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Halloween 2: The Nightmare Isn't Over! (1981)
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Movie Review by Chris
January 21st, 2009
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'Halloween II' is a direct sequel to the first Halloween film, which made it's debut in 1978. The movie actually starts with the ending of the first movie, and then leads right into the beginning of part two where we start with Loomis still chasing Myers after shooting him off the balcony of the Strode house. To say that 'Halloween II' is a good sequel is reasonable, director Rick Rosenthal keeps it kinda related to the original and attempts to bring back that feeling Carpenter brought us. The thing Rosenthal lacks in though is that feeling of pure terror, the first Halloween really succeeded in not just scaring the audience, but making them bite their fingernails and clench in fear that the next shot will be creepier then the last. If you were to watch these two films back to back, you might enjoy this a little more then usual, but I found it to be average and to be a fine installment when it comes to sequels.
Lets look back and compare this to it's predecessor. If you were to side by side look at the difference between these two filmmakers, Carpenter and Rosenthal, we see that Carpenter has this advantage. Halloween is simply one of the greatest horror movies ever made, so it's difficult to follow that in terms of a sequel, and its also very hard to equal the impact we had from the first film. One thing Rosenthal carries over is the first person point of view shots from Micheal's perspective, which brought a little more suspense to the first movie but Rick does it a lot in here, and at times I found it to be annoying. After Myer's gets away we have a 2 minute shot from his perspective, it's interesting at first but after the first 4 or 5 times it felt like an excuse to extend the run time a little more.
Another large difference between the first film and the sequel is the approach to the death scenes. Halloween wasnt meant to be a gore fest, nor was there ever a scene which disgusts us because there was so much violence. There was a body count, just not to the point where it felt like a bland and usual splatter movie, just another teen slasher. 'Halloween II' feels a lot like an 80's teen slasher movie. It seems like they wanted to get the highest body count possible and find one or two reasons one of the cast members should remove their shirts. This isnt a gory film either, but it seems unnecessarily violent. This kind of ruins the whole Halloween film approach it's meant to have. I'm not saying that this movie isnt good because its bloody, it's just at moments it didnt feel like a Halloween movie and I really wanted to feel that here.
Laurie Strode indeed returns here, this time being transported to the local hospital for a stab wound and some kind of messed up foot. Strangely, this hospital seems very deserted and lonely, the complete opposite feeling a hospital should have. There's only about 5 or 6 people working at this hour and this breaks apart the reality barrier a little bit, its a small problem but it's extremely noticable. Jamie Lee Curtis does indeed also return to play the role yet again and even though her dialogue is short and her role isnt as big, I still enjoyed her presence. As an actress, a young actress at the time, she does a great job with that feeling of being scared and this is seen through her facial expressions and other things she does with her voice or other physical actions.
Another return I greatly appreciate was one by Donald Pleasence reprising his role as Sam Loomis. Obviously, Donald is one reason why this film is watchable. He's very creepy and just the way he brings out this character is great. When he tells the back story of Micheal or even talks about that fear inside him when he knows that the killer is still out there we see how successful of an actor he really is and I love him and his character. The ending of any movie is very important to me, it sets up that emotional impact were supposed to receive. The movie was co-written by Carpenter and they wrote the ending to be a bit predictable and kind of lazy, it's one of the downfalls this movie suffers from. To say the least this film is passable, forgettable, but passable. Check it out if you must, but it's not worth going out of your way for.
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