Halloween 2 (1981)

Director: Rick Rosenthal

Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Charles Cyphers

While Sheriff Brackett and Dr. Loomis hunt for Michael Myers, a traumatized Laurie is rushed to hospital, and the serial killer is not far behind her.

For some reason John Carpenter opted not to direct this film, yet he still wrote and produced it. The film follows directly on the first film, on the same night. This means there’s no slow start to the film or introduction of characters. You are plunged smack bang into the action, and that’s kinda nice. Unfortunately the film spirals downwards from there, becoming nothing more than a bodycount slasher film. I understand Michael is a lunatic (and probably not human) but the killings are senseless. Characters appear simply for the sake of being sliced and diced.

The film delivers cliche upon cliche and is not believable, as the first film was. I mean, Michael is just everywhere!! Killing left, right and center (for whatever reason). It felt like they conceived ideas as the film was being shot, and after editing everything doesn’t gel together so nicely. The film is set almost entirely in a hospital with Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) fighting for her life again that feels very deja vu to the first film.

If they managed to do the first film so well on a $300,000 budget, why did they need $2.5 million for this film? The film was still a box office success, earning ten times the budget at $25 million (but still a far cry from the original’s $70 million).