Halloween II - Why Some Sequels Should Never Be Made

"You don't know what death is." - Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance) responding to a neighbor's complaint that he has been "trick or treated to death tonight" in the opening scene of "Halloween II."

Alfred Hitchcock once described the difference between shock and suspense. He said to picture four men sitting at a card table playing poker, nonchalantly talking about this and that as they throw chips in to the pot when without warning a bomb explodes from underneath the table. That, he said, was shock. Then he asked you to picture the same scene only this time the audience sees the bomb underneath the table. The men chatter away and make their bets all the while the audience is screaming for them to look under the table or to get out of the room. That is suspense.

Director John Carpenter knew fully well the difference between the two when he crafted his 1978 horror masterpiece Halloween. Carpenter taunts and teases the audience with suspense so great you want to scream out at the characters to "look behind them" or to "not go that way." Carpenter was unrelenting in his build up until he sprung the surprise on us at moments when you just couldn't take it anymore. Then Carpenter would start the build up all over again. It was a masterful job of directing by Carpenter and the low budget film would go on to gross almost $50 million in its initial release and became the highest grossing independent film of all time, a record that would stand for over twenty years.

When a film becomes an unexpected smash hit you can bet two things. One is their will be a plethora or films just like it though rarely, if ever, as good. The second is there is bound to be a sequel and said sequel almost always fails to live up to the original despite a virtual film blueprint of what made the original so good and so successful. Such is the case with Halloween II which was released three years later smack dab in the middle of literally dozens of mad slasher films being released on a monthly to semi-monthly basis. This is a look at, in my opinion, one of the greatest examples of a blown opportunity in movies and why sequels for the most part are unnecessary and come along only to make studios richer and studio heads less confident to produce original, exciting motion pictures.

Universal Pictures first announced the return of Michael Myers in the fall of 1980 with a Halloween release in 1981. Donald Pleasance would return as Dr. Sam Loomis, Michael's doctor whose warnings of the dangers of his patient falling on deaf ears. Jamie Lee Curtis, the lone survivor of the trio of teenage girls, had gone on to become known as the new "scream queen" after Halloween appearing in such horror films as Prom Night, Terror Train and The Fog. Curtis agreed to return for a hefty pay raise and her name above the titles. But then the first sign of potential trouble came when original director John Carpenter announced he would not be returning to the director's chair because he felt it would be repeating himself and he wanted to branch out. His schedule would conflict as he was editing his latest film, Escape From New York, and Universal was anxious to begin filming shortly after the calendar turned in 1981. Carpenter did agree to stay on as co-producer and co-writer with then partner Debra Hill. The big question was where would Carpenter and Hill take the story?

Carpenter originally envisioned the film taking place a few years after the original with Myers returning to terrorize Laurie Strode (Curtis) who now lives in a high rise apartment building. That idea was soon abandoned because Carpenter had previously directed a made for television thriller called Someone Is Watching Me which also took place in a high rise. It was then decided the film would pick up immediately at the point that the original ended and play out the rest of the evening.

With the script in place Carpenter chose Rick Rosenthal (though not his first choice) to be the film's director. Rosenthal was a novice who previously directed short subject documentaries and short subjects, one of which caught Carpenter's eye and led him to believe Rosenthal was right for the job.

The film opens promisingly with a reprise of the final moments of the original as Dr. Loomis comes to Laurie's rescue and shoots Michael Myers six times at point blank range. A horrified Loomis comes out the front door to discover only some blood on the spot where Myers landed. A tired neighbor appears out his front door and Loomis tells the man to contact the sheriff. The man questions if it is a joke because he "has been trick or treated to death tonight" to which Loomis coldly responds, "You don't know what death is," before running into the night to search for Myers. The film fades to black and the opening credits roll. So far so good.

The very next scene director Rosenthal builds up a fair amount of suspense when Myers (seen in the camera's point of view) enters a neighbor's house while the elderly female resident watches a television news report, and takes a butcher knife off a cutting board. Rosenthal then shows a reverse angle where we see Michael for the first time standing in the kitchen just a few feet away from the woman who is immersed in the news report. Michael slowly turns around and quietly walks out. With that scene we feel comfortable that Carpenter has placed his audience into the hands of a man capable of a strong follow up film. Unfortunately Rosenthal loses that good will in the very next scene with no help coming from the Carpenter/Hill script.

A young woman hears the scream of the elderly woman when she has discovered the missing knife and spots of blood on the cutting board. We watch as Michael watches the young woman come outside to check on the well being of the couple and then goes back inside. While talking on the phone to a girlfriend she is informed of the murders in the area and we see Michael silently enter the house via the front door, which the girl has her back to. After hearing a strange noise the girl foolishly puts the phone down and goes to investigate even though she can clearly see the front door is open and shouldn't be. Before you know Michael jumps into frame and slashes the girl's throat.

