Part 2 Week: Halloween II

Well folks we are at the end of the week so good day the last part of Part 2 Week.  This time around we have a bit of debate on whether or not this sequel was needed or did it kill the mystique that was its inception.  From this one deciding factor the original director had nothing more than the credit to the characters and production as his project The Fog was just wrapping up.  I speak of writer/director/editor/composer John Carpenter (Dark Star, Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, The Fog, Escape from New York,  The Thing and Vampires) who may have dipped into this project a bit much.  This is Halloween II.

Sheesh, polyester really catches fire!

Sam Loomis: I shot him 6 times!  I shot him in the spoiler-but...  HE'S NOT HUMAN!







Our movie opens literally that night of insanity as Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis of The Fog, Prom Night, Terror Train, She's in the Army Now, Escape from New York, Trading Places, A Fish Called Wanda and Blue Steel) is being wheeled away on a stretcher for a cracked bone in her leg and multiple lacerations and stab wounds.  Her friends have all been brutally slaughtered and elaborately propped around this house as some sort of macabre viewing.  No sooner has she been moved, Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance of The Great Escape, Fantastic Voyage, You Only Live Twice, THX 1138, House of the Damned, Escape to Witch Mountain and Halloween) links up with the Sheriff and his deputies to exclaim that he shot Michael Myers six times and given it was a .357 that was blasting the cat, you would think a mortal man would bled out by this point.

Mike fought the law and the law lost.

With the mess of bodies to contend with, tricking and treating is being put on hold and a curfew is being established as the law does a house to house search for him.    Laurie awakes in the hospital and is dazed from medicines, trauma and probably that horrible wig on her head.   Our hospital is understaffed as the overactive and hormone driven 20 somethings are giving it their best of Grey's Anatomy impressions that no one seems to be aware that someone else has entered the grounds.

Security goes to investigate some strange noises and finds a few objects broken.  While fiddling with the walkie talkie he experiences a splitting headache or a claw hammer driven in his skull.  Take your pick.   With the stereotypical teens and 20 somethings archetypes fooling around during break or between shifts and little to no monitoring of the premises, Myers moves in silently from the shadows removing all obstacles out of his way in search for Laurie.

Meanwhile, the Institute is covering its collective butt and blaming Loomis for Myers to have ever escaped in the first place in spite of his countless warnings of the impeding evil patiently lurking inside our demented 21 year old.  He cannot rest until Michael is captured or killed and Loomis is of the mindset that killed would be preferred.  Restless from nightmares and vague memories of childhood Laurie gets out of bed looking for help only to run into Michael.  Is he real or another rampant dream?

Just a few comments to make about the film now.  John Carpenter felt that director Rick Rosenthal's version was coming off too pedestrian and shot a few gorier death scenes and a bit of nudity as he felt this was the way of the upcoming slasher genre.  This rubbed our director a bit raw and his vision was to have the film stand on its own and be merited its story rather than resorting to blood, guts and nudity.   This sequel was to be the last film to feature Michael Myers, Dr. Loomis, Laurie and all of Haddonfield as a story arc.

Universal Studios sold the rights to this particular franchise after Halloween III: Season of the Witch did not fare at the box office in spite of an original story and new cast.  The general vibe was the audience was expecting a continuation of the Myers murder machine and instead got a completely different film and couldn't cope with some new creativity.  The irony is of all the sequels, Halloween II falls under a great push ahead into that already dark night and gives some general fright aside from a few technical errors while Halloween III has found love from the cult following it built from VHS and DVD era crowd.

Doctor/Patient disagreement.