Scary Movie of the Day: October 30th

The Boogeyman is Back

HALLOWEEN II (30 October 1981)

Dir. Rick Rosenthal | Written and Produced by John Carpenter and Debra Hill

The original sequel to Halloween (1979) is the one and only follow-up film to the movie I love, particularly because it’s an extension of that very same night. We are given a sequel where the events that take place pick up right where the first left off, which is rare and I feel just as rarely successful. However, in Halloween II it works wonderfully, especially because of the setting our heroine finds herself in — a hospital. Being stalked by the relentless figure of Michael Myers in a claustrophobic and tight-cornered small town hospital, Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode is in for an even more anxiety-inducing and tense time than in the first film. At least this is how the sequel feels to me — like you’re being cornered by the enclosed setting, and feeling all the more on edge because of it. I think that this is an incredibly effective sequel, of course not completely matching up to the original, but still an immensely engaging horror film. I’ve yet to see the newest Halloween but I’m hoping it will be a good movie in its own right, despite its narrative ignoring the franchise-changing reveal of Halloween II.