IHR induction #35: "Halloween II" (1981, Rick Rosenethal)

I've harped nonstop in the past about the reasons why "Halloween," the John Carpenter-helmed classic from 1978, is one of (if not THE) greatest horror films ever made, but I've never railed on its sequel at length. It's time for just such a thing. Here, we have nothing short of the "Empire Strikes Back" chapter of the "Halloween" franchise; while it's not quite as suspenseful as the original movie, it undeniably contains more shocks and genuine make-you-cringe moments, in addition to replicating damn near ALL of the things that made Carpenter's movie such a genre-defining, essential thrill ride. It's also one of the greatest sequels ever made, bar none; it takes the motifs of the original movie and makes them important again in different ways, and while it's characters aren't quite as well fleshed-out, it more than makes up for the disparity by becoming the badass king of early '80s slasher films.

In many ways, "Halloween II" is the quintessential slasher film, minus the pot-smoking teens and wooded area setting. "Halloween" set the bar for modern horror films with its high-school centric character base, emotionless killer, and sex=death moral play. In the three-year period between the release of "Halloween" and "Halloween II," many things happened in the great, grand world of horror films, the least of which being "Friday the 13th" and the first widely-seen examples of layers upon layers of red stuff flying out at audiences. As such, the slasher influence is definitely there for "Halloween II," but while many critics have lambasted the movie for this element, I feel that it is nothing short of logical. The original film featured a Michael Myers acquiring his target and offing the opposition with surgical precision; in this movie, the character (which is nothing short of evil personified, in the words of Sam Loomis himself) has been pushed back, and thus is one pissed off monster. The Michael Myers seen in the first two "Halloween" films is my favorite horror villain ever, and it's loads of fun to watch him go kill-crazy and brutal in "Halloween II" as opposed to silent and stealthy in the OG version. But that's just me.

One last bit of merryment before I get into the meat of the review - I've mentioned several times in the past that I view "Halloween II" as "Part B" of the first film. For those that haven't grown tired of me waxing rhapsodically on this subject before, this is also a move that makes sense. Carpenter and Debra Hill return to write this sequel, and the director, Rick Rosenthal, does his absolute damndest to make sure that the look and style of the "Halloween" is preserved throughout the 92 minute running time. It's got the same heroine, the same hero, the same villain, the same town - hell, it even takes place MINUTES after the first film ends. If you view these two movies back-to-back, which I always do, as a single film, you get an absolutely perfect, three-hour horror epic that's worth popping in any time you feel like giving yourself a serious case of the skin-crawling willies. End of intro.

THE MOVIE!!

The flick starts with the ending scenes of "Halloween," as Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence, in yet another tour-de-force performance) shoots escaped mental patient Michael Myers and leaves him for dead. Despite taking a solid six shots from Loomis' revolver, Myers disappears, leaving a very bewildered psychologist and Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis, the best "final girl" actress in horror history) in his wake. It doesn't take long for Myers to take his first victim of the movie, and the awesome opening credits tick by.

Laurie, a babysitter who found herself faced against the wrath of the white-maksed killer, is taken to the hospital for injuries incurred during her battles with Myers and meets a friendly orderly (Lance Guest). Meanwhile, Michael learns the location of his quarry by hearing a news report on a radio, and heads toward Haddonfield Memorial Hospital with haste.

The movie splits into two threads from here. The first, and more visceral, is the stuff that takes place in the hospital. See, there's lots of sharp, pointy and downright painful things laying about in a hospital, leading to several amazing kill scenes. One of my favorite sequences in all of filmdom is the infamous "scalding water death;" it's not only amazingly well-shot, with an ungodly eerie silhouette shot of Myers as he approaches the big-titted nurse who finds herself alone in the room with a madman, but it's everything that slasher cinema was about. Pre-marital sex, a hot tub, a masked killer - it's completely perfect. Of course, as a movie that not only took place during the height of slasher mania but attempted to top many of its imitators, "Halloween II" serves up quite the array of primal moments; we get a nurse drained of blood by ventilation tubes, no less than two needles entering eyeballs, a claw hammer to the head, and impressingly enough several more. When it comes to gore quotient and makeup effects, this movie's "horror factor" is almost second to none.

The other thread is no less fascinating, as Dr. Loomis (along with several members of the Haddonfield police force) begin searching for this unstoppable killing machine. There's one sequence in particular that really represents the "Halloween" series at its absolute finest. After finding out that there has been a break-in at the town's grade school, the hero characters find that Myers has scrawled the word "Samhain" on the chalkboard. Samhain is, of course, the Wiccan holiday that led to the creation of Halloween in the first place, adding a completely new and completely creepy aspect to the character of Michael Myers. This also allows me to segue and discuss one of the many problems that I have with Rob Zombie's two recent "Halloween" remakes/reimaginings. I mean...he tried, he really did, and his love for these source films isn't questioned. But the character of Michael Myers just works so much better when his past isn't shown in such graphic detail as it is in the early moments of the 2007 version of "Halloween"; when you witness this film for the first time, and see just how effective it is when we're given these small hints as to the why of Michael's brutality, the ZombieWeen flicks can't even begin to compare with their rock music soundtracks and endless stream of hillbilly cliches that make up Michael's immediate family.

Of course, "Halloween II" was also the movie that introduced us to the fact that Michael and Laurie are siblings. This is also a plot move that has come under fire from a few film critics, but once again, I have to applaud Carpenter and Hill for their ability to spring genuine twists on first-time viewers. Just a year earlier, the AFOREMENTIONED "Empire Strikes Back" had hit theaters, with its famous "I am your father" denounment. By bringing in a much more personal and intimate motive for its villain character, "Halloween II" raises the bar for horror once again. The move is essential in elevating the first two "Halloween" films to true elite status in the annals of horror movies, giving the films a very epic, heavy emotional kick.

And the "final girl" segment of "Halloween II" is nothing short of utter electricity. The third act of any horror film is utterly essential; blow the finish, and you'll leave your audience feeling perhaps more gypped than any other type of movie. To this day, it always makes my mind race when thinking about everything Laurie Strode went through in the first film; the fact that she has to do it all over AGAIN, mere HOURS later in fictional universe time, and damn near CRIPPLED no less, is something that I just can't fathom. The best thing that any film can do is to make you sympathize with its characters. The first movie made us sympathize with representative nice girl Laurie by showing us her everyday life; this movie does so by nothing more than the will of survival alone, particularly against a villain that seems indestructible.

For all fans of the original "Halloween," "Halloween II" is an essential watch, as it brings the first movie full circle and does an outstanding job bringing all of its plot threads together in a satisfying manner. It's a lesson in three-act structure, character development, plot twists that continue to confound people to this day...and, of course, one of the best movies to pull out every Halloween season. Fast, brutal, and mysterious - therein lies the legacy of John Carpenter, Michael Myers, and "Halloween II."