Halloween II is definitely a fan favorite as reflected by its surprisingly high 6.3 average rating over at IMDB, and as a longtime fan of the series and horror films in general, I have to tell you that it does indeed deliver the goods. Picking up at the very second the brilliant original
left off, the film follows the ruthless (and apparently TRULY unstoppable) Michael Myers as he continues to pursue poor injured Laurie Strode, who is taken from the Doyle house where Part 1 concludes by ambulance to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, on the same fateful Halloween night -- hence the film's catchy tagline "More of the night he came home!" Roaming the halls of the virtually empty small-town hospital, he searches from corridor to corridor for Laurie, slashing his way through any staff members who make the mistake of crossing his path. Meanwhile, Dr. Loomis, aided by the Haddonfield police force, searches from street to street for the masked maniac, learning along the way from cigarette-chewing Nurse Marion (Nancy Stephens reprising her small role from Part 1) that Laurie is actually Michael's long-lost baby sister who was adopted as an infant by the Strodes after sister Judith's 1963 knife murder by brother Mike.
There's a great reprise of the Jack-'O-Lantern opening credit sequence from the original, with the creepy carved pumpkin slowly breaking apart from the middle of its ghoulish grin to reveal a decayed human skull within. The sequence features a cool, catchy, ultra-energized 1981 remix of John Carpenter's original score
that helps propel the viewer into Myers' reign of terror. I've heard some people deride the score as sounding too "disco", and to be honest I think I could dig boogieing down to it in a club circa 1981, but who cares? You can't deny it isn't downright catchy and easily the briskest score
of at least the first five five films. I've always loved it.
Gorehounds shouldn't be disappointed with Halloween II
, as it is indeed MUCH bloodier and more violently graphic than Part 1. It wouldn't be hard to beat the gore quotient of Part 1 since it was virtually nil (not that it needed it), but Part 2 goes above and beyond the call of duty and drips with enough blood to coat the floor of an entire surgery room -- which actually happens in the film after Michael drains the contents of the veins of stern head nurse Mrs. Alves (Gloria Gifford) by IV onto the floor. There's several other gruesome deaths, including a hammer being smashed into the head of tubby hospital security guard Mr. Garrett (Cliff Emmich) a la Friday the 13th Part 2
; busty Nurse Karen (Pamela Susan Shoop) getting her head boiled in the hospital therapy tub; nervous Nurse Janet (Ana Alicia) receiving a lethal injection via hypodermic to the brain after discovering hard-drinking Dr. Mixter (Ford Rainey) in his office with a permanent hangover and a needle through the eye; and an ear-to-ear throat slashing of a witless marshal (John Zenda).
Suffice to say, those with very weak stomachs may want to steer clear of this one. I won't deny that there is a very noticeable decline in logic in this compared to its predecessor (including a curiously understaffed hospital that doesn't even have an extra guard to protect Laurie despite the fact that a homicidal maniac is well-known by everyone in town to be at large), and a smattering of other lapses in sense with a few cliches thrown in here and there, but let's face it: The image of Michael Myers prowling through a desolate hospital at night alone is novel, creepy and worth the price of admission alone!
It also happens to be very entertaining (and faster-paced than Part 1, so those jaded viewers with impaired attention spans who couldn't make it through the slow build-up of the original should enjoy this one substantially more), with some stylish direction, cool deaths and a fun score as noted earlier. Plus, and perhaps best of all, it manages to retain a certain degree of tension from the first by virtue of reincluding original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis and the always-brilliant veteran of horror Donald Pleasence in its cast, and their performances do not disappoint. Curtis seems believably traumatized, half-drugged after minor surgery and ever fearful that Michael isn't finished with her, and Pleasence is ... well, as in the first, simply perfect. Not a single false note in his performance as he impersonates his classic Dr. Loomis for a totally different director -- in this case, Rick Rosenthal, who made an impressive directorial debut with this sequel.
On a final note, I've read complaints on various message boards about Halloween II over the years noting how Michael is much slower and seems more robotic in his movements in this one than the first, and it's definitely true. He is slower and more robotic, sort of like an Energizer bunny from Hell at the end of its battery life, but I think people are too hard on the poor psycho. He's been stabbed through the neck with a knitting needle, stabbed in the eye with a coat hanger, stabbed in the gut with a butcher knife, shot six times at close range, and has fallen from the balcony of a two-story suburban home, so people should be thankful that he can still move and dismember at all. If nothing else, his slower pace reflects a Michael
with an ego boost, one who isn't afraid of letting his victims run faster than him since he now realizes himself that he can't be stopped and will eventually catch his prey regardless of how much of a lead they may get.
Halloween II is tied with Part 4 IMO as the best sequel in the series, so I say it easily deserves an 8 of 10.
