Review #31: Halloween 2 (1981)

Cast/Notable Credits:
Rick Rosenthal (Director): Witches of Eastwick (1992), Halloween: Resurrection

Donald Pleasence (Dr. Loomis): Halloween

Jamie Lee Curtis (Laurie Strode): Halloween

Charles Cyphers (Sheriff Brackett):Halloween, Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), The Fog (1980), Escape from New York (1981), Death Wish 2 (1982), Major League (1989)

Lance Guest (Jimmy): The Last Star Fighter (1984), Jaws 4: The Revenge (1987)

Jeffrey Kramer (Graham): Jaws 1 (1975) & 2 (1978)

Ford Rainey (Dr. Mixter): Bonanza, Gunsmoke & The Bionic Woman T.V. series

Ana Alicia (Janet): Falcon Crest T.V. series, 1 episode of Battle Star Galactica (70’s)

Dana Carvey (News reporter assistant): Wayne’s World 1 & 2, Saturday Night Live T.V. series

Trailer:


Plot:

Halloween 2 picks up immediately after the first movie. Michael Myers has vanished after falling from the second story window and Dr. Loomis is on the hunt for him. The police and paramedics arrive at the house to find all of Mikey's handy work from the night’s massacre.

Laurie is transported to the local hospital for treatment of her injuries while Dr. Loomis and Sheriff Brackett continue their search for Mikey. The two of them patrol the streets but have a hard time as they compete with pockets of Halloween costume dressed up children still Trick or Treating. Little do they know, Mikey has already tracked Laurie to the local hospital and is en route.

Once Mikey catches up with her, he picks off the unsuspecting short handed hospital staff one by one during his search for Laurie. But why is Mikey so obsessed with Laurie? Well this film finally answers the million dollar question that we've all been waiting for.

Meanwhile, at the request of Smith's Grove Mental Institute, the state governor orders Dr. Loomis to pack up his search and immediately leave town. Accompained by an U.S. Marshall and another key staff member from Smith’s Grove, Dr. Loomis is escorted out of town.

During the car ride out, the staff member reveals to Dr. Loomis that Laurie is Michael’s kid sister. Oh No! Not as shocking as “I am your father” from another movie a year earlier but everything is starting to make sense.

Dr. Loomis pulls a gun on the U.S. Marshall and threatens him back to turn around and take him to the hospital. When they arrive, the staff is all killed and Laurie is trying to escape from Mikey. After a series of events, Dr. Loomis, Laurie and Mikey square off in the hospital. Dr. Loomis shoots an oxygen tank, blowing up Mikey and him as Laurie escapes.

Villain:

Halloween features the return of "The Shape" a.k.a. Michael Myers. Mikey's played by actor Dick Warlock in the film. Wow. That's an awesome name for a dude playing a villain.

We finally learn the truth to Mikey's obsession with his sister Laurie. Mikey stops at nothing to persue her to the end. He uses many hospital gadgets to dispense of his victims in the film.

Cast:

Jamie Lee Curtis returns as Laurie Strode, but it is in a limited role. She's still the featured girl, but Laurie is pretty much drugged up and sleeping on a hospital bed through out the movie. She eventually wakes up and gives a five minute escape performance, but don't expect to see a whole lot of her. But I'm guessing that she still got paid pretty good to lay in bed all movie. Must be rough.

Halloween 2 introduces Laurie's school-girl-crush-heart-throb boyfriend is Jimmy. Jimmy is played by actor Lance Guest. Who? You know…dude from the Last Star Fighter movie and Jaws 4...yes one of sh*tty ones or the Bahamas one with Mario Van Peebles. Jimmy's somewhat of a likable character who is an ambulance driver that takes her to the hospital and waits by her side (when possible) while she heals and recovers.

Donald Pleasence returns as the know-it-all but can’t-do-anything-about-it Dr. Loomis. He's still obsessed with catching the "devil" (Mikey). Pleasence puts out an "Oh my gosh" we need to catch him or the world is going to end" over the top performance. But we still love him for it.

SFX/Gore:

During the first two Halloween movies there were a reported 16 deaths during the Mikey Rampage. The first Halloween had five deaths, so using simple math...Part 2 should have the remaining 11. I only counted 9 deaths. Oh well. There might have been some off screen cannon fodder or implied deaths.

My favorite death in the film was the whirlpool (therapy pool) death. *** Highlight to Read *** An EMS ambulance driver, Budd, and nurse, Karen, had just gotten through a session of Bump N' Grind in the hospital's therapy pool. The pool's temperature had just risen a few degrees...Mikey may have done something with that...and Budd leaves the pool to turn down the pool's temperature in the next room. Karen stays behind and is relaxing in the therapy pool as Budd gets murdered in the next room by Mikey. Mikey sneaks in the room and attacks Karen which leads to her getting dunked in the pool and scalded to death. *** End.

TNA:

Halloween 2 did the right thing and brought the TNA section up a notch. There were five hot chicks (Shark Factor) in the film. The film included a pretty good therapy pool sex scene that included boobies...and death. Hell Yeah!

On a side note, I always had a crush on actress Ana Alicia who plays Janet in the film. She also a a guest appearance on another one of my childhood favorite series...Battlestar Galactica. It was too bad that she didn’t show anything nuditywise and eventually died a horrible death. Boo! Here's a BSG picture of Ana (pictured right) Don't you love a girl with a gun?

T.Gun's Take:

Halloween 2 was a nice sequel story which upped’ the body count and brought in a whole brother-must-kill-sister relationship in the franchise. Still not as shocking as the twist in Empire Strikes Back, but nothing can top that. It gives the franchise a storyline to work with for the next ump-teenth sequels.

Halloween 2 uses the simple sequel formula equations of TNA, more deaths and more villain face time. Honestly it a mindless slasher flick that offers very little to the franchise outside of the Mikey-Laurie connection.

But that doesn't stop that from me hating it! I like this movie the best out of all of the original Halloween movies. I don’t know why...but I love sitting down to watch it more than any of the others. I know the original was made well and is still a far more superior flick, but I like this one. Maybe it’s because of the higher death count or the cool idea of slaughtering unsuspecting hospital staff.

On the topic of hospitals in horror movies...is it me or do they always find the most unlit and understaffed hospitals to portray in horror films? Usually hospitals are pretty well lit and busy, but in horror movies (like Halloween 2) it's dark and gleamy with no one to be found what so ever.

Misc. Movie Trivia:
- Halloween 2 opened on October 30, 1981 and made $25.5 million at the Box Office ($7.4 opening weekend)
- Film shot at Morningside Hospital & Pasadena Community Hospital in L.A. and Pasadena
- Dana Carvey made his acting debut in the movie
- Halloween director, John Carpenter was brought in to re-shoot/edit scenes to make the film more scary and bloodier
- There are two versions of the film that are occassionally aired, the theatrical cut and the "Rick Rosenthal Cut"