Review of Halloween II (1981) by Movieznp — 07 Mar 2019

If there's a movie, that serves as a sequel for a movie that wasn't primarily designed for any sequel, this type of a movie is perhaps the best you can expect. Not saying it is a great film, but, it is likable to some extent. .

Good : It serves as a direct sequel to the original classic. It (initially) picks up the factors of what made the original Halloween so great. Most of the times, we feel as if Michael Myers is everywhere, but at the same time, nowhere. The last 10 to 15 minutes are quite intense. It doesn't spend more time setting up the characters that were in the original film, and simply focuses on furtherance of the story. This might be on the negatives for some people, I am aware about it. What I don't know is why. We already know about the characters from the first movie. It is simply a direct continuation of the first film. Rather than a sequel, it feels like the second part of a two parter. If you haven't seen the first film, you won't know them. You should've watched the first film, before watching any sequel or second installment. Yes, this movie doesn't work as a standalone movie. But, even if it did, there would obviously be at least some things you need to know from the first film. I will talk about the decision of going gory in the bad aspects, in a much elaborated manner. We just consider for now that it is gory. Some of the gory kills are awesome. Particularly one with a nurse and hot boiling water in the tub. I won't say how the kill is brought about, but the kill is insane to watch (I don't want to give the spoilers). The music is pretty much the same. Carpenter didn't redo or remix the original score, but made it slightly different and it works for the movie. One final thing. This movie makes the original somewhat better - may it be by giving a good continuity to the story or by making some bad story decisions. If we cut away the end credits of the first film and the opening credits of this film, we get one giant Halloween movie. I would say that if Halloween wasn't given any sequel, I would've been totally fine. In fact, that would've been the best decision. But, this film exists. And not as a mere cash grab. So, whenever I rewatch the original, I can never help myself not watching this movie, right after the completion. That **** happens very few times with me. And whenever it does, I love it. This is perhaps the biggest positive of this film. .

Mixed : I liked how Myers was related to Samhain (Google that **** if you want to know more about it, and it's not a spoiler here) but there has been absolutely no build up to that part. And right after that we get another twist which makes Myers a focused killer. That explains a lot of things, but again, some parts of both the movies are (kind of) contradicted as he killed many people in a random manner. .

Bad : In my positives, I said that, initially, it picks up the factors of what made the original film good. At the beginning, it resembles a lot to Carpenter's film, but slowly and steadily it shows its inferiority. It loses the subtleness of the first film gradually, and, it focuses on more gore and unnecessary nudity. 1980 gave us Friday the 13th which had poor story and focused on gore and it got popular. This movie did not need to be a response to that. Apparently, Carpenter did some reshoots to make it more Friday-ish. That was a mistake. It could've been just like the previous film, without any Friday **** And, if they wanted gore, they could've done it by being primarily focused on the story and suspense. Also, Michael Myers walks like Frankenstein. The reason that we loved him was because he lied somewhere between human and evil. His gestures were all human. Here, he resembles a zombie. This is nothing but another response to Friday the 13th. Also, there are some illogical things in the screenplay. (Not a spoiler) Michael Myers is related to Samhain because the a character sees "Samhain" written in blood on a board. It was definitely Myers as per the story, but why would he do that? Also, if you clearly follow the story, all Michael did to write that feels totally stupid. Completely illogical. And there are other stupid things. Some of the characters are merely stock characters who are there just to get killed. A lot of them are stupid people who do stupid and nonsensical things to make us laugh, forcefully. It had a potential to be much better than this. .

Conclusion : I won't say it is a well deserved sequel for the original (by which I mean the original doesn't really deserve this), but I would say that it deserves to be the sequel to the original. There are flaws in this movie. But it can be watched - right after the original. It will never serve as a standalone film, but as a sequel to something that wasn't really designed for a sequel, it does its best to make itself worth being a sequel to an amazing film. .

Rating. .

Score : 6.