1981's Halloween II was, like Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), one of those sequels to a mega-grossing box office hit that was pushed into production despite a distinct lack of enthusiasm from the key creative forces behind the initial film. In much the same way that actor Charlton Heston was tempted back to continue the story of his classic original by the promise of reduced involvement in the follow-up's creation, an almost sure-fire guarantee of further box office success, and an opportunity to bring his previously open-ended saga to an (apparently) irrevocable conclusion, original Halloween director John Carpenter agreed to supervise production and provide a screenplay for this sequel to his 1978 hit, even if he left the actual helming duties to the unknown Rick Rosenthal (and then, dissatisfied with the results, ended up shooting some additional sequences for the film himself anyway). Picking up at the exact point the first Halloween left off, the sequel follows the continuing pursuit of near-supernatural stalk-and-slash maniac Michael Myers by both the police and the determined Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence), whilst the injured and traumatised Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is taken away to recover in a local hospital. However, Myers' near-indestructible nature, coupled with an unexpected new plot revelation, ensures that he hasn't yet quite finished with Laurie... Halloween II is not a particularly well-made or memorable movie, and certainly lacks the atmosphere of terror and expertly-handled scares of the first film; in keeping with the times, and the flood of killer-on-the-loose cack that proliferated in the wake of Carpenter's initial low budget hit, the sequel goes for a gorier, less subtle approach to the theme (though ironically, this was largely down to Carpenter's input, rather than Rosenthal's). Curtis, who, like Carpenter, wasn't keen on returning to the story, isn't as effective here as she was in the original, but at least her continuing presence assists with the continuity, as does that of the wonderful Pleasence, who is excellent in a significantly-expanded encore as the obsessive Loomis. But, without wanting to give anything away to those who haven't seen it, there is no doubt that this second go-round for Michael Myers should have been the last we heard of him (especially given the sequel's seemingly very conclusive ending); unfortunately, the 'low cost, big profit' nature of this kind of horror movie meant that there were no fewer than six more sequels of wildly varying quality to come (including three starring Pleasence and two more featuring Curtis), plus a 2007 remake, and a sequel to that (!). Not bad for a movie madman a lot of people haven't been able to take seriously since Wayne's World (1992) came out...
Review of Halloween II
