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    Halloween II

    Reviewed by
    adamwatchesmovies@

    You can see the cliches starting to creep in with this sequel, but the quality overwhelms any negativity that accompanies the shoulder grab, the cat scare, the phone not working, etc. There's suspense, chills, and a great deal of fun to be had with “Halloween II”.

    Beginning immediately after the end of the first, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is transported to the Haddonfield Memorial Hospital. While Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) and the authorities furiously search, they are unaware that Michael Myers (Dick Warlock) has already begun tracking the young woman down.

    I love the John Carpenter classic and for this reason, have mixed feelings about a key element of “Halloween II”: the fact that they give Myers/The Shape a motive. To me it’s unnecessary, but it works nicely as a follow-up to some of the info introduced in the TV cut… so there we go! A more fitting criticism is that there are some cheap scares here and there. Some I can excuse, others I can’t. It depends on how intelligent the film is. A particular scene where a character is frightened by a cat that jumps out of nowhere makes me wonder. In the first “Halloween”, the killer was established as a trickster; he'd often place bodies or objects so that they'd frighten someone right before he’d get them (Bob’s body for example) Was the cat planted in that specific location by the Shape, so that it would frighten his next victim? I believe he did, which would make some of the "cheap scares" not cheap at all... But let’s move on to less speculative points.

    Once we get to the hospital, the film ramps up the tension. There are great shots where you can just barely see the Shape hiding in the shadows, or the camera shoots from his point of view, or (even better) the camera attempts to follow him. He’ll walk off-screen and your eyes will start darting all over the screen, trying to spot him before he strikes. When he does, the kills are nice and varied in a delightfully gruesome way.

    “Halloween II” benefits from a terrific score (again by John Carpenter) and many surprises throughout. During the climax, there are some brilliant decisions made. The cliches you expect are flipped on their head. It also utilizes the hospital location very well. While The Shape is using syringes, scalpels and other medical instruments to kill, the staff are forced to run through long, empty corridors, wondering what’s happening. There are numerous places to hide – for better or worse – and everyone that dies isn’t just some random teenager, it’s someone helping Laurie get back on her feet!

    I'm glad this is the sequel that we got. It isn’t as good as the first, but what it does well it excels at and as a slasher film, it’s very satisfying. (Theatrical version on Blu-ray, October 27, 2017)

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    adamwatchesmovies@  5.11.2017 age: 26-35 2,866 reviews

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