Performance Review: Brad Dourif in "Halloween 2" (2009)

You know how I just loooovvee those Supporting Actress'? Well, believe it or not, I do appreciate those usually neglected Supporting Actors (Oscar nominees or not) who contribute just as much, but who's work is never really considered as important/memorable. I give you a generally under appreciated performer who's talents as an actor provided us with a voice of a maniacal killer doll, as well as many other vivid contributions, such as in the form of....

...Brad Dourif in Halloween 2 (2009)

Brad Dourif plays Leigh Brackett, the Sheriff of Haddonfield, Illinois where killer Michael Myers has returned home with a fierce vengeance.

It's one year after the incidents of the first film where Leigh's daughter Annie (Danielle Harris) had been attacked along with her best friend Laurie (an amazing Scout Taylor-Compton) when they became targets for Myers. Shaken and stirred from the events, each character has changed, and Dourif's Leigh emerges still scarred from the events.

Leigh is also now the guardian of Laurie as he took her in after her (adoptive) parents were killed, so he now balances parenting to very different girls, who at once close, are drifting away from one another as Laurie descends into a kind of psychological madness.

The character, which the first time around was a mere cipher, is much more fleshed out on paper and the film overall is a big step up from its predecessor, as Zombie's vision and scope is much deeper. It's this attentiveness to detail and development which gives the character of Leigh more essentialness to the narrative. In a film filled to the brim with ugly, unlikeable, mean-spirited characters, Leigh Brackett is a man of genuine personality and kindness, and its Dourif's performance that lets us truly believe that.

Dourif is a performer of great unpredictability and intensity, yet he channels both to build on his characterization to convey the underlying anxiety and tension boiling up with every moment of Leigh's secrecy. The secret in this case is that he had always known that Laurie is indeed the sister of Michael Myers but never revealed it to anyone but Dr. Sam Loomis (a completley useless Malcolm McDowell) and is frightened of the idea of putting this traumatized, innocent girl's life in jeopardy.

There's a warm, lived-in quality to the performance which comes from Leigh's goodness to reach out a gentle hand and act as a much needed father figure for Laurie (I'm thinking of the "Lee Marvin" scene while eating pizza).

But it's in Dourif's vivid clarity and palpable integrity that gives the film and the character some more emotional texture -- the film itself is deeper emotionally, and with Compton and Harris' performances, Dourif's work is perfectly calibrated with the genuinely intense, harrowing mood to let us see those demons of pain and regret in every expression and action. And even when the proceedings of the film get a bit shaky and wild, Dourif  -- with a touch of humor and deeply dramatic pathos -- both anchors and grounds the film is subtle, but essential ways.

 I was surprised at how much I have come to really enjoy Halloween II -- much due to its originality and striking visionary details -- but the performances for me is, as usual, the icing on the cake. Brad Dourif's compelling, haunting, and understated performance elevates the film and the role out of stock expectations, and this revived accomplishment is enduring proof of a real actorly (and underutilized) performer at the top of his game.