| Halloween II (1981) 92 min |
| More often than not, I find that Halloween II is considered to be the strongest sequel to John Carpenter's 1978 mastpiece. I have to be honest, I've never understood why. Fans seem to like the idea that this one picks up right where Halloween left off. Don't get me wrong, I adore sequels that pay close attention to continuity. My main problem with this movie is simply that it's lacking everything that made the first film great.The finished product wasn't suspensful as much as it was flat out boring. The tension and masterful direction are replaced with drawn out and sloppy set pieces. There are a few bright spots that I'll get to shortly, but the bad far outweighs the good in this particular outing. |
| The story begins in an effective enough manner. We recaps trhe closing events of the first film with some confusing new continuity errors (why does Dr. Loomis fire 7 shots now?). Anyway, after that we get some decent set up informing us that Michael Myers survived the shooting and is still on the loose. Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis returning) is taken to the greatly understaffed Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, Michael follows. There's nothing critically wrong with the main story, it's kept simple enough to fit with the original. It's really the execution that deals the fatal blow this time out. |
| Halloween II had admittedly big shoes to fill, following up one of the most perfectly crafted genre films ever. Michael's return though, seems too heavily inspired by the copycats that populated the slasher boom that Carpenter's initial film kickstarted. Instead of leading the pack as an innovator, Halloween II seems content to be a follower, and a lackluster follower at that. Psycho II should be issued as a textbook as to how to repectfully sequelize a masterpiece. I think the main problem with Halloween II is it's schizophrenic nature as it tries to be true to the original while still competing with the Friday the 13th type bodycount films that were cleaning up at the boxoffice. |
| That being said, this movie isn't a complete waste of time for fans of 80s slashers. Over the past 25 years, Michael Myers has become one of the most iconic figures in the horror genre. His look and style here certainly does the character justice, even if actor Dick Warlock is obviously on the short side. The mask looks good though, and Warlock carries himself in a manner worthy of the role. There are some effective scenes too. The opening in particular is strong when Michael is lurking around a residential neighborhood and even pops in an elderly couple's house to borrow some cutlery. He then makes good use of the knife as he meets up with a young girl who's just now hearing about the murders on the radio. There are also some effective scenes in the hospital, but most of them are cribbed almost directly from the first film. |
| For every effective scene though, there are a couple that fall short of the mark. The first one that comes to mind is the drawn out murder of the portly security guard. Not only does the pace become excruciatingly slow, but did anyone ever care about this character in the first place? Maybe he's included so that the 'fat security guard' section of the population will have someone to identify with in the film. Another problem I have with the film is the large amount of time spent on pointless scenes. Why is that little kid with the bloody mouth sucking on an ice cube even there? Is that to warn us of the dangers of taking candy from strangers? Maybe it's a metaphor the impersonal nature of the growing urbaniztaion of our society, Haddonfield is no longer the small safe town it used to be...well, probably not, I think it's just confusing and pointless. I won't even go into what a waste of time Dr. Mixter is! |
| While I'm on the topic of pointless, my opinion that will probably bother most fans. Why did they have to make Laurie his sister? Now as far as the sequels acknowledging and expanding upon this plot point, I have no problem with that. It actually gave the sequels some depth, and raison d'etre if you will. In this movie though, all it serves to do is to attempt to tarnish a lot of what I found so effective about the first film. It gives Michael far too much purpose. I really liked the idea of Michael being an escaped mental patient who becomes fixated on this babysitter that he sees while at his old house. I think that idea makes it universally scary to everyone. Anyone could come across an unbalanced person and rub them the wrong way. Far less of the population is likely to find out they were adopted and just happened to be the baby sibling of a homicidal maniac. To be fair though, I think the sequels (and some excellent performances later in the series from Danielle Harris) did a great deal to enhance the effectiveness of the mythology laid down here. Like it or lump it, the whole bloodline subplot is now a permanent part of Halloween lore. |
| To finish things up, the performances here are all okay. Nothing spectacular, but nothing to be embarrased about either. Curtis does the best that could be done for the material given to her. She's still ultimately sympathetic, but far less interesting this time out. Donald Pleasence is always a pleasure to watch, and this outing is no exception. Hunter von Leer also deserves a nod for turing in a good, if slightly small, performance as the nice guy deputy. Pamela Susan Shoop also deserves a special mention for looking extra wonderful in that otherwise dopey hot tub scene, |
| For good or bad, Halloween II paved the way for a slew of sequels. Immediately following this dud was the confusiing and Michael Myers-less Halloween III: Season of the Witch. The Shape returned for the rest of the them which ranged from high points like Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers to the lows of Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later to the even lower lows of Halloween: Resurrection. |
| Halloween II is easy to find, and there are many home video options available. For those with region free DVD players, the best route would be to spring for the Anchor Bay UK special edition box set. For the time being, that's the only way to get some good features. Good Times initially released a bare bones disc in 1998 with nothing but a good looking (although nonanamorphic) transfer. Universal put out their own disc not too long ago adding an anamorphic transfer and the theatrical trailer. |
| I give this one 2 soon-to-be-Allan-Smithees out of 5 |
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| review by Joe Canistro 11/3/2004 |