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Halloween II

Halloween II

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: You Can't Keep A Good Horror Icon Down!
Review: As the movie's slogan reads, "The Nightmare Isn't Over Yet". The original cast and crew return for the sequel to one of the all-time greatest horror films. While the film is supposed to take place on the same night as the original massacre, it was actually filmed three years later. Many members of the cast, most notably Jamie Lee Curtis have aged since then but hey, it's all in fun, right?

Michael Myers isn't dead and he's still killing teenagers like nobody's business. His shrink, Dr. Loomis is still trying to warn the residents of his old neighborhood but little is being done. The original victim, Lorie Strode is in the local hospital so it's only a matter of time before Myers shows up there and perfoms surgery on the staff.

"Halloween II" is not quite on the level of its classic predecassor but it is still a worthy sequel. It does rely a lot more on gore than the original but this is to be expected. Donald Pleasance is the real star here. With Curtis nearly catatonic through the majority of the film, Pleasance really steps up. His portrayal of Loomis is such an intergral and often overlooked piece of the Halloween series. Without Pleasance in the latter films, the Halloween series has become just another run-of-the-mill slasher series but these earlier films were real treats.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Respectable Sequel
Review: When I originally viewed this sequel, I can remeber being very impress on how the film turned out. I was weary because Carpenter didn't return to direct, but some of my worries were layed to rest after I saw that he both wrote and produced it. Rick does a very credible job directing the feature and surprisingly makes the film FEEL pretty darn close ot a Carpenter film. What I really liked about this sequel is that it takes place right, I mean RIGHT after the first film. It follows the shape (Michael Myers) as he fillows Jame Lee Curtis (who is blatenly wearing a wig) to a hospital, and then the hospital itself becomes a house of horrors. I was more than pleased with only a few complaints. I didn't like how the hospital was always dark (like the lights were never on) and how michael got two bullets straight in the eyes and continued to come (this fact was forgotten in latter poor sequels). That was a little chessy and over-the-top, but forgiveable. The only thing that could have made this film better is if Carpenter himself directed, but even with him at the helm, it might not have turned out much better than this. The next entry HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH, though has nothing to do with these first two films, is a still a good movie. Fans of Carpenter whould also give it a try but stop their. The sequels after that take their audiences for granted and the continuity errors galore as they try to connect to the first two entires.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Night He Came Home and Changed the Face Of Sequels
Review: Hollywood has a way of exploiting anything that has made it money. The original Halloween, an independent film, had such critical success, that it seemed inevitable that a sequel should follow. After the success of the first Friday the 13th film, it became impossible to ignore to the idea, and so Halloween II was born.

Under the production team of John Carpenter and Debra Hill, the creative team behind the original film, a sequel was written that would continue exactly where the first film left off. Many of the principals from the original film (regulars in many of Carpenter's films (see "The Fog", which contains virtually the same cast as the first two Halloween films)) were brought back and a new director, Rick Rosenthal, was brought to the helm to film this somewhat disappointing sequel.

The story does continue immediately where the first left off, on Halloween night, 1978. Stock footage from the first film was used to re-introduce us to the characters: Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance) and the Shape-Michael Myers. As the new film truly begins, there is a notable shift in the color and lighting used.

Laurie Strode, sole survivor of the first film, is taken to Haddenfield Hospital, where she is treated for a stab wound and broken ankle (from her fall down a flight of stairs in the first film). The story begins strong, following the logical progression of a city wide manhunt and the pandemonium of a small town with the discovery that a serial killer is loosed on their residents.

But before long, the story's attention shifts to the hospital itself, and it is here that this sequel begins to break apart. To begin with, the hospital is populated with only a handful of nurses, no doctors, no patients (other than Laurie) and a couple of ambulence drivers (not EMTS). The look of the hospital is dark, drab, abandoned, done presumably for atmosphere, but with adverse effects, as it gives a feeling of unbelivability to the set.

Michael Myer arrives at the hospital, and begins a killing spree that is drawn out to take up the majority of the film. There is no notable plot or character development, and the film itself seems to be less of a linear story than a series of elaborate murder sequences set up to eliminate the few tenants of the unbelivable hospital.

Other drawbacks to the film is the obvious differences in the cast. As there was several years between the filming of this sequel and the original Halloween, the actors look aged, especially Jamie Lee Curtis, who doned a bad wig to give her the look she had in the original Halloween.

