Halloween 2
Horror sequels became so frequent at one time to so many horror movie classics that they literally became a subgenre onto their own, with the various chapters in each âfranchiseâ becoming of such various quality that deciding which ones were the best became a virtual guessing game and point of debate among hardcore horror fans. This 1981 follow up to John Carpenterâs timeless classic upped the ante even more, as in the wake of Carpenterâs original so came the so called yet beloved âslasherâ genre (of which spawned the equally iconic Friday The 13th series), the point of which was to outdo what Carpenter had done in terms of scares and even gore (which Halloween had actually had very little of), so when it came time for director Rick Rosenthal to helm this follow up, he wasnât just competing with the 1st movie but also all the scores of other knockoffs and imitations that had flooded the market in the past couple of years. However, Carpenter in his role as writer and producer saw a problem when viewing Rosenthalâs final cut. The young director had tried to emulate Carpenter directly and came up with an almost completely bloodless entry, and as Carpenter had hoped to âoutdoâ the other slashers out there with their blood and gore makeup FX, he went back in without Rosenthalâs consent and reshot entire scenes so that the gore quotient was increased substantially, not only successfully setting this sequel apart from the original, but using the strength of the established premise and characters to indeed emerge as one of, if not THE best slasher movies of the early 80s wave, even if saying it was better than Part 1 was a bit of a stretch, due to some compromises in the writing necessitated by the very need for such a sequel. The film begins on (and takes place throughout) the very same night as the original in 1978, starting when Donald Pleasenceâs obsessed psychiatrist Sam Loomis has just pumped 6 bullets into his escaped mental patient Michael Myers in order to rescue Jamie Lee Curtisâ Laurie Strode, only to discover that Myers has merely shaken it off and walked away much to Loomisâ dismay. Laurie is spirited away to a nearby hospital while Loomis grabs the deputy in charge (with Charles Cyphersâ Sheriff Brackett now out of the hunt due to intense grief since his daughter was butchered by Myers in the original) to continue his own search. Myers himself spends some time stumbling around before obtaining a butcher knife, stabbing a random teenage girl in the throat, and heading for the hospital with the intent of finishing off Laurie. The hospital itself is one of those small town clinics with the wonderfully early 80s sense of irrelevancy, complete with an obviously drunken doctor and orderlies openly smoking weed in the cafeteria, while Laurie herself tries to keep at least one eye open as she is befriended by a paramedic played by Lance Guest (later to be famous as the lead in The Last Starfighter). Once Michael arrives though, the hospital itself turns into a slaughterhouse. As said, Carpenter (who reportedly was never too hot on the idea of doing sequels) made a point of both competing in the market and separating this film from the first one in order to make it as gory as possible, something that is emphasized early on by the lingering closeup shots of a little boy in a costume bleeding heavily from the mouth and checking into the hospital after some obvious razor blade in an apple action. And it continues with some pretty elaborate stuff such as hypodermic syringes to the eyeball (and brain), being drowned and burned alive in the boiling waters of a therapy hot tub, and even one victim having an intravenous tube inserted in their arm and drained of all their blood, leading to the ironically subversive moment of another character slipping on the blood and landing on their head, possibly killing themselves in the process. Some complained (and rightfully so) that Jamie Lee got her role downgraded at this point, her character seemingly being on painkillers for most of the film and not getting much to do actingwise except some whimpering and the occasional scream, which is an interesting development given that she had become a pretty big name actress in the years since Part 1 (if not yet in the mainstream like she soon would be) by being dubbed horrorâs Scream Queen due to taking part in many of the various slasher ripoffs of her own star making turn, even going so far as to now receive top billing over her legendary British co star. And that again brings up another very interesting side note, because if there is one element from the original that improves upon itself here, it is Donald Pleasence reprising his role as Sam Loomis, Michaelâs doctor who went from being a world renowned child psychologist to being driven insane himself simply because he came to âknowâ Michael so well. Keeping in mind that Pleasence only worked a few days on the original while making a notable impression with limited screen time that mostly consisted of him hiding in the bushes staking out the Myers house, here his Loomis really gets to sink his teeth into his business, staying part of the main action throughout and even better, getting to espouse further on the components of Michaelâs evil and even of the evil of the human mind itself, all while continuing to expose himself to others around him as a completely mentally broken lunatic in his own right, but also proving himself to be a tough bastard especially during the conclusion. One controversial element of the writing itself (thrown in by Carpenter reportedly so that the sequel would have a PURPOSE) is the now well known twist of having Laurie turn out to be Michael Myersâ own sister, and thus his ultimate intended target all along having killed his first sister as a little boy (made all the more immediate when Laurie is actually TOLD the name of the guy who tried to kill her that night, and one can tell that she realizes it). Unfortunately, it does negate the logic of the first movie, where Laurie (and the audience) thought she was facing off with a nameless, faceless monster whom had targeted her for no real reason, and moreso, why would he have bothered to kill her friends who were off in a separate house and had posed no threat or obstacle for him getting to her in the house where she was by herself babysitting? While some might argue that it was due to Jamie Lee making such a wonderfully strong impression in the first film that it justified giving her a real purpose here, others felt it took away Myersâ scariest element as a screen villain, that of someone who could randomly target ANYBODY and make them his victim. Regardless, we still get the atmosphere and feel of the original along with some randy moments that could only come about in the early 80s, some enjoyably gruesome bits of business gorewise, a crackling performance from Pleasence this time around, and a marvelously intense finale that in some ways outdoes the original and makes it clear that if the first Halloween didnât end in such a way that totally satisfied you (and for many it did), then this continuation of what happened that very same night is as satisfying as almost any horror sequel ever made could possibly beâŚ
9/10