This movie has a really mixed reputation among both fans of the genre and the series. It's a real yin-yang of the same techniques and directing that made the first one so enjoyable, and lazy screenwriting with needless plot points and dumb character choices. Does the good outweigh the bad? only one way to find out.
Happy October 1st
Halloween II is a 1981 American slasher film directed by Rick Rosenthal, in his directorial debut, written and produced by John Carpenter and Debra Hill, and starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence who reprise their respective roles as Laurie Strode and Dr. Sam Loomis. After Dr. Samuel Loomis shoots Michael Myers six times, Michael escapes and is now on the loose in Haddonfield. Laurie Strode is taken to the hospital, and Dr. Loomis continues to hunt down Michael with the help of the police. Michael continues killing the citizens of Haddonfield and heads to the hospital to kill Laurie. It's now up to an injured Laurie and Dr. Loomis to stop Michael and his murderous rampage.
The movie opens with a pointless replay of the first film's ending with an equally pointless remix of the OG theme, which gives you a little hint about the quality of the rest of this movie. Carpenter would later describe his writing of the screenplay "mainly dealt with a lot of beer, sitting in front of a typewriter saying 'What the fuck am I doing? I don't know.'" Originally they considered setting the sequel a few years after the events of Halloween, telling the story of Myers tracking Laurie Strode to her new home in a high-rise apartment building. It certainly would have been a lot more forgiving than attempting to give closure to the cliffhanger ending of the first film, and they really couldn't get that HALLOWEEN feeling back from the first movie.
Another reason for this movie's mixed reception is The plot twist of Laurie being Michael's sister. It was initially never planned by Carpenter or Hill, but was conceived, according to Carpenter, "purely as a function of having decided to become involved in the sequel to the movie where I didn't think there was really much of a story left." It certainly detracts from the idea that he is simply evil incarnate, killing randomly, with no motive but to bring death. You really believe the way Loomis describes THE SHAPE as a creature of evil, but this movie just turns him into a sister simp who can't get over it. and speaking of sisters, Both Jamie Lee and Micheal Myers look different in this movie for a few reasons.
Jamie Lee had begun to wear a much shorter hairstyle in the 1980s and had to wear a wig that matched her original hairstyle for this movie. The mask we see in this movie is indeed the exact same one, however, It looks different because the paint has faded. Nick Castle, the original Michael, kept it in his back pocket during shoots, and after shooting Debra Hill kept the mask under her bed for years. if all that's not enough, the mask appears wider because Dick Warlock is shorter and stockier than Nick Castle, so the mask fits his head differently.
So, that's all the bad parts of this movie out of the way. The script never captures the first film's magic, Spends almost the entire run time inside a hospital, our final girl goes from strong as fuck to weak and meek, it demystifies THE SHAPE himself, and almost every other character in this movie is only capable of making dumb choices that get them killed. Now for the good stuff.
The sequel, though not as successful at the box office as the original Halloween (1978), was nowhere near a failure. Sometimes all it takes is a sequel to cement your spot in horror history, and this is very much that sequel. It grossed more money than other 1981 horror movies such as The Howling (1981), Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981), and The Final Conflict (1981). As much as people dislike the movie for all of the previously mentioned reasons, it's still a very good time.
Even despite its legendary reputation, the first film is as much campy as it is scary. The campy feeling makes the scares more effective, and the scares really help nail that late 70's uniquely Halloween feeling. I would argue there is no better movie that captures the nostalgic Halloween feeling, and watching both movies back to back doesn't leave me disappointed with the sequel. Richard L. Rosenthal directed the fuck out this movie, matching Carpenter's stalking predator style down the dark shadowy halls of both the hospital and the town itself.
Considering this movie mostly takes place during the day after Halloween, we don't get much of that spooky good spirit for most of this movie. Halloween itself is almost entirely absent in this movie besides an extra crispy trick-or-treater, making this movie essentially the same as any other 80s slasher if it wasn't for one thing. Dr. Sam Motherfucking Loomis, easily one of the greatest characters in the whole series besides Michael himself.
At this point in the series he spends his entire screen time either being a creepy old harbinger of doom (ALA Crazy Ralph), or hysterically attempting to kill the no-longer-human pure evil Myers. It's no wonder he often comes off to the police as nothing but a crazy person, as you can clearly see a lunatic glee in Donald's performance. I can't help but smile every time I see him on screen, and he definitely helps when it comes to building the terror of Michael Myers.
Having watched all of the Halloween movies a few years ago, Donald Pleasence really is what keeps you going through some of the shit sequels. He is strangely relatable, hilarious, and deeply fucked up at the same time. He's far from the road. Weary Gunslinger we get in the later movies, but the first two movies do an excellent job of establishing the death of Myers as his final quest in life. And hey if you're not in love with some old British dude the same way I am, at least this movie ups the gore with a few nasty kills to keep you entertained.
I guess the easiest way I can explain my final thoughts on this movie would be as follows.
This movie is unquestionably flawed, however, it does a good job of both recreating what worked in the first film and setting the groundwork for future sequels. Yeah sometimes steps on its feet and stumbles a bit, put on the whole It's a damn fine Part 2 to one of the greatest horror movies ever made.
9/10
Comments