Halloween II

1981 Horror

While John Carpenter's 1978 horror classic Halloween irrevocably changed the style of horror cinema with its simple but relentlessly tense story, it triggered more than a decade's worth of uninspired, exploitative knock-offs, and one could easily list Halloween II among these failures. As with its predecessor, this film was written and produced by Carpenter and Debra Hill, but the terse style and unbearable suspense of the first film are missing, replaced by a more simplistic stalk-and-slash scenario. Directorial duties were handed over to Rick Rosenthal, whose lack of expertise is quite evident (though he managed to hit his stride two years later with the prison actioner Bad Boys). The plot picks up exactly where the original left off: Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), shaken and injured from her battle with unkillable psycho Michael Myers, is taken to the Haddonfield Hospital for observation, while Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) continues his desperate search for his monstrous patient. An interesting plot twist has Loomis' investigations revealing Michael's true identity (some of these sequences incorporate footage of young Michael originally shot for the television version of Halloween, which contained scenes hinting at the link between Michael and Laurie).After slashing his way through the town, Myers manages to track Laurie to the hospital, where the remainder of the action takes place. Numerous night-shift employees are slaughtered in a variety of gruesome ways before Loomis catches up with his quarry, leading to an explosive -- and seemingly conclusive -- confrontation. Pleasence is compelling as usual, but Curtis, who made an auspicious debut in the original, is sadly wasted here, her character reduced to shuffling half-drugged through darkened hospital corridors and screaming helplessly. Carpenter's active involvement in the Halloween franchise continued to dwindle steadily from one sequel to the next, getting scarcely a mention by the time producers Hill, Moustapha Akkad and Irwin Yablans revived the series in 1988 for three more sequels. more..

Director: John Carpenter

Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Charles Cyphers, Jeffrey Kramer

Reviews

  • Halloween II, writer-director Rob Zombie's completely unsettling but incompletely satisfying continuation of his 2007 reboot, offers up a rush of fiercely imagined nightmare images. Be warned: It's one of the most gruesome films of the year.

    Kyle Smith - New York Post

    26 April 2013

  • Laurie's story holds interest thanks to Taylor-Compton's intense, nontrivializing dedication to the role, especially when the character's feral brother comes calling.

    Keith Uhlich - Time Out New York

    26 April 2013

  • What Halloween II does have, though, is Zombie's claustrophobic visual style; he half-drowns his actors in shadow, then tracks them through windows and around corners like a focused predator. If only we cared about the prey.

    - Entertainment Weekly

    26 April 2013

  • The movie lacks the strong vision and memorable carnage of Zombie's masterpiece, "The Devil's Rejects."

    Peter Hartlaub - The San Francisco Chronicle

    26 April 2013

  • Perhaps reflecting the filmmaker's other career as a recording artist, many of the film's scares come as much from the ultra-vivid horrifying sound effects as the gore itself.

    Frank Scheck - The Hollywood Reporter

    26 April 2013

Awards

  • Best Actor

    Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (1982)