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HALLOWEEN 2

HALLOWEEN 2 does something very few sequels ever do: it picks up at the very moment the first film ends. As such, it acts more as a continuation than a pseudo-remake, as most franchise sequels in the horror genre could be considered. By restricting the action of HALLOWEEN 2 to the time frame of HALLOWEEN, we get the closure Carpenter refused to give us the first time in the form of a fiery explosion that would have sent the series out on a high note. The law of diminishing returns strikes its hardest in the film industry - especially in the horror genre, where each successive film in a franchise tends to feel more and more like a watered down, albeit bloodier, xerox of the original - and we can already see it in effect in this film. Everything is a little more loose, a little more sloppy, with Carpenter's suspense fighting to keep back the tide of cruelty that was, even in 1981, beginning to rear its ugly head.

HALLOWEEN 2 has its flaws. It's not the sequel that HALLOWEEN deserved but it's the next best option. Taking a look at the list of releases in 1981, you can already see the effect that FRIDAY THE 13TH had on the marketplace. Films like THE PROWLER, NIGHTMARE IN A DAMAGED BRAIN, MY BLOODY VALENTINE, and GRADUATION DAY - not to mention Italian imports CANNIBAL FEROX, HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD, and Lucio Fulci's THE BEYOND, HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY, and THE BLACK CAT - were beginning to move horror into more explicit territory. While the 70s were by no means anemic, the 80s were the era of the gorehound with each new horror film trying to out-gore the next. Violence was prolific and, in many respects, extremely important in terms of drawing audiences. When Rick Rosenthal delivered his cut of HALLOWEEN 2, Carpenter knew the film would never be able to compete unless it delivered some of the same shocks as its competitors. New scenes were filmed to bolster the shock quotient of the film. HALLOWEEN, the name that launched a thousand films, suddenly seemed out of place. The audiences wanted more graphic violence in their films and Carpenter was forced to deliver.

A syringe-full of air injected into a woman's brain, another in a man's eye, a hammer claw through the top of the head and a slow scalding / drowning in a boiling hydrotherapy tub are some of the highlights - though Myers' ingenious use of an IV catheter to completely drain a nurse of her blood supply is by far and away the best death and the lifting of a nurse two feet off the ground via a scalpel in the back is the most memorable - but none of them add anything to the proceedings. They are simply money shots for the gore crowd.

The hospital setting of HALLOWEEN 2, while not entirely detrimental, does not allow Rosenthal the same opportunities that Carpenter had in shooting the original film. Instead of working in large, open framing, Rosenthal is forced to confine his action in hallways and hospital rooms, something that makes the film more claustrophobic but also a tad bit too visually uninteresting. There are numerous long shots of Myers walking through the corridors, seen on security camera walking through corridors, walking through doors, walking down steps... in all, a bit less exciting, but also a bit more frightening. Laurie, on bed rest with a cracked ankle and woozy from her medication, is a sitting duck by herself in a hospital room while the killer continues his search, constantly moving, a shark in search of prey. VISITING HOURS, also released in 1981, uses this setting to a much better effect.

The really strange thing is how absolutely vacant this hospital is, with only four nurses, a security guard, two EMTs and a doctor in the whole building. There doesn't appear to be any patients - empty rooms are plentiful - though the nursery is booming. Slasher films are usually confined to remote, out-of-the-way, less populated settings by default - the summer camp of FRIDAY THE 13TH, the train of TERROR TRAIN, the mine of MY BLOODY VALENTINE - in order to reduce the chance of outside interference and heighten the chance of contact between the killer and his prey. HALLOWEEN 2 carries on that tradition.

The fact that Myers has changed not only his appearance but also his body movements is a bit off-putting for fans of the first film. There's a long history of main antagonists who change appearance from film to film and the HALLOWEEN franchise is no different. The killer's mask changes appearance in each film - several times in HALLOWEEN H20 alone - as does his body movements, height, and weight. In the original, Michael Myers moved like a human being. In HALLOWEEN 2, there is something robotic in his movement. Half-Robocop, half-Frankenstein's Monster, Dick Warlock's movements as Michael Myers feel strange. You get the feeling that, as Doctor Loomis likes to say, "this isn't a man". It's like watching a programmed machine walking through the hallways. It's only at the films end that Michael takes on more human characteristics. He pauses when Laurie says his name, looking at her quizzically, and whimpers in pain after she shoots him below the eyes.

HALLOWEEN 2 is ultimately satisfying. The film is effective enough in it's scares and doesn't fall into the normal sequel trap of simply repeating what had come before. As I mentioned at the outset, had the series ended here, HALLOWEEN 2 would have proved to be a strong coda. As it stands, it's merely a good entry.