HALLOWEEN II (1981)
HALLOWEEN II poster artwork
JAMIE LEE CURTIS.....Laurie Strode
DONALD PLEASENCE.....Dr. Sam Loomis
CHARLES CYPHERS.....Sheriff Leigh Brackett
JEFFREY KRAMER.....Graham
LANCE GUEST.....Jimmy
DICK WARLOCK.....The Shape/Michael Myers
Directed by RICK ROSENTHAL
Written by JOHN CARPENTER and DEBRA HILL
Produced by DEBRA HILL and JOHN CARPENTER
REVIEW BY DAVID ANSEN
The trend of the week in horror is a hypodermic needle injected straight in the eye---it is
featured in both Halloween II (which is not a sequel to White Christmas) and Strange
Behavior. (The same act, I’m told, also appears in still another current movie called
Dead and Buried.) This is not an easy sight to watch, but horror film fans are a tough
breed, and they’ve grown tougher in the past few years---ever since the success of the
original Halloween opened the bloodgates for quickie exploitation shockers. Since one
goes to these movies to have one’s eyeballs assaulted, there’s a metaphorical aptness to
these squirm-making images, if nothing else.
Strange Behavior is by far the more interesting and appealing film, though in
conventional narrative terms its mad behaviorist-scientist plot is thoroughly absurd. But if
it’s strictly blood and guts you’re after, Halloween II is certainly the more grimly
efficient machine. John Carpenter and Debra Hill once again serve as co-authors and also
co-produce, but newcomer Rick Rosenthal steps in as director, picking up the action just
where Halloween left off. The indestructible masked bogeyman is still at large in
Haddonfield, Ill.; his virgin prey, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), is whisked off to the
hospital in a state of shock, and the alarmed shrink, Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence), is
frothing at the mouth about the superhuman dangers of his former mental patient.
Rosenthal, assisted by Dean Cundey’s expertly shadowy cinematography, sticks to the
Carpenter game plan---lots of killer-point-of-view tracking shots---but lays on the gore
with a heavier hand. There are ten murders, and since most of them occur at the hospital,
they include attacks by a scalpel and hypodermic, and deaths by scalding in a hydrotherapy
tub and blood draining.
Rosenthal succeeds in working up an oppressive atmosphere of dread, but he sacrifices a
lot of credibility to get it. Why do the nurses never turn on the lights in this hospital? Why
does Laurie appear to be the only patient in the whole joint? Why does the entrance door
suddenly lock when she is trying to enter, when a minute before it was open? And where
did the madman, who’s been sitting motionless in a psycho ward for fifteen years, pick up
his knowledge of Celtic mythology? Better not to ask. The plain fact is that Halloween
II is quite scary, more than a little silly and immediately forgettable.
Webmaster note: This film review went on to comment on the horror film Strange Behavior,
which starred Michael Murphy and Louise Fletcher. I have chosen not to include the
Strange Behavior part, because it does not relate to either Donald Pleasence or
the Halloween series.
Review © 1981 NEWSWEEK. All Rights
Reserved.
Poster artwork © 1981 DINO DE LAURENTIIS CORP. / UNIVERSAL PICTURES. All Rights Reserved.
Title and logo designed by Karen Rappaport
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