MPAA Rating: R/ Genre: Slasher Horror/Stars: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Charles Cyphers, Lance Guest, Pamela Susan Shoop, Hunter von Leer, Tawny Moyer, Ana Alicia, Nancy Stephens, Dick Warlock, Adam Gunn, Gloria Gifford, Leo Rossi, Ford Rainey, Jeffrey Kramer, Cliff Emmich, John Zenda, Anne Bruner, Lucille Benson, Catherine Bergstrom, Anne-Marie Martin, Dana Carvey, Billy Warlock, Alan Haufrect, Nancy Loomis, Kyle Richards, Brian Andrews, Jonathan Prince, Nichole Drucker, Jack Verbois/Runtime: 93 minutes

I think it can safely be said that if you were to sit down and make a list of the best horror films ever made then one title that should without question be on there would need to be the original Halloween from 1978. I mean with a spot-on and iconic score that is still haunting to this day, a chilling yet simple premise, fantastic work behind the camera by practically every department especially in regards to directing and cinematography, and wonderful work from a small yet immensely talented cast of players is it any wonder why this particular cinematic outing is as beloved by both critics as well as casual movie goers as it is? Of course, with all of that being said there is one type of love in the land of movie magic that often speaks at a higher volume than all the others. That of course being the kind of love that can best be described as “financial fondness”. Of course if your movie is made on a budget of only 300-325,000 dollars and it makes back about 70 million dollars….I’d think it’s safe to say that particular love is very much apparent. Unfortunately for horror movies however there is a bit of a drawback to having that particular degree of love. That drawback being that, should your movie be that immensely successful, Hollywood rarely, if ever, is not going to just let it be its own thing and exist as a single movie from now until the end of time. Instead, they will choose to make it into a franchise and, regardless of the quality of the ensuing entries, milk the ever-loving heck out of said franchise until every single dollar that they can wring out from the more than eager fans have left them in the rear-view mirror and instead made the ”long and arduous” voyage into their pockets instead. It is because of this that we not only have at last count 13 Halloween films, 10 Saw films, 9 Elm Street films, 12 Friday the 13th films, and way too many Children of the Corn films, but also that the majority of the entries in each of those franchises (save for the first in each) are all fairly mindless entertainment and best left to watch with your brain as far in terms of off as you can possibly get it. With that said however, I do admit that there are entries within each of those franchise past the first one that, whilst not great by any stretch, are also nowhere near as bad as you might think. Perhaps one of the better examples of this can be found in the slice of cinema I am reviewing for you today, 1981’s Halloween II (the 2009 Halloween II is a completely different beast altogether). Indeed is this slice and dice of cinema perfect? Nope. Is it great? Nada. Is it as bad as Michael Myers vs. Busta Rhymes? Thankfully no. To be sure, this is a sequel that didn’t need to happen, but even so there is no denying that with decent work on both sides of the camera 1981’s Halloween II is still one horror film that proves to be a fun sit no matter the time of day or year you watch it.

