32 – On the Hunt (Halloween II)

Bursting into the grove where you left your group you almost collide with Donald who looks as flustered as you.

“Where is everyone? Are they up ahead? This place is deserted”

He gestures at the discarded belongings strewn about the forest floor. Did they flee? Were they taken? Listening to your account Donald grows determined.

“We need to find that man…no…that creature and we need to save Roland, if indeed he needs saving, he’s strong that one. Perhaps the others have returned to the village, though I did not pass them on my way here…”

Clasping a hand on your shoulder, Donald smiles grimly and nods in the direction you just left. Together, you make your way back towards Roland, back towards the danger.

Time for another sequel! Now if you recall in my Halloween review I mentioned that it wasn’t my favourite Halloween film…well…neither is this but we’ll leave that for the scoring.

It’s a sequel that didn’t really need to be made, a sequel that John Carpenter wasn’t interested in, a sequel that wasn’t a leader anymore, but a follower, in many ways an answer to a new kid on the block, a somewhat overshadowed sequel outside of horror circles.

Maybe it didn’t need to be made, but it was, so let’s talk about it.

It’s 1981’s Halloween II.

Fairly unusually for a sequel, Halloween II carries on exactly from where the original ended. In case you are reading a horror review about Halloween II and have never seen Halloween, firstly, what the hell, and secondly, what the hell.

OK so the first film was about a guy called Michael Myers who escaped from a mental hospital and went on a killing spree on Halloween. At the end of the last film he had been shot out of a window but then had disappeared, so there you go, Michael is missing and the cops and his former doctor are on the hunt for him, whilst his surviving victim from the first film is taken to a local hospital where Michael pursues her. So there we go, that’s the plot, it’s a film where you really need to have watched the original fairly recently or at least enough to remember what’s going on.

Firstly let’s talk about how John Carpenter and Debra Hill were resistant to this film being made. They reluctantly wrote and produced it but Carpenter didn’t want to direct it, instead handing that over to Rick Rosenthal. Both they and the crew felt that the story had been told but money and politics dictated that a sequel would happen. I don’t think it would be a surprise to most people that whilst critics laud the original as a masterpiece, Halloween II receives no such praise.

For me the biggest change between the two films is the portrayal of violence and the kills. The original is quite subtle with the deaths and notably has little in the way of gore, using suspense and atmosphere to provide the scares. Halloween II is a different story. The gore is much more pronounced here and the kills more brutal, though the low lighting means that it still has some subtlety to it. The fact that a year earlier Friday the 13^th burst onto the scene with far more graphic deaths thanks to the stellar work of Tom Savini perhaps had a lot to do with this change in direction.

Oh yeah, it’s not just the gore, we also have more nudity when we look at one particular scene, all around the film really defines the difference between the pre and post Friday the 13^th world

On the same subject I feel it’s relevant to mention I own this as a DVD and the quality isn’t amazing, not terrible but certainly not crystal clear, and you know what, I think it’s perfect for a film like this. It evokes nostalgia, this is certainly how I would have seen it as a younger woman, I wasn’t born yet when this was in cinemas and HD was far in the future so along with its darker tone the quality enhances that slight ‘video nasty feel’.

Something else more intense here is the music. The familiar Halloween theme is there, but punchier and more aggressive sounding. It’s particularly effective when we hear it for the first time as the opening credits play and we zoom in on the familiar pumpkin, but then (and I don’t consider this a spoiler) the pumpkin splits apart to reveal a human skull, even the intro is darker.

OK so though I’ve been talking about things I like, I’ve mostly been comparing the film to its predecessor so let’s talk about the film itself and what I like and dislike.

I adore the hospital setting that most of the film takes place in. The hospital itself is bizarrely empty, seemingly populated 90% by staff, with darkened corridors and a bit of a classic haunted house feel to it, whilst being somewhere we’ve all likely been to in our lives. True it’s night and patients aren’t generally wandering the halls of a hospital but even so it really feels that nobody else is there, a little bit like in the film The Void where…wait I’m not supposed to be comparing this to other films!

