Third Viewing: Halloween II (1981)

Halloween II is the posterchild of mediocre. It’s absolutely okay. It’s an okay sequel. It follows up nicely on a lot of things from the original (you might have forgotten that Laurie never learns who Michael Myers is, for instance), but it also adds some shit that doesn’t really work. Laurie is Michael’s sister? Okay, I get why they added that because there’s really no story at this point, but it’s no surprise why the reboot dropped it, because it is dumb. Same with the Samhain stuff, which doesn’t really go anywhere.

It’s definitely fun to see Michael Myers back doing his thing, and this time with more brutality and blood.

But the movie doesn’t fully sit right with me mostly because of Jamie Lee Curtis. She was the heart of the first movie, and here, she’s just kind of lying around in a hospital bed for most of it, wearing a very noticeable wig.

It’s sort of the reverse of the first Halloween. These movies essentially have two protagonists, and for a big portion of the first movie, Dr. Loomis has nothing to do. Here, it’s mostly Loomis being a man of action, and Laurie being kind of wasted. Donald Pleasence puts in quality work, but Jamie Lee Curtis feels like she’d rather be doing anything else.

Rating: 5/10