Director: Rick Rosenthal
Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Charles Cyphers, Pamela Susan Shoop, Ana Alicia
Screenplay: John Carpenter, Debra Hill
92 mins. Rated R.
Here we are again, another year of horror done and another terrific Halloween. This year wasn’t as perfect as last year (two times where technical difficulties took over), but all the same, I really enjoyed myself, and I hope you have as well. Before we get started, I’d like to thank you for taking this journey with me again, and offer you the ability to offer feedback. Let me know what you want next year…movies, new extras, etc…and I’ll do my best to get you the content you deserve.
It is Halloween night, 1978. Michael Myers has slain several teenagers and was shot six times and dropped out a window. When Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence, Prince of Darkness, Escape from New York) goes to check the body, Myers is gone. Now, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis, TV’s Scream Queens, True Lies) is being taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, and she is about to discover that Halloween night is far from over.
Halloween II should be thought of in a better light. The movie is pretty good. It just has a big shadow hanging over it. That shadow is John Carpenter’s original film, Halloween, a perfect horror film from one of the greats of the horror genre. The sequel from director Rick Rosenthal (Bad Boys, The Birds II: Land’s End) is just not as good. That doesn’t make it a bad film, just a less-than-perfect film.
Halloween II does have faults; I can’t say it doesn’t. First of all, never take your lead and make her bedridden the entire film. Secondly, when you fill up the potential deaths, make them more likable than the staff at Haddonfield Memorial Hospital. Lastly, don’t make your big reveal so forced and obvious. There is a great twist in the movie, but I could have seen it a mile away.
All that being said, I love that the story from Halloween isn’t over yet. The technique of the direct sequel doesn’t always work, but I didn’t find myself disappointed in the project which actually elevates the original even more. Halloween II is a fine film (a terrific double-feature with the original) and a great way to spend the holiday, just maybe not for the characters.
3.5/5
-Kyle A. Goethe
For more 31 Days of Horror, click here.
For my review of John Carpenter’s Halloween, click here.
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