Review of Halloween II (1981) by Griff C — 01 Nov 2017

I'm a bit surprised that Halloween II has as low a critics' score that it does here. Is it as good as its predecessor? No. However, that doesn't make it a bad movie. With John Carpenter and Debra Hill back writing and producing, the film truly does feel in many ways the direct follow-up it sets out to be.

For the most part, the plot does make sense and is a sensible continuation of the first Halloween. However, Halloween II has the reputation of being the movie that started muddying the waters of the series' continuity by revealing that [SPOILER for a film that's been out since 1981] that Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode is the sister of Michael Myers.

Granted, that explains why Michael would continue stalking her after the events of the first film, however, it does feel a bit forced. It comes across as really needing a reason for Michael to continue stalking Laurie since they managed to get Jamie Lee Curtis back.

An additional element that feels forced is the increased violence. It's not horrifically gory by today's standards (or even when compared to other movies from the same time), however I can't help but feel that it was increased based off of the popularity of Friday the 13th and other Halloween imitators.

It feels odd to watch these first two movies back-to-back and have one noticeably more violent than the other. Other than those minor gripes, it's an okay movie. It's not as fresh as the first film, but Halloween II serves as a decent follow up and is still much better than what would come in the future.