Let’s talk about the staff. We have some really fun characters here. I particularly enjoy the duo of Budd and Karen. Budd is a foul-mouthed paramedic who has a romantic interest in one of the nurses, Karen, the two of them having a particularly memorable scene together, which is, and this is where I’ll allow some criticism, seemingly there just so we can have some nudity and violence in an interesting setting. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy the scene, it’s just pretty unlikely that anybody would do what they do, perhaps I’ll go into some more detail in the spoilers section.

Whilst we’re on the subject of negatives, Laurie spends a lot of the film incapacitated so plays a much smaller role. Strangely this is the case in another of my favourite films in the franchise so it obviously doesn’t affect my enjoyment too much, but she’s too strong a character to sideline so much, though we do get Loomis with his manic energy. I LOVE Loomis in this film, I’ll expand on it a bit in the spoiler section but he spends the whole film chasing Michael and bringing a sense of urgency and drama to the proceedings, he’s very much like a Van Helsing in Dracula, surrounded by people who don’t understand the true threat.

Finally let’s talk about that threat…Michael Myers. Michael evolves from a human stalker to a seemingly unstoppable force in this film. He becomes the Michael that most people think of, a relentless killer who rivals Loomis with his drama. Does he have to walk after people rather than running? Probably not, but it sure is creepy. Does he have to kill people in ridiculous ways, no but he certainly does, as I already mentioned the kills are far more elaborate and varied here. I will admit his dramatic side was already there in Halloween but here is where he starts to resemble Jason in his killing methods rather than the knife he was most known for originally. I won’t go into detail but he becomes a true monster in this film, from his seeming invulnerability at the beginning to his hospital rampage, he really does embody Loomis’ line “I’ve told you, this isn’t a man.”

So you know it’s not my favourite Halloween film, but where does it fall in the rankings? Well you may have been able to tell, or maybe not, but I actually prefer this to the original. Is it better made? No. Does it have a better story? No. Is it ultimately a better film? Well no. So…why do I like it more? For me it’s the intensity, the overall package, the music, the characters, the upped violence and importantly the establishment of Michael as somewhat unstoppable and relentless, it’s just a more fun film than Halloween for me. I think more than many other films I’ve reviewed the score here is skewed by my personal feelings for the film more than its quality. I love Halloween II and that’s why it gets 5 syringes out of 5 from me.

Definitely watch the original before this, if only because it sets up the story, but if you’re anything like me, you might just be surprised how much you enjoy this one.

**WARNING** SPOILERS BELOW **WARNING**

Welcome to the spoiler section. This is the part where I can bring up some specific parts of the film which I’d like to talk about more, whether they be good, or bad.

OK so let’s talk about the scene with the mistaken identity. I find this scene entertaining, though horrible, but what on earth was going on here? This is the same night as in the original film, so what are the chances that there is somebody else, of a similar build, wearing the exact same outfit as Michael? If this was a year later, then sure why not, that makes sense as somebody dressing as a known killer, but the same night, that makes it coincidence and I don’t buy that. THEN some cop just drives into him and crushes him against another vehicle, so you think he got a bit carried away, but then he says he didn’t even see him…so…he was just driving into that van anyway? This scene makes no sense, especially seeing as how it’s fairly important to the plot. Storytelling is not this film’s strength, but it sure is entertaining.

Halloween II is the point I feel where Dr Loomis really starts to become the dramatic bitch we all know and love. He was already fairly intense in the original but now he starts shouting about how he “…shot him 6 times!” and the amazing “You don’t know what death is!” as the familiar yet more intense Halloween theme starts playing. Later in the film he pulls a gun on a US Marshal and is even willing to blow himself up in order to stop Michael, a figure he seems to feel responsible for yet fears and hates with an unusual intensity. Their relationship feels somewhat akin to Dr Frankenstein and his monster.