The plot is as follows: Picking up immediately in the aftermath of its predecessor, the 1981 Halloween II once again takes us as movie goers back to that distinct and quaint little town known as Haddonfield, Illinois. A place where decent people can shake hands and live side by side with upstanding community values….oh and a blood thirsty murderer thrown in for good measure as well. Yes, dear reader for all the good apparent in Haddonfield (right down to the fantastic 50 tokens for 5 dollars deal down at the local arcade) there is one big shadow that hangs over the town like the Grim Reaper himself. That being an infamous psychopath by the name of Michael Myers. A guy who when he was 6 years old inexplicably decided to test the sharpness of a kitchen knife on his sister and who, when our story opens, is not only back on the loose in his home town of Haddonfield and already murdered 3 more people, but is also about to do away with another. That is until his doctor, one Samuel Loomis, intervenes and in the ensuing chaos fires 7 (don’t be surprised to hear him claim 6 though) shots directly into his patient and promptly sends him falling over a second balcony seemingly to his demise….or so he thought. I add that last part dear reader incidentally because it isn’t long (5 minutes give or take to be exact) before we, alongside Loomis, horrifyingly discover that Michael not only didn’t die, but won’t even pay the good doctor for this session citing irreconcilable differences. All jokes aside dear reader, we see that shortly after this that Loomis once again takes it upon himself to work alongside the brave men and women of Haddonfield PD to try and find Michael whilst the survivor of his initial assault, a young woman named Laurie Strode, finds herself being taken across town to Haddonfield Memorial Clinic (General Hospital and Community General from Diagnosis: Murder were completely booked with razor blade in candy or other homicide cases apparently) to be treated for her various injuries that she sustained. Unfortunately for both her and the staff working at the hospital tonight they are about to receive a late-night visit by a very unwelcome guest. One who not only has no regard for the concept of visiting hours, but who also has more than a fair amount of skill at butchering people. Thus can our heroine survive yet another round with our favorite William Shatner mask-wearing madman and will she and Loomis finally be able to put an end to his reign of terror once and for all? That is something I shall leave for you to discover for yourself dear reader…..

Now right off, it should be said here that for all the guff this slice of cinema gets it actually isn’t as poorly made as you might think. Indeed this starts with the work done at the helm by Rick Rosenthal and yes I know this is the same guy who gave us 2002’s Halloween: Resurrection, but perhaps having John Carpenter and Debra Hill be active participants on this and look over his shoulder while he was making this one proved to actually make a bit of a difference. All jokes aside though dear reader, Rosenthal honestly does a pretty bang-up job at really making this feel less like a sequel coming 3 years after its predecessor and instead more like extra footage that Carpenter shot whilst the making the original, was accidentally cut, but was fortunately saved from obscurity and now being released as its own movie. Perhaps the distinguishing element that really helps in that department is the fact that this slice and dice of horror cinema is one that, unlike a lot of the horror films that came out in the wake of the original Halloween’s immense success, is actually fairly restrained in terms of how much blood and gore it is willing to show us. Yes, there are more deaths in this one and yes there is a bit more blood here. With that in mind though, this film actually does a great job at not only having the fair majority of the deaths be off-screen or fairly bloodless, but also in making the terror in this revolve more around suspense than gore. Along with that, we also see that this slice of cinema is the blessed recipient of wonderful camera work from the returning Dean Cundey in the cinematography department. Indeed, much like his work in the original, Cundey’s work here still manages to not only be creative, but also spine-chilling especially when we get to see things from Michael’s perspective or when we’re just staring down the darkened hallways of the silent hospital watching with bated breath to see where Michael will strike from next. Finally, it should also be pointed out that this slice of cinema does have a fairly enjoyable musical accompaniment to it complete with a synth-charged take on the iconic theme that is sure to leave 80s fans giddy. Ultimately though, for all of the positives to be found behind the camera, there is one big detractor that does bring this slice of cinema down a couple of notches. That being in regards to the writing done on this slice of cinema by John Carpenter and Debra Hill. Indeed not only does the dialogue, when there is any, give off the vibe of being disjointed at best and eye-rolling insulting at worst, but there is an element to this story that is without question one of the oddest, stupidest, and just plain confusing moments in all of horror cinema and not in a good way. No I’m not going to spoil it here, but trust me when I say that I can definitely believe it is a result of Carpenter putting it there because, by his own admission, he not only drank quite a bit whilst writing this, but because got involved in a sequel to a film that he thought had wrapped up the story fairly nicely. That significant misstep aside, it should be said that the work done behind the camera here is fairly well-done all things considered.

