Summary:
Immediately following the events of the first “Halloween.” Dr. Loomis and his colleague search for Michael Meyers, while Laurie Strode is rushed to the hospital.
My Thoughts:
For the longest time, I considered the original “Halloween” film to be one of the most overrated movies ever made. It wasn’t until my last viewing, after I’d more acquainted myself with Carpenter films, that I really started to appreciate “Halloween” for what it was. While I still don’t think “Halloween” is one of the best examples of the slasher genre (for the best slashers you need go to Italy- Argento, Fulci, Bava), I understand the appeal of Michael Meyers as a character. Ever the horror fan, I decided I’d check out “Halloween II”, which, from what I could tell, was generally the most well received sequel of the rather extensive franchise.
It’s obvious from the very beginning that John Carpenter did not direct this film; his ability to infuse a bit of tension throughout the first and second acts of “Halloween” really helped that movie a lot. This film was a bit all over the place both in terms of directing and in terms of storytelling, but it was still a fun film. I think my biggest problem with this entry into the franchise is that, when we begin, Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis, “A Fish Called Wanda”) is rushed to the hospital and Loomis (Donald Pleasence, “The Great Escape”) frantically rushes around to try to find Michael, whom has miraculously and mysteriously disappeared after being shot six times. Michael just starts wandering around and killing random people, and most of those opening kill scenes are pretty tensionless because we don’t know or care about the people being killed (to be fair, almost every slasher film ever made suffers from this at least a bit). Though the kill scenes might be tensionless, they are a bit more inventive than the first film. Michael starts to really branch out in the way that he kills people; sometimes it’s with a knife, but other times it’s a hammer, or drowning. I’d venture to guess that the body count in this movie is close to (if not more than) double that of the original “Halloween”. The problem is that with our biggest protagonists removed from any threat up until the final act of the movie, and Michael just wandering around killing random people for the first two acts of the film, Laurie really doesn’t have anything to do, and Loomis just ends up looking foolish as he runs about trying to find a patient that has once again slipped through his fingers.
Another problem with placing Loomis and Laurie so far away from Michael at the beginning of the film is that it feels as if Michael running into Laurie again at the hospital is just bad luck- but we’re also not really sure if he’s still intent on stalking her as a kind of revenge. Are Michael’s actions motivated out of sheer impulse- is he just killing whomever he comes across- or is he doing this vindictively? In the first film, it was completely random happenstance that Laurie crossed Michael’s path, and then Michael just started stalking her, killing whomever got in his way as he made his way towards her. In this film, it sort of feels like Michael just stupidly stumbles over her again by accident and decides, “Oh, I guess I can try to kill this person again.” In the original film the lack of Michael’s motive to kill worked to the film’s favor, in this movie, Michael meeting up with Laurie again felt a bit silly and happenstantial.
Towards the end of the film, the tension does actually return a bit. While Laurie spends the first two thirds of this movie just starring off into space (sometimes literally), she really goes for the title of Scream Queen in that final act. While I complain about the happenstantial way that Michael and Laurie end up together again, I have to admit that once they are back together it’s the best part of the film, but I also think the ending could polarize fans. The ending goes a bit over the top- and here I have to throw up a SPOILER TAG for the rest of the article.
I think the ending will work for some people and it won’t work for others. For me, I liked it, but here’s why: I think the ending was cheap and schmaltzy and ridiculous, and when I watch a “Halloween” movie, I don’t mind the endings being cheap and schmaltzy and ridiculous. In the end of the first movie, Loomis shoots Michael six times and somehow, miraculously, Michael survives and the movie ends. That ending is great because you don’t have to explain how exactly Michael survived six bullet wounds- you’re just left with this sense of horror and wonder as to how anyone could’ve walked away after that. The problem is, when you make a sequel to a film where the main bad guy has just been shot six times, how do you explain his ability to not die? Well, apparently you just say “F*ck it, and make Michael Meyers in-f*cking-vincible.” Michael gets shot multiple times, beat up, blinded (shot through the eyes), and then set on fire. Michael could not possibly ever survive what he was put through, and we witness him going through all of it. That first “Halloween” movie might’ve been a bit over the top at the end (when he drags a tombstone into his old house), but at least Michael was a somewhat believable villain, and that’s part of what made him scary; this movie just got to the point where it was silly, but it also sort of elevated Michael into an urban legend. Now, here’s where I think the ending will divide fans: people who like just the original film for its cinematic prowess as a horror film will probably think this film kind of sucks, but I think people who just enjoy cheap horror films will really get a kick out of the ending, and furthermore, people who love cheap horror movies are the people that kept this franchise going for eleven entries (including Rob Zombies’ movies). I was totally fine with the way this film ended because I know we’ve got a half dozen more films in this franchise alone where Michael Meyers will miraculously come back to kill again.
Verdict:
Sometimes when you want to watch a horror film you want something truly horrifying, and other times you just want something silly to throw on in the background to laugh at. This film is certainly not as good as the original “Halloween”, but it is a fun slasher flick with some fun kills and, towards the end, some genuinely creepy (yet over the top) moments. If you go into this movie with middling expectations, you’ll probably enjoy yourself; if you want something substantial, try something else.
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