Oh yes, I mentioned the Budd and Karen scene earlier. So, if you had been reprimanded for being late to work, would you, in the middle of your shift, sneak off to the hydrotherapy room to get naked with your boyfriend? I could have accepted it if they’d had a liaison in a broom cupboard or storeroom, but turning on a specific bit of equipment, getting fully undressed, and using what is essentially a medical device, which would presumably need cleaning afterwards is pretty insane, do they not think they’ll be missed? It does however give us a fun double kill with Budd being strangled and Karen getting the particularly nasty drowning in scalding water which is a fairly prolonged sequence.

I’ll mention one more death briefly that complements my comment about Michael being dramatic. He drains Mrs Alves of her blood, we don’t see it happen but we see the aftermath with the character Jimmy discovering her and actually slipping over in the enormous pool of blood.

Lastly, the big controversy in the film was the relationship between Michael and Laurie. It’s revealed that they are brother and sister, and this is why Michael is pursuing her so relentlessly. This was never established in the original and as we shall see in later films, proves divisive. My personal opinion is that it didn’t really need an explanation, it could just be that she was the one that got away.

Well it took a long time to actually get this review written down, so I’ll simply claim it was to keep it closer to actual Halloween, everyone will prefer the first review anyway!

26 – That Time of Year (Halloween)

It seems an age since that day in the clearing. The day the darkness tried to take you. The day you were saved.

The good people of Carpenter’s Meadow pulled you away from the creature and chased it into the trees. They brought you back to their sleepy forest town and nursed your body and mind back to health.

The experiences over the days preceding…was it even days? How long had it been since you left the town of Solstice and your bed at the Green Man. The whole thing has felt like a dream, or more likely a nightmare.

I must say you’re looking a good 20 years younger than the day I first saw you in that clearing.

The voice belongs to Donald, the town physician and the man who truly brought you back to yourself again.

The island is a dangerous place. Most people stick to the towns and villages and rarely travel alone, and that goes for island folk. Being an outsider I’m frankly amazed you made it this far, you’re something special it seems, or lucky…

Come. I think it’s time you joined the land of the living again. Ironic really, you’re just in time for the festival of the dead.

Ok so it’s definitely throwing some big names at me recently. I’d say it’s because my collection is so full of classics but really there’s a lot of crap, I just seem to have lucked out so far. Technically this film is the most likely one to come up because it has the most sequels, but still, we’re due something more obscure.

In the meantime I’ll be reviewing John Carpenter’s 1978 classic, Halloween.

So where do I start with a film that’s often credited with being the first Slasher film. I mean probably by pointing out that Black Christmas and about a billion Giallo films came before it. You could even say the 40s Mummy films from Universal fit the bill, but honestly you could get away with saying that Halloween popularised the sub genre.

To summarise, Halloween follows Laurie Strode and her high school friends on Halloween night in the town of Haddonfield, as they are stalked by escaped killer Michael Myers. Alongside this, Michael’s doctor from the Asylum, Dr Loomis, tries to convince the police of the danger his escaped patient poses.

Chances are if you think about Slasher films then it’s all about the crazy kills, gore, and dumb teenagers. Well Halloween has one of those, it certainly has dumb teenagers, or should that be it ‘totally’ does, one of the girls is endlessly saying that word. So yes, dumb teenagers, check, but crazy kills and gore, no. It surprises me a bit that this film is an 18 if I’m honest, it’s probably more a case of them not updating the rating to reflect modern sensibilities. The kills, though effective, are pretty gore free, it wasn’t until Friday the 13^th came along a couple of years later that gore became the norm for slashers.

From an acting point of view I wouldn’t say that anybody in the film is amazing. Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis put in the best performances but I wouldn’t say that either are Oscar worthy. I do very much enjoy how intense Donald Pleasence’s Dr Loomis is though, he puts me in mind of Robert Shaw’s Quint in Jaws. It’s especially amusing because he’s often talking to people who you can tell think he’s exaggerating about the threat of Michael Myers.

If the acting isn’t stand out then the directing certainly is, Halloween has some truly great choices when it comes to visuals. We see first person views fairly regularly, putting us in the Killer’s shoes as we stalk our victims. Then at the other end of the scale we’re made to feel like we have no idea where the killer is, or to feel like he can disappear into thin air. John Carpenter does a great job of creating suspense and a feeling of unease. We know it’s coming, we know he’s coming, but we don’t know when.

