Review of Halloween II (1981) by Dustin P — 28 Oct 2014

It's nowhere near as good as it's predecessor, but it's not a terrible film. If it stuck with the formula of the first one, it could have been something with substance rather than a typical slasher film. What made the first film great was that it showed restraint by not showing a bunch of gore, but instead let your imagination fill in the gaps.

This sequel instead chose to mimic other slasher films that were common at the time (like Friday The 13th - which was arguably mimicking the first Halloween film), so this one is much gorier than the first one. It's also not as suspenseful, which makes the kills have less impact.

The main protagonist, Laurie Strode, is sleeping throughout a large portion of the film - which is quite disappointing. Dr. Loomis is pretty much a lunatic in this one, whereas he's sort of a relatively calm bounty hunter in the first film. Michael Myers tends to jump out the shadows and immediately kill his victims in this one, as opposed to the first film where he liked to watch his victims for a little while before killing them.

I think the climax is the best part of the movie and would have been a great place to leave the Halloween films. After Michael wounds Dr. Loomis, Laurie shoots Michael in both of his eyes and he slashes at the air blindly. Dr. Loomis and Laurie turn on the gas inside of the operating room and Dr. Loomis tells Laurie to get out. She runs out and Loomis ignites the room with a lighter. Wouldn't that have been a great way to leave it? With Dr. Loomis sacrificing himself in order to destroy the seemingly unstoppable monster that he couldn't keep locked up.

Unfortunately, the makers of the first two movies decided to try making Halloween into an anthology film series. The plan was to make a new one every year around Halloween that had different characters, settings, and stories. No more Michael Myers, but it would still be called Halloween. Halloween III was a film about witchcraft and had science fiction elements. While it wasn't a box office bomb, it was critically panned. So in a desperate move, Michael Myers and Dr. Loomis were both brought back for Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers, which I believe sort of diminishes the impact of the finale of Halloween II.

In hindsight, had the creators of Halloween II decided to stick to what brought them success in the first film and had they decided to call Halloween III something else entirely, there's a good chance this film would be viewed as a classic.