Halloween II

Year: 1981

Director: Rick Rosenthal

Written by: Debra Hill, John Carpenter

Threat: Psychopath

Weapon of Choice: Scalpel

Based upon: Original

IMDb page: IMDb link

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Other movies in this series:
Halloween
Halloween III: Season of the Witch
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
Halloween: Resurrection

Rish Outfield's reviews
This film, while pretty good as sequels go, has neither the characters, atmosphere, nor scares of its predecessor. It continues precisely where the other left off, and reveals a little more about Michael Myer's past. The fact that virtually everyone from the first film returned, yet John Carpenter didn't direct it, may be the reason this is inferior. Jamie Lee Curtis, looking much older since the first film, has almost nothing to do. She crawls, she whimpers, she gazes dazedly into space, she hobbles...none of which inspire us to like her as we did in "Halloween." Dr. Loomis' ravings about Michael, so effective and chilling in the first movie, seem less coherent and inspired here, as if he's a little crazy himself. Michael's destruction is cool, but the fact that he cannot be stopped by bullets in one scene, and yet is incapacitated by them in the next doesn't quite jibe with me. In viewing this episode directly after the first, I start to wonder what Carpenter & Hill had planned all along, and what was added later. Specifically, the whole "little sister" subplot is puzzling. The opening 'Skull inside pumpkin' shot is cool. And the ending isn't too bad. Some folks have told me you can spy SNL's Dana Carvey in a scene or two, so keep an eye out.
Best Scare: A naked nurse kisses Michael's hand. Yuck!
I'd Recommend It To: Most fans of the first film.

The tyranist's thoughts
This is really the kind of sequel that makes sense. Halloween drops us with no real sense of closure even though it is complete in itself. Halloween II picks up right where it left off and finishes the story of that fateful Halloween night. Finishes it to the point that I wonder how anyone could justify sequels.
The biggest weakness of Halloween II is that Laurie Strode is a wimpering cowering shell of her Halloween self. She just isn't the Laurie Strode that we loved and the fact that they kept her drugged out of her mind is a pathetic excuse. It didn't heighten the terror at all.
The second biggest weakness was the location. I've been in a few hospitals, small town hospitals even, and I've never seen one that deserted and that dark. The only patients other than Laurie were some newborns? Come on. They could have at least shown a few patients sleeping in a ward as Michael walks past.
The final weakness was Dr. Loomis himself. He is almost neurotic here in his pursuit of Michael and often overreacts to situations that didn't stir him in the least in the first movie. I don't think this is Mr. Pleasence' fault at all. I think that some of the vision that John Carpenter brought to the first movie is simply lost when he didn't return to direct. The movie degrades into the traditional slasher free for all. It is unfulfilling in a lot of ways, but tt certainly isn't my least favourite of the series and all in all it really isn't that bad of a movie. Even with the problems you have to remember that it is trying to live up to a huge legacy and will invariably fall short. It is totally worth watching them back to back, but only once in a while.

Total Skulls: 29

Sequel skull
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie skullskull Night of the Living Dead, Dementia 13
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS skull
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex skull
Death associated with sex skull
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat skull
Secluded location skull
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut skull
Someone investigates a strange noise skull
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer skullskull
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls skull
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene skull
Car stalls or won't start skullskull
Cat jumps out skull
Fake scare skullskull
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse skullskull
Dream sequence skull
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness skull
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth skull
Warning goes unheeded skull
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead skullskull
Killer wears a mask skull
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood hits camera
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives skull
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?