A big part of the atmosphere the film provokes is thanks to the score. Again we have John Carpenter to thank for this. His iconic main theme is one of the most recognisable film pieces out there today, so in a way it’s difficult to judge it on it’s own merits outside of “Oh shit, it’s the Halloween theme!” but the fact that it is so recognised speaks volumes. It’s a simple series of piano notes but it elicits a sense that something is coming, and that’s all you need. If you hear that theme song, you’d better get out!

The use of a masked killer, though not unique, goes a long way to give this film a creep factor. The scariest threats are ones where you cannot reason with them, cannot appeal to their humanity. Michael’s mask with its blank expression and black eye sockets takes away any hope that this is a person to be reasoned with, he is a blank, soulless killer. In the credits he is referred to only as, ‘The Shape’, which feels very appropriate.

It’s hard to ignore how much of a big deal this film was when it comes to low budget films making it in the industry. The film made over 70 million dollars with a budget of significantly less than half a million. It opened the floodgates to small independent films coming out of the shadows and becoming household names. Of course this often resulted in them spawning endless increasingly diluted sequels, but the fact that Hollywood gave a shit about them at all was a win for Horror as whole.

Rating time, and this wasn’t as cut and dry as you might think. A bit like with the last film, Nosferatu, despite this being hailed as one of the horror masterpieces I also have to take into account how much I like the film personally. Now this isn’t my favourite Halloween film, it’s not even my 2^nd favourite Halloween film. A 5 for me is a film which I think is both well made, which this undoubtedly is, and one which really pushes all the right buttons for me, and ultimately it’s not one of the films that I will choose to watch that often. Therefore I’m going to give Halloween 4 bedsheets out of 5. I’d tell you that you should watch it, but chances are if you’re on a horror review site, you already have. If you asked a random person on the street to name a horror film, there’s a high chance this would be their answer.

**WARNING** SPOILERS BELOW **WARNING**

Welcome to the spoiler section. This is the part where I can bring up some specific parts of the film which I’d like to talk about more, whether they be good, or bad.

A part of the film which never made much sense to me was in the opening sequence when Michael’s sister and her boyfriend go upstairs together. Michael watches them go through the window, then, in the amount of time it takes Michael to go round the back of the house and get the knife from the kitchen, the boyfriend is already leaving. Wow. I feel bad for her, not only does she get stabbed to death by her little brother, but it lasts longer than her boyfriend.

Actually I don’t feel too bad for her, I mentioned before about the acting not being particularly stand out. Well, hers does because it’s pretty lacklustre, I don’t get much of an impression that she’s being stabbed, more that she’s mildly irritated by the knife.

Something else which stood out to me was a scene where Michael is following Tommy Doyle outside the school and for whatever reason we’re not viewing it from Michale’s perspective, instead we’re viewing it from the back seat of the car. At first I thought this was a mistake and it’s supposed to be from the front, but then we see Michael sitting in the front, so maybe it’s more like we, the viewer, are a passenger, along for the ride. I’m pretty sure everything visually in this film is done that way for a reason.

I referenced it earlier but something which you can never unhear is the amount of times the character Lynda uses the word ‘Totally’. She says it all…the…time, 11 times in…total, at least according to the Halloween wiki.

As a last point I should talk about Michael’s seemingly unlimited stamina and resilience. He’s stabbed in the neck, the eye, the chest and then shot 6 times and still manages to get away. Now, as far as we know Michel is just a regular guy. You could put some of it down to adrenaline, particularly the stabbings, but being shot 6 times in the chest and falling from an upstairs window you think would incapacitate him at least longer than the few seconds it takes Dr Loomis to look out of the window. This raises the question, is he really just a man? It’s often theorised that he’s the walking embodiment of evil and so cannot truly be killed, or that he won’t rest until he’s fulfilled some agenda. Personally I like the idea that he represents evil itself, evil that has to steal a car…but still evil…

Odd, I thought I saw somebody staring at me from across the street. It’s probably nothing.