout Taylor-Compton, Brad Dourif, Chris Hardwick, Mark Christopher Lawrence
In 2008, at the 30 Years of Terror Convention, Halloween producer Malek Akkad confirmed that a sequel to Rob Zombie's 2007 film was in the works. French filmmakers Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Muary were in negotiations to direct the sequel back in November 2008, but on December 15, 2008, Variety reported that Rob Zombie had officially signed on to write and direct the Halloween sequel. Zombie has stated that the film will take place directly after the end of his remake, but will be presented through the eyes of Laurie Strode. In an interview, Zombie expressed how the exhaustion of creating the first Halloween made him not want to come back for a sequel, but after a year of cooling down he was more open to the idea. The writer/director explains that with the sequel, he is no longer bound by a sense of needing to retain any "John Carpenter-ness", as he can now do "whatever he wants to do". Producer Malek Akkad said that the original intention, when they believed that Zombie was not returning, was to create a "normal sequel". Akkad and his Trancus producing company hired various writers to come up drafts for a new film, but none of them worked. Akkad and the Weinstein brothers then turned to Bustillo and Muary, whose film Inside had recently been bought for distribution by the Weinstein Company. According to Akkad, the producers really wanted Rob to return, as Akkad felt that there was something "lost in the translation" when the French filmmakers took over the project. After his work on the 2007 remake, Zombie had earned the trust of Akkad, who informed him to ignore any rules they had set for him in the previous film. Akkad suggests that he wanted Zombie to move the franchise away from some of its established rules.
The two main characters, Michael and Laurie, go through their own changes in the sequel. Taylor-Compton describes her characters as having "these bipolar moments", where her emotions are spontaneously changing from points of happiness to agitation. The actress states that Zombie wanted to see the character of Laurie Strode travel into "these really dark places". Taylor-Compton clarifies that when the film starts Laurie is still not aware that Michael is her older brother, and as the film progresses more and more pieces of information will be given to her, that she does not know how to deal with. The actress explains that the darkness brewing inside Laurie is manifested externally, generally through her physical appearance and the clothes she chooses to wear—Zombie characterizes the look as "grungy". Zombie clarifies that after the events of Halloween, all of the characters have changed, but the sequel depicts the emerging "insanity" from within Laurie. As the writer/director describes it, Laurie and Michael are not that different psychologically, Laurie's "insanity" just manifests itself later and to a different degree than Michael's. As for Michael Myers, the character is given almost an entirely new look for the film, which is being used, according to Taylor-Compton, as a means to illustrate a new emotion for the character as he spends much of his time trying to hide himself.
Dimension Films is planning to release the film on August 28, 2009.
