Halloween II: Review By slysnide

In early 1981 the original "Halloween" (1978) had already been released three times for a total gross of $71,000,000 worldwide. So when a sequel was assumed by fans who thought the ending was set-up for one, and the studio execs decided to run with it, John Carpenter & Debra Hill (RIP) were left with no story. Or as John Carpenter says "We're making the same film. Only not as good." So with a six pack of beer a night, "Halloween II: The Nightmare Isn't Over" was written by John Carpenter who added in a twist which changed the history of the franchise forever after in an attempt to make the sequel different. While it added to the personal aspects of the story & characters, I think the series would've done better without it.

Production Designer Tommy Lee Wallace of the previous film was offered the director's chair first, but he passed on it not wanting the responsibility, and wanting to do other projects. So the film was handed over to Rick Rosenthal who'd return twenty years later to do the eighth film in the franchise "Halloween Resurrection" (2001). He did a better job here of course by making the new Shape the second most creepiest he's ever been as he stalks the hallways of Haddonfield Memorial Hospital in search of Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) on the same Halloween night as the original as this sequel picks up directly where the last film left off. Though he made it for $2,500,000 in contrast to the mere $320,000 of the original. $20k of which was just for getting Donald Pleasence in it. And considering it had only been three years, then the inflated budget was a result of filming in real hospitals and using special effects. And it only made off with $25,533,818 when released originally on October 30th 1981 as opposed to the massive success of the predecessor which was $2,180,000 cheaper and made $29,476,182 more than this sequel when it was originally released {excluding the two rereleases which inflated the gross an extra $16,000,000}.

Stuntman Dick Warlock donned the mask this time around as Nick Castle had already gone on to bigger and better things in his filmmaking career. And for some reasons over the years, Dick Warlock has become some big shot celebrity in the horror genre despite that there have been numerous other actors who've played Michael Myers over the years. And of course Dick Warlock relishes in his newfound fame as it was Don Shanks who played him in "Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers" (1989) who informed him of the convention circuits of which Dick Warlock quickly became highly fond of. [seriously, just watch a panel discussion with all the shapes in which he pretty much does all the talking] Though the reason why Dick Warlock is so deserving of his fame is because after Nick Castle, he was the best, and no other actor has come close. Not even Tyler Mane who played him in the remake of this sequel which was released this weekend. And I mean that as you'll notice how Dick Warlock's performance mimicked Nick's so much that he had to have watched it over and over again like he did to be able to get it so right, while none of the other actors have admitted to ever bothering with such a thing as they flat out deny doing it. And that's sad, so that just makes Dick Warlock even cooler. lolz!

Donald Pleasence was a good sport when he agreed to reprise his role as Dr. Samuel Loomis who basically tags along with Deputy Gary Hunt (Hunter von Leer) as Leigh Brackett (Charles Cyphers) has been given the night off for obvious reasons. His absence was a bit unfortunate. But Loomis seems to be taken more seriously by the police department this time around considering he was right about his patient. This was Donald's second best performance as his returns to three more 'Halloween' films portrayed him as a much frailer & aging man...which can be attributed to the fact that Donald was becoming a frail & aging man himself. But seeing him on screen was always a delight, as was his 'Samhain' explanations which sp*ce up the reasoning to Michael's madness, but fortunately it doesn't hijack the story with its implications.

Nancy Stephens also returned to reprise her role as Nurse Marion Chambers. Her role was minimal though as she doesn't show up until the climax. But seeing as she returned for "Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later" (1998) then she's got dedication in her role too. So that was nice.

Laurie Strode however remains comatose in a bed most of the time, which limited Jamie Lee Curtis' performance dramatically, and shifted the attention to nurse Jimmy (Lance Guest) who was very nervous and jittery in the film. Whereas his friend and fellow nurse Bud (Leo Rossi) doesn't take anything seriously and is more concerned about his nurse friend Karen Bailey (Pamela Susan Shoop). They're kind of the replacements of Bob & Lynda in the film if you know what I mean. Nurse Jill Franco (Tawny Moyer) however made off with the most memorable scene in the film...in a very comedic sort of way.

And lastly Cliff Emmich plays the graveyard shift security guard & handyman Mr. Garret. Yeah, there's a clear pun intended there. His entire search around the basement of the hospital is a real tension builder and the payoff was unexpected when it came. So the useless security guard gave us some good stuff, as well as some overweight comedy.

Morningside Hospital in Los Angeles & Pasadena Community Hospital both provided all the interior shots at the hospital in the film. Considering that fact, then I'm sure any patient there can get pretty creeped out at night as I too am a frequenter of hospital beds which makes the tension & suspense of this film much creepier than it normally would be. So just don't watch this before an overnight or week long hospital visit. For it could suck. But actually I've never been in a hospital which was that dead on the graveyard shift. Yeah, pun intended again. But seriously, there's always multiple people prowling the hallways at weird hours of the night. So kudos to Rick Rosenthal for making this a genuinely creepy film with good scares. And no, they aren't really gory scares at all despite that this is an eighties movie.

The other aspect I really enjoyed was that this movie spent twenty minutes or so following up on the murders before the hospital sequences begin. I like those kind of situations for some reason. But overall Roger Ebert didn't as he criticized the film's characters for 'lacking motivation.' Yeah, how about the motivation to LIVE!!!!

So overall, this was a winning sequel, though not as good as the predecessor as first off this was the last film in the series to have as much suspense with minimal gore, and secondly the applicable aspect is reduced. After all, besides a select few of us (like me), how many here frequent hospitals enough to where this setting will frighten us?