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Halloween II

Halloween II

By Patrick Samuel • October 31st, 2013
Static Mass Rating: 3/5
HALLOWEEN II (MOVIE)
Dino De Laurentiis Corporation

Original airdate: October 30th, 1981
Running time: 92 minutes

Director: Rick Rosenthal
Writers: John Carpenter, Debra Hill

Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence

Halloween II

After you’ve been through an ordeal, maybe a test, a family gathering or a trip to the dentist, you usually hope that’s the end of it and that you’ll never have to go through anything like that again. But life has a strange and twisted sense of humour, because not only is that not usually the end of it, but you can pretty much guess that every year, probably for as long as you’ll live, there’ll be similar ordeals you’ll have to suffer through.

Maybe that’s how Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) felt at the end of Halloween (1978); maybe she felt glad to have survived the killing spree Michael Myers went on, even though her friends all died. Maybe there was a moment when she thought it would all be behind her now. Having suffered various injuries, she was still all in one piece, and after all, Michael had been shot six times by Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) and he did fall from a second story window. Surely it was all over now?

If Laurie thought this, she couldn’t be more wrong even if she tried. Halloween II follows on directly from the events of October 31st, 1978 – the night Michael escaped from a psychiatric hospital, returned home and unleashed his brand of terror on the town of Haddonfield. The sequel picks up with Laurie in hospital and Dr. Loomis trying to track down Michael after he disappeared from the spot where he fell and should’ve died. The masked killer is still alive and on the loose, and after stealing a knife from a neighbour’s house, he sets about continuing what he started.

Halloween II

While recovering from her injuries, Laurie starts having flashbacks and begins to remember being adopted by Strodes. She also remembers visiting Michael when he was a young boy in a mental institution. Her friend, Jimmy Lloyd (Lance Guest) remains by her bedside. Meanwhile, back in present time, Michael learns of Laurie’s location at Haddonfield Memorial hospital. Dr. Loomis and Sheriff Brackett continue to search for him but they’re too far behind.

When Michael reaches the hospital, of course he cuts the phone lines, kills the security guard and an ambulance driver and finds a creative way to bump off one of the nurses. Needless to say, Laurie’s ordeal is far from over as Michael closes in on her and quickly disposes of anyone else who tries to get in the way.

Though mostly set within the confines of the hospital, Halloween II offers some exciting kills and chases while it tries to unfold a story that sees Michael’s indestructability related to a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season. Halloween II It’s also here that Dr. Loomis realizes Laurie is Michael’s younger sister and that his killing spree isn’t as random as it seems – she’s been the target all along. For all its positives though, including the reprisal of the first-person camera perspectives that we saw in the original movie, it doesn’t quite match the brilliance of its predecessor and remains a lesser sequel in many regards, including the ineffective romantic sub-plot between Laurie and Jimmy.

With the franchise taking a different turn with Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) and failing, it would be a few years before they returned to the Michael Myers and quite some more before Laurie would be seen again, proving that, try as she might, there are just some things you can’t outrun. Especially not in a horror movie franchise.

As for the rest of us, I guess we can say the Halloween movies are good for one thing if nothing else; showing us that Maths tests, family gathering and trips to the dentist are all minor ordeals and nothing compared to some of the things past scream queens like Jamie Lee Curtis had to face in her encounters with Michael Myers as Laurie Strode. Even though this sequel might not have lived up to my expectations, it’s still an important one and helped pave the way for some other iconic horror heroines like Nancy Thompson and Sidney Presccott and the ordeals they faced in the subsequent Elm Street and Scream sequels.

Halloween II

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Patrick Samuel

Patrick Samuel

The founder of Static Mass Emporium and one of its Editors in Chief is an emerging artist with a philosophy degree, working primarily with pastels and graphite pencils, but he also enjoys experimenting with water colours, acrylics, glass and oil paints.

Being on the autistic spectrum with Asperger’s Syndrome, he is stimulated by bold, contrasting colours, intricate details, multiple textures, and varying shades of light and dark. Patrick's work extends to sound and video, and when not drawing or painting, he can be found working on projects he shares online with his followers.

Patrick returned to drawing and painting after a prolonged break in December 2016 as part of his daily art therapy, and is now making the transition to being a full-time artist. As a spokesperson for autism awareness, he also gives talks and presentations on the benefits of creative therapy.

Static Mass is where he lives his passion for film and writing about it. A fan of film classics, documentaries and science fiction, Patrick prefers films with an impeccable way of storytelling that reflect on the human condition.

Patrick Samuel ¦ Asperger Artist

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