(If you liked this article, I've also reviewed Halloween, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, and Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers.)
left off, the film follows the ruthless (and apparently TRULY unstoppable) Michael Myers as he continues to pursue poor injured Laurie Strode, who is taken from the Doyle house where Part 1 concludes by ambulance to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, on the same fateful Halloween night -- hence the film's catchy tagline "More of the night he came home!" Roaming the halls of the virtually empty small-town hospital, he searches from corridor to corridor for Laurie, slashing his way through any staff members who make the mistake of crossing his path. Meanwhile, Dr. Loomis, aided by the Haddonfield police force, searches from street to street for the masked maniac, learning along the way from cigarette-chewing Nurse Marion (Nancy Stephens reprising her small role from Part 1) that Laurie is actually Michael's long-lost baby sister who was adopted as an infant by the Strodes after sister Judith's 1963 knife murder by brother Mike.There's a great reprise of the Jack-'O-Lantern opening credit sequence from the original
, with the creepy carved pumpkin slowly breaking apart from the middle of its ghoulish grin to reveal a decayed human skull within. The sequence features a cool, catchy, ultra-energized 1981 remix of John Carpenter's original score that helps propel the viewer into Myers' reign of terror. I've heard some people deride the score as sounding too "disco", and to be honest I think I could dig boogieing down to it in a club circa 1981, but who cares? You can't deny it isn't downright catchy and easily the briskest score of at least the first five five films. I've always loved it. Gorehounds shouldn't be disappointed with Halloween II
, as it is indeed MUCH bloodier and more violently graphic than Part 1. It wouldn't be hard to beat the gore quotient of Part 1 since it was virtually nil (not that it needed it), but Part 2 goes above and beyond the call of duty and drips with enough blood to coat the floor of an entire surgery room -- which actually happens in the film after Michael drains the contents of the veins of stern head nurse Mrs. Alves (Gloria Gifford) by IV onto the floor. There's several other gruesome deaths, including a hammer being smashed into the head of tubby hospital security guard Mr. Garrett (Cliff Emmich) a la Friday the 13th Part 2; busty Nurse Karen (Pamela Susan Shoop) getting her head boiled in the hospital therapy tub; nervous Nurse Janet (Ana Alicia) receiving a lethal injection via hypodermic to the brain after discovering hard-drinking Dr. Mixter (Ford Rainey) in his office with a permanent hangover and a needle through the eye; and an ear-to-ear throat slashing of a witless marshal (John Zenda).Suffice to say, those with very weak stomachs may want to steer clear of this one. I won't deny that there is a very noticeable decline in logic in this compared to its predecessor
(including a curiously understaffed hospital that doesn't even have an extra guard to protect Laurie despite the fact that a homicidal maniac is well-known by everyone in town to be at large), and a smattering of other lapses in sense with a few cliches thrown in here and there, but let's face it: The image of Michael Myers prowling through a desolate hospital at night alone is novel, creepy and worth the price of admission alone! It also happens to be very entertaining (and faster-paced than Part 1
, so those jaded viewers with impaired attention spans who couldn't make it through the slow build-up of the original should enjoy this one substantially more), with some stylish direction, cool deaths and a fun score as noted earlier. Plus, and perhaps best of all, it manages to retain a certain degree of tension from the first by virtue of reincluding original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis and the always-brilliant veteran of horror Donald Pleasence in its cast, and their performances do not disappoint. Curtis seems believably traumatized, half-drugged after minor surgery and ever fearful that Michael isn't finished with her, and Pleasence is ... well, as in the first, simply perfect. Not a single false note in his performance as he impersonates his classic Dr. Loomis for a totally different director -- in this case, Rick Rosenthal, who made an impressive directorial debut with this sequel.On a final note, I've read complaints on various message boards about Halloween II
over the years noting how Michael is much slower and seems more robotic in his movements in this one than the first, and it's definitely true. He is slower and more robotic, sort of like an Energizer bunny from Hell at the end of its battery life, but I think people are too hard on the poor psycho. He's been stabbed through the neck with a knitting needle, stabbed in the eye with a coat hanger, stabbed in the gut with a butcher knife, shot six times at close range, and has fallen from the balcony of a two-story suburban home, so people should be thankful that he can still move and dismember at all. If nothing else, his slower pace reflects a Michaelwith an ego boost, one who isn't afraid of letting his victims run faster than him since he now realizes himself that he can't be stopped and will eventually catch his prey regardless of how much of a lead they may get.
Halloween II
is tied with Part 4 IMO as the best sequel in the series, so I say it easily deserves an 8 of 10.(If you liked this article, I've also reviewed Halloween, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, and Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers.)