Still, as sequels in the horror genre go, Halloween II is a "cut" above the standard sequel fare Hollywood pumped out to such films as A Nightmare on Elm Street, and the later sequels to Friday the 13th.

This film is best viewed in conjunction with the original, as it offers some answers to the motivations that encouraged Michael to continue his killing spree on "the night he came home."

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: ok movie
Review: it leaves off where the first one ended

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: It's barely worth it
Review: "Halloween II" picks up right where part 1 left off. Michael Myers continues his directionless killing spree, except now it seems there may be method to his madness. (WARNING, SPOILERS AHEAD) My main complaint is how did Michael know that he had a sister, let alone know that Laurie Stroad (Jamie Lee Curtis) is said sister. This is where the story line startes to go down hill. Also Donald Pleasents' rantings are starting to get annoying now. When charactors got killed in a wierd place in part one, there was a good reason for them to be there; in part two there just there to get killed in an interesting way (ie, the whirl pool, but to it's credit, that one was the most disgusting murder). This movie really needed John Carpenter at the healm, because the potential is there for a good movie. Curtis was a trooper for going through this crap. It is ok, though. It's still pretty cool, in a chessy, nothing else on late night cable kind of way.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Dumb but still pretty creepy continuation of the first film
Review: Critics bashed this film when it came out in theatres. Yes, it's vastly inferior to the first, but Michael Myers (played well here by stuntman Dick Warlock) is still a creepy presence. Forget that the hospital is poorly lit and ridiculously understaffed; forget that the killer breaks windows by simply walking into them; forget that his scalpel can support a nurse in mid-air, without her sliding off it; etc. The music is altered slightly at times, but is still creepy. And the ending certainly looked liked the door to any other sequels was slammed shut; unfortunately in this day and age we know better. Good fun.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: GREAT SEQUEL BUT SHOULD'VE BEEN THE LAST
Review: THIS WAS A GREAT SEQUEL, IT'S GOOD THE WAY THEY STARTED IT AFTER MYERS WAS SHOT DOWN BY PLEASANCE IN THE FIRST ONE. BUT THEY SHOULDVE MADE IT THE LAST MYERS MOVIE AROUND CUS THERES NO WAY MYERS SURVIVES THAT........WELL I AM NOT GONNA TELL YOU CUS I DONT WANT TO RUIN IT. A GREAT SEQUEL AND DEFINITELY WORTH BUYING.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great idea for a sequal
Review: The idea of makeing a sequel where the first one left off is awsome. I don't think thats ever been done before they did a good job at it to the killing scenes were still good the chasing scenes were to. Great movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: How Could Any Halloween Fan Not Like This
Review: Being the first Sequel to the brilliant 1978 Halloween Horror Classic, Halloween II (1981) is clearly flawed but clearly still delivers. First of all I think It was kind of difficult to come up with a first sequel for such a great part one that came three years earlier. With that being said, It left off directly from the ending of the first Halloween. It brought back all the main characters from the first one as well. The movie also serves it's purpose explaining why Michael want's to kill his sister Laurie Strode (Played By Jamie Lee Curtis). But the Dr. Sam Loomis (Played by Donald Pleasence) is out to stop the Evil Michael Myers from wrecking havoc even some more from earlier that day which was shown in Halloween I. The problem with Halloween II is that, Michael Myers Was shown a bit too much opposed to the first installment which made part II lack the suspense of the original. It's like he was the main character in this movie, especially the first half. Another thing is that this one had more gruesome bloody death scenes which were unnecessary. Part One showed almost no blood and still found a way too be scary. A large part of the movie took place in an empty hospital which made the atmosphere more creepy. I thought that maybe they should not have shown too much of the movie inside the hospital, but I feel it certainly did not ruin the movie. As for the supporting cast which was mostly people who worked in the hospital they were not terrible but after a while the viewer might be wanting Michael too kill them, due to them being a little annoying. Donald pleasence intense acting once again did a great job in this one as Michael Audrey Myers Doctor. Jamie Lee Curtis also did a solid job acting as a great scream queen, but I wish they had spent less time showing curtis lying in hospital bed throughout the movie. Curtis however, played a vital role in the movie's intensifying ending. When you compare Halloween II to the rest sequels in the series or any other horror movie sequels or sequel's in the entire movie industry there was not many other ways this movie could have been better. Don't get me wrong Halloween II has it's faults but at the end it turn's out to be one hell of a ride.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Long live MICHAEL MYERS!
Review: I own 1,2,4,5,6,7,8! I don't own 3! I own all the cds except 3!


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