Halloween II (1981)

July 7, 2018

Capitalizing on the enormous, albeit surprising, success of the first Halloween, movie producers convinced John Carpenter to come back to make Halloween II. Whereas the original Halloween was the first highly watched slasher film (Black Christmas had already created and defined nearly every aspect of the genre a few years before), by 1981 there were a dozen slasher films being shown in the theaters. One of the more popular ones was Friday the 13th which included a ton more blood and gore (thanks to Tom Savini). This meant that horror audiences wanted blood and Halloween II had to deliver. This is what really sets the sequel apart while building on the original -- gore.

Written by John Carpenter along with a lot of Budweiser, the film takes place immediately after the first film, the movie follows Michael Myers terrorizing Haddonfield before moving on to hunt down Laurie Strode who is at a hospital having her wounds from the first film being taken care of. Also, once again, Dr. Loomis is trying to find and stop Michael and failing miserably at it. In one scene Laurie is screaming and banging on a door while Michael very slowly walks towards her. He takes his sweet ass time getting to the door to finally save her. Seriously Dr. Loomis, get your act together.

It would not be a sequel if there wasn't a twist of some kind and in this movie we learn that Laurie Strode is actually Michael Myers sister. There is a dream flashback to her mother telling her that she is not her real mom and then a woman from Michael's psychiatric hospital lets Loomis, Laurie, and the viewers know the truth. Two years after killing his sister, Michael's parents died (?) and the Strodes adopted Laurie who was four at the time and tried to keep it a secret. The twist is kind of silly. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense in the plot of the movie and is not really necessary either. One of the things that really made Michael so scary in the first movie was that his murders were largely random. You never knew who he was going to kill. A killer without a motive is a terrifying idea and had movie viewers scared to death when the movie came out. Now Michael has a reason. He is trying to kill the other sister. Laurie has become a vector for Michael's violence, there are still innocent people being murdered, but they are in relation to Michael's attempts to kill Laurie.

The additional gore in the film is a controversial topic among Halloween fans. Some claim that the original's lack of blood and gore was scarier because it forced the viewer to fill in the blanks with their imagination. Others claim that the gore added to the horror of the film making it a better slasher film. I'm neutral on the topic. I think both positions have their merit. Either way, this film is much gorier. The director (John Carpenter didn't want to do the sequel at all but agreed to write the script so he could make the money he claims he never saw from the original) did not want too much gore in the film. However, John Carpenter, uncredited, directed a few gorier scenes behind the directors back and they were added to the film. Michael drowns and boils a woman. He stabs a man in the eyeball with a syringe. We watch as he slits the throat of a security guard. There is a very unpleasant scene where he smashes the claw part of a claw hammer into a guy's skull. Violence and gore to rival, but does not outdo, its rival Friday the 13th. Of course, the violence seems tame in the years of the Saw and Hostel splatter films, not to mention the extreme films (A Serbian film I have not gotten up the nerve to watch... yet).

Jamie Lee Curtis, as always, steals the show. In this film she does an incredible job of playing a terrified and slightly catatonic victim fighting for her life. There is something about her as an actor that immediately resonates with me and all viewers. She has a certain small town charm that makes us believe she really is from Haddonfield, Illinois. In slashers we often times root for the villain, but in the Halloween movies, I am always rooting for Laurie Strode.

The moviemakers would decide to end the Myers/Laurie storyline for good after this film but use the Halloween name to market other horror movies related to Halloween. However the failure of Halloween III would have the next movie makers resurrect Michael Myers for half a dozen more sequels and of course a couple reboots (the Rob Zombie one was actually pretty great!). I see that Dr. Loomis is in the fourth movie. I'm curious how they go about making that since he blew himself up in this movie. Oh well, next is mind control and witches or something in Halloween III: Season of the Witch.