It was right here, 10 minutes into Halloween II that the film began to lose me. In the original Michael killed with a purpose. He killed a tow truck driver to get his clothes. He stalked the teenage girls because they berated him as he drove by. One of their boyfriend's dies for committing the cardinal sin of having sex. Purpose. But with the first death in Halloween II director Rosenthal announces his intent to allow Michael Myers to kill whomever he wants however he wants with no purpose except to kill. He also announces his plan to use shock and not suspense with this scene, a decision that will be repeated throughout the film to varying degrees of failure. By using a multitude of characters the film takes away the opportunities to get to know them and care which ones end up as victims of the murderous Myers.

The film will then switch back and forth from Laurie as she goes to the hospital and Dr. Loomis as he continues his hunt for Michael. This is where the film gets really sloppy. We once again meet Sheriff Brackett (Charles Cyphers) who spent the first film working with Loomis. He also happens to be the father of Annie, Laurie's brunette hair colored best friend who met an unfortunate end in the front seat of her car in the original. When Loomis and Brackett get together word is already on the radio about the murdered teens from the original being found. The press is at the house and other officers are on the scene but somehow Brackett doesn't find out until a deputy comes along to tell him of his daughter's fate. Brackett exits the movie shortly thereafter and his presence of authority is missed.

Meanwhile the action switches to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital where much of the rest of the movie will take place. We meet the hospital staff consisting of a handful of nurses, two paramedics, a doctor and a security guard. The hospital is large but most of the place seems to be dark and unused (perhaps certain floors forgot to pay their electric bills?).This rather large hospital also seems empty. Other then Laurie we see not a single patient in the building save for some babies in the maternity ward. One would expect the emergency room to be hopping on Halloween night even when a maniacal killer isn't terrorizing teenage citizens but all we get is one brief (and unpleasant) shot of a little boy coming in with a razor blade stuck in his mouth. Never again do we see even a patient sitting in the waiting room. (Come to think of it they don't even show a waiting room so maybe there isn't one.) One of the nurses exclaims that the doctor has just come from a party and appears to be drunk and sure enough when we first see him he is drinking coffee and asking for more while looking like he would much prefer a nap. Did the doctor on the earlier shift not see this and agree to stay on a while longer? Was there even a doctor on shift earlier? Sure you could say this is nitpicking but in a well made film the viewer tends to overlook little things like that. In a marginal film such as Halloween II these little things tend to add up.

One by one we watch as these hospital workers die particularly grisly deaths in full view of the camera. In the original film Carpenter kept his blood quotient to an absolute minimum but the mayhem in the air made the threat of violence loom large. There were only five deaths in the original and you only saw blood on the first victim, Judith Myers, and certainly not spurting out. This film's fourth death comes well before the one hour mark.

The rip-offs that Halloween inspired tried to one up one another with the violence that reached a sickening level. Unfortunately Halloween II is as guilty as any of the rip offs that came along. In quick succession we will see the security guard get bludgeoned in the head with the sharp side of a hammer at the conclusion of a long, slow sequence where he checks store rooms and garbage bins. He is frightened by a cat in one moment but then opens a large storage door which allows Rosenthal to shoot from the angle where you just know Michael is right behind the door. A horny paramedic is strangled after a brief make out session with his sexy nurse girlfriend (who is always late and apparently not very busy as she still has time for a hot tub rendezvous thus allowing the actress to disrobe before our eyes) who is then scalded to death when Michael (whom the nurse mistakes for the paramedic and even sucks on his finger) turns the temperature up and proceeds to dunk the poor thing over and over until skin comes peeling off. The doctor is found with a syringe in his eyeball by a nurse who is then stuck in the temple with a needle (good thing Michael just happened to be waiting for her in the doctor's office). The head nurse disappears and is the found drained of her blood by the other paramedic (who likes Laurie) who then has the misfortune of slipping on the blood and is seemingly killed. The last nurse alive is stabbed with a scalpel from behind and lifted off the ground AFTER coming back into the hospital. You see she was instructed by the young paramedic to go for help but when she gets to her car she finds her tires are slashed as are the tires of every other car in the lot. So of course she runs right back into the hospital. Most of these deaths are shown in sickening detail that is totally unnecessary. Didn't Rosenthal (along with Carpenter and Hill for that matter) realize what they had with the character of Michael Myers? His is a menacing terror as he slowly prowls after you. And when he sees you he never walks faster then normal thus heightening the suspense. But here there is no artistry in the brutal, seen up close murders which then remove all suspense from the situation. The film becomes more of a geek show and that's the last thing one would expect here.

The last part of the film the action picks up some but not without more nonsense from the screenplay. For some reason it is revealed that Laurie is none other then Michael Myers' sister thus giving the killer a motive. Why do we need motive? The audience doesn't want explanations within the exposition. They want scares and suspense in a movie like this. This isn't David Mamet or Paddy Chayefsky penning the material.

