Halloween II (1981) Review

Halloween II (1981)

Halloween II follows Laurie, who following the events of the first, is taken to the hospital where Michael tracks her down, slashing his way through the place in hopes to finish to the job. 

For a movie that was never meant to be made, I have to say, this is one of the better sequels in a franchise full of awful ones. It’s also the closest in tone and feel to the original, being the last time we’ll see Laurie for at least another 20 years. You could tell however, this was already on track to be a different movie 10 minutes in, replacing the quiet, atmospheric kills with a much more graphic and bloody style. While it delivers the occasional suspense, this chiller focuses more on generating a huge bodycount than actually trying to deliver any true horror. Aside from Laurie, Michael, and an updated synthesizer theme (that is growing on me, I’ll admit), much of the fingerprint that made the first so effective is gone, and replaced with a monotonous Michael who just trudges from scene to scene like a wraith. 

I still don’t really know how I feel about the revelation that Michael and Laurie are siblings (thus the reason why he’s so hellbent on killing her, after already offing one sister 15 years prior). It makes sense to set up the latter half of this film but it retcons the spontaneity of their random encounter at the start of the first. Loomis also becomes damn near insufferable this time around, as he is given a much bigger role of that is just an avenue for him to act utterly insane (and get Ben Tramer killed).

We get a solid cast again, starring Pamela Susan Shoop, Lance Guest (Last Starfighter!), Donald Pleasence, Dick Warlock, and Jamie Lee Curtis. As I mentioned above, Pleasence is incredibly misused and makes this much hokey than it needs to be. Curtis however shows a great natural progression and puts forth another solid performance as the original final girl. 

Halloween II, directed by Rick Rosenthal, was supposed to be the last in the series, and I feel that if viewed through that lens, it’s passable with a nice body count to boot. Being so close in time and tone though, it’s hard not to look at it in comparison with the first (because the first is just so good). As far as prototypical slashers go, give it a watch. 

6.4/10