Halloween II (1981) - film review

Michael Myers has been shot dead by Dr Loomis, or so it seemed on that fateful Halloween night in 1978.  When Loomis and Sheriff Brackett fail to find the killer’s body, it is apparent that he is still very much alive and will almost certainly strike again.  In a state of profound shock, Laurie Strode, one of Myers’ near-victims, is taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, unaware, or perhaps half-suspecting, that Myers is determined to get to her.  After a few more random killings, Myers finds his way into the hospital and sets about slaughtering the entire night staff.  Nothing will prevent him from butchering Laurie.  Having discovered the reason for Myers’ interest in Laurie, Loomis makes a desperate attempt to save her, knowing that he is up against the human embodiment of pure evil...

Despite its Grand Guignol excesses, paucity of plot and characters that look as though they have been cut out of the flimsiest cardboard, this exploitative gore fest manages to be a fairly respectable sequel to John Carpenter’s groundbreaking horror film, Halloween (1978).  Eager to please in his directorial debut, Rick Rosenthal makes every effort to replicate the style and format of the original film, including the use of the handheld camera for first-person perspective shots which contributed so much to the atmosphere of that film. 

The sequel is noticeably gorier than the original, as a result of Carpenter’s dogged insistence that this is what audiences wanted (the substantially larger budget made it possible to realise far more gruesome shock scenes).  As a result, Halloween II is much closer to today’s blood-drenched slasher movies, although it is very debatable whether such an infusion of more explicit horror content makes the film any more effective.

Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence are both back to reprise their roles and seem to be having the time of their lives.   Pleasance chews the scenery with such vigour that you wonder whether it will still be standing by the end of the film.  Such a histrionic onslaught is entirely justified when you consider the dialogue he was given.  At least Pleasance brings some colour and life to the film, which is more than can be said for ninety per cent of the supporting cast.  It is regrettable that Michael Myers is no longer the mysterious shadow figure of the original film, but a stock zombie that looks like it strayed off the set of a George Romero film.

Flawed as it is, Halloween II still manages to be an entertaining, highly suspenseful horror-thriller, vastly superior to many of the slasher films that followed in its wake.  It has more than a touch of absurdity and provides a few unintentional laughs, but redeems itself with its denouement, the extremely tense showdown between Loomis and The Shape in the deserted Illinois hospital.  This was where John Carpenter intended to end the story, but audiences wanted more, and so the Halloween saga continued, with other six sequels and two remakes, so far...

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