"Halloween" Franchise Rewind Marathon: 'Halloween II'

MORE of the night HE came home.

By: Josh McCormack

For the next few days I will be taking a quick look back at the long-running "Halloween" franchise leading up to the release of David Gordon Green's latest entry. Since the newest film is wiping the slate clean of all the sequels and remakes, I thought we could turn back the clock and talk about all of the films in reverse order. 

Happy Halloween!

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1981's 'Halloween II' is kind of the perfect sequel. That by no means is saying that it's a perfect movie, but by setting the action mere seconds after the events of the first film, 'Halloween II' doesn't need to worry about playing catch up or even finding a new plot device. It's exactly what it's poster tagline says, "MORE of the night HE came home".

If 'Halloween' was more of suspense style shocker in the vein of Hitchcock than 'Halloween II' is a film that relishes in the excessive tropes of the slasher genre that the first film inadvertently spawned. It's got horny ill-fated side characters, loads of blood (a character slips on a puddle of blood at one point) and all the other trappings of early 80s slasher flicks.

What keeps this thing together while those other films fall apart, however, is its sense of style. While the budget got a boost, a new producer was put on board and a major studio handled distribution, the team behind the scenes remains largely the same even if John Carpenter only directed a handful of insert shots. 

Once again, cinematographer Dean Cundey shines with his work in this sequel. The black and blue lighting and shadows from the original film work wonderfully here too and looks crisper than ever. The blu ray release from 2012 is still the best way to watch the movie and even if you aren't a fan of this movie, I recommend checking out that format just so you can see how gorgeous this thing looks. Cundey also throws in a few splashes of red and yellow lighting that just look fantastic when they're illuminated against Michael's mask. 

The score is also wonderful. That comes as no surprise since John Carpenter and Alan Howarth are no slouches and had been providing plenty of fantastic scores at this time. After re-watching 'Halloween III' last night, I must say that I do think the score is more powerful there than it is here, but there's still some great stuff. This version of the classic 'Halloween' theme may be my all time favorite iteration. It takes the original's score and adds a bit more of an electronic, synthy sound and it works splendidly. 

Rick Rosenthal is also a solid director and between this and his incredibly underrated 1983 film, 'Bad Boys' (Sean Penn movie, not Martin Lawrence), I've always been bummed that his career never took off in the way it should. Sure, this movie is an impression of Carpenter's work in the first film, but it's a good impression and if you were to watch both films back to back, it would almost feel seamless. 

'Halloween II' does have its issues though.

For one, Jamie Lee Curtis's appearance here is somewhat limited. This is due to the fact that she remains sedated in a hospital bed for the majority of the movie. Now, by no means is she just a glorified cameo like she is in 'Resurrection', but I feel like after her victorious besting of "The Shape" in the last film she should be given more than to just be quaking in fear the same way she does in the first film's final act.

The gore is also unnecessary at some points and would set a precedent for future films in the franchise. One sequence in which we see a young boy (HEY! It's li'l Andy from 'The Fog') being driven to the hospital with a razor blade embedded in his mouth is really upsetting and has no place in the overall plot. What makes it even more upsetting is that John Carpenter and Debra Hill (the masterminds behind the original film) were the ones who insisted keeping that sequence. Come on guys!

The side characters are also canon fodder and while they're not as annoying as most victims in slasher movies, they still are at odds with the three-dimensional, spunky characters of the first film.

And of course, we can't mention 'Halloween II' without mentioning its reveal that Laurie Strode is actually Michael Myers' sister. Look, it's been talked about amongst horror fans for almost four decades now and still remains one of the most hotly debated things in the franchise, so I won't dwell on it for too long. All I'll say is that I don't think it's terribly handled in this movie, but knowing the effect it would have on the franchise just makes it look worse and we're finally getting to say goodbye to it with David Gordon Green's newest film.

Overall, though, 'Halloween II' is a well made sequel that is another one of my personal favorites in the franchise and I know many others feel that way too. However, it's not perfect and while I know it's slightly upsetting to some fans that the latest installment is saying it's no longer canon, I highly encourage you guys to not deify this sequel. It's great, but faulty and since a director is coming along with what they think is a better second chapter, I want to see what they have to show.