Of course, the other big element that this slice of cinema has to contend with is the fact that the performances given by the cast of players in front of the camera aren’t terrible, but by no means are you going to hope they nab some Oscar gold for them either. With that in mind, perhaps the one person who fares the best out of everyone is none other than the returning Donald Pleasance in the role of Dr. Loomis. Yes, his dialogue does swing quite a bit between being goofy and analytical in this, but Pleasance sells all of it with a conviction and passion for the material to say nothing of the character that is truly second to none. That and let’s be honest: no one does a spooked stare at what’s going on in a horror movie quite like this man. Indeed it’s not his finest hour as an actor by far, but there is still no denying that Pleasance brings the same touch of class to this character that he did every time he was able to play the part. Sadly I don’t know if I can say the same for Jamie Lee Curtis in her reprisal here of Laurie Strode. Not because of the work done by Curtis, but because between being put in a terrible wig and the script not giving her character any meaningful arc beyond “run, lie in a hospital bed, say maybe about 3 lines of dialogue and repeat” it does feel like a waste of Curtis’ undeniable talent as an actress. Faring better than Curtis however would be none other than Dick Warlock taking over for Nick Castle and Tony Moran in the role of Michael Myers. To be sure, Michael doesn’t possess a single line of dialogue and mostly just goes around walking plus killing people, but even still Warlock does a fantastic job of giving this iconic horror villain more moments of characterization and, dare I say, emotion than the vast majority of a lot of the people on screen with actual dialogue. Finally, I would be completely amiss if I didn’t take the time to mention the work done here by 80s icon Lance “Last Starfighter” Guest in the role of paramedic Jimmy. Yes the lack of three-dimensional writing affects his character too, but even so Guest still does a good enough job at giving this guy a likability and charm that makes him easy to root for even if his quasi-sorta romance with Laurie feels a little forced at times. Suffice it to say that when you also incorporate decent efforts from such talents as Hunter Von Leer, Lucille Benson, Cliff Emmich, Jeffrey Kramer, Ford Rainey, Leo Rossi, and Ana Alicia plus extended cameo roles for the returning Charles Cyphers and Nancy Stephens with even an early on-screen performance from none other than Dana “Garth Algar” Carvey among others thrown in for good measure it’s clear that this slice of cinema definitely had talent to spare in front of the camera, but unfortunately the majority are let down by the shoddiness of the script not giving them much, if anything, to work with.

All in all and at the end of the day, is the 1981 Halloween II a perfect slice and dice of horror cinema? Honestly I would never even think of saying that especially because of an element this film brings to play which is an equal mix of bad (and also by Carpenter’s own admission intoxicated) writing and as straight out of left field as you can get. Along with that, I have no shame in saying that by and large the cast of characters in this are, their respective exits from this slice of cinema aside, tragically not really all that memorable despite decent work from the people portraying them. Having said those things however, it should also be said that there is a fair bit to enjoy here as well. In terms of the work done behind the camera this can be seen courtesy of not just the work done in the director’s chair by Rick Rosenthal at actually doing a fairly good job at emulating John Carpenter’s style that was very much on display in the original, the fact that whilst there is a teeny tiny bit more blood and death on display in this one this is still a fairly restrained affair in that department, or the camera work by returning Dean Cundey still being incredibly stylish and spine-tingling, but also in the fact that while I do still have slightly more of a fondness for the original theme I can’t help but admit that there is still something about the synth-charged take on it in this installment that is able to bring a smile to my face every time I watch it. As for the work done in front of the camera I think it’s safe to say that, although the quality of the script is a bit more hit or miss than with the first installment and their characters are not being fleshed out nearly as much as they should have been, the cast of players with particular regard to the returning Donald Pleasance (and to a lesser extent both Jamie Lee Curtis as well as Charles Cyphers) do still manage to make the most of what they are given here. Suffice it to say then that whilst Halloween II from 1981 is by no means even close to being on the level of the first installment it is still quite the engaging sit in its own right to say nothing of both an entry of that can be appreciated on its own merits as well as one of the more competently made entries in a franchise that definitely has chapters to it that at best are underappreciated (this, Halloween 3: Season of the Witch, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later) and at worst are the kind of cinematic nightmares that are best left never to be spoken of or watched unless very bored or you’re willing to be scared by simply witnessing just how lazy a franchise is willing to take things. Make of that what thou will and Happy Halloween dear reader! On a scale of 1-5 I give Halloween II “81” a solid 3 out of 5.