This explanation (very coincidentally) gets Loomis to the hospital. Michael has FINALLY found Laurie who, when last seen, appeared to be in some sort of coma-like state but still had the fortitude to get out of bed and put pillows in place to make it look like she is in there. And wouldn't you know that Michael falls for it? In the one truly suspenseful scene Laurie and Michael meet and the chase through the hospital is on. Laurie happens to get around amazingly well on a broken ankle but limps some to reveal she is at least in some pain. She goes through a store room to an elevator where Michael just misses her. This is very well done and Rosenthal should have stuck to more moments like that. Unfortunately he doesn't. Laurie heads to the parking lot and finds a car. She crouches down and then slowly peers up to the door waiting to see Michael. Again Rosenthal has his hand on the button of suspense but pushes it too quickly. The young paramedic appears and gets in the very same car and tries to start it but passes out right on to the horn thus giving away Laurie's hiding place. Loomis arrives with help in tow and go into the hospital not knowing Laurie is behind them in the parking lot (another cheap moment comes as Laurie can't quite scream for help until Loomis and company are inside). She races for the door with Michael in tow and Loomis gets to her just in time. And this is the end of what little suspense the film has.

The conclusion is sadly more unintentionally humorous then anything preceding it when we should be scared out of our wits. Remember at the end of Halloween as Michael kept coming back time after time when we thought he was down for the count? We were exhausted from fear and barely stopping to breathe much less laugh. In Halloween II Loomis and Laurie enter a room filled with gas tanks. Loomis hands the shaky Laurie a pistol (apparently forgetting he has shot him at least ten times to no avail) and is promptly stabbed with a scalpel. Laurie, knowing this is do or die, holds the gun up and fires two shots at Michael which miraculously hit both of his eyeballs. Not bad for a wounded girl sitting on her bottom in a dark room. I mean she doesn't even graze the mask but hits the eyes dead on. Michael, now blinded (a fact conveniently omitted in subsequent sequels) starts to aimlessly wave the scalpel. Loomis is able to get up and turn on all the tanks and then shoos Laurie out. He pulls out a lighter and the two are seemingly blown to kingdom come. But wait! Laurie is in the hallway looking at the fire when the ignited body of Michael comes walking down the hall before collapsing and forever dying. The film ends as it opens with the odd musical choice of Mr. Sandman as Laurie is placed in another ambulance and driven off to what one hopes is a hospital with a competent staff and at least one other patient. Fade out. But, alas, this would not be the last time we heard from Michael Myers.

There is no reason for Halloween II to exist in the film world. It doesn't hold a candle to the original and when a film like the original comes along a sequel is inevitable far less then the audience hopes. In this case blame must be divvied up between Rosenthal, Carpenter and Hill.

Apparently after the first screening of the film Carpenter was quoted as saying, "This film is about as scary as an episode of Quincy." Carpenter happened to be shooting new footage for the original Halloween that was going to be included in the original television broadcast to supplement some of the adult nature of the film that would be cut from network television. Carpenter then decided to do some re-shoots on the sequel adding violence to the quotient which makes little sense since Carpenter knew the formula that worked so well on the original film. But Carpenter also knew what made money and that was R-rated slasher films with violence and nudity. After he showed his cut of 1980's The Fog, the studio asked Carpenter to add more death and violence to get an R-rating. Carpenter did the same thing here much to the detriment of the quality of the film but to the delight of the studio that likely saw a few more million added to the gross. Rosenthal disavowed the changes in the film but it is believed his version was no better with long stretches of character development and no action whatsoever. It still shows as the film drags along its first hour. Unfortunately the two men couldn't come to a happy medium and keep some much needed character development (so we the audience might care who lives or dies) while cutting down on the violence and killing. Perhaps Rosenthal could have proven his point by removing his name from the credits but what first time film director is going to remove his name from a guaranteed hit film no matter how much of its artistic integrity he feels was compromised? That's the sad truth.

Personally I feel this was a great missed opportunity. There was no reason whatsoever for all the violence and killings that mar this film. Why not have another cat and mouse game between Michael and Laurie (albeit injured) with an exasperated Loomis searching the neighborhoods up and down and periodically checking in on the injured Laurie? Why not change the setting to a clinic instead of a large hospital and give the film a claustrophobic feel that would immediately put the audience on edge?

However it may have worked doesn't matter now. Halloween II opened to mixed reviews (famed New York critic Janet Maslin was one of the few major critics to praise it) but the film grossed just over $25 million, impressive despite being less then half of what the original made. Halloween II was the top grossing slasher/horror film of the year beating out such films as An American Werewolf in London; the Howling; Friday the 13^th Part II and The Final Conflict (Omen 3) and that would lead to a series that has included six more sequels and a remake that was so bad it makes this film look good in comparison.

Granted Halloween II has its ardent fans and those who read this will likely have answers for the flaws in the story I have pointed out or simply berate the fact that I am being picky and should simply enjoy the movie. But I will say again if the movie was better made I likely would have let these flaws slip if I even noticed them in the first place. The fact that it grossed half of what the original did leads me to believe the crowds were huge the first few weeks out of curiosity but that repeat business was down sharply from the original. In the end it is merely a shadow in the steps of the classic original and should, like most sequels, have never been made.

I have three articles published that recommend good movies to watch at Halloween time. Please take a moment and look at those lists so you can find thirty movies far better then Halloween II.