Picking up where Halloween(1978) left off. Halloween II directed by Rick Rosenthal in his directorial debut(he would go on to direct Halloween Resurrection in 2002) Written and Produced by John Carpenter and Debra Hill and Distributed by Universal Pictures following the success of Halloween. Initially Hill and Carpenter considered doing a sequel years after the events,where Michael would hunt down Laurie again this time in a high rise apartment complex. But the setting was changed to Haddonfield Hostpital in script meetings. Now what was the deciding factor to continue the story from that Halloween Night in 1978 was to find a fitting conclusion to the interaction between Michael Myers and Laurie Strode. Apparently Producer Irwin Yablans wanted to do a sequel and at that time sequels were never really a thing Tommy Lee Wallace who served as a crew member in the original film stated "no one ever thought of sequels" over the prospect of a sequel. (Noted:Friday the 13th (1980) had spawned a sequel with part 2 in 1981 the same year Halloween II came out). Anyway the script would get worked on Following Carpenter got done with directing "The Fog" Carpenter also directed the sci-fi/action flick "Escape from New York" with Kurt Russell(the first of many films John Carpenter and Kurt Russell would do together).
We pick up where the first film left off with the first film. After Dr.Loomis (Donald Pleasence) shot Michael Myers which lead him falling off a balcony,the disappeared into the night. He wandered in alleys stealing a kitchen knife from an elderly couple and murdered a teenage girl next door. Meanwhile Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) who narrowly escaped death is taken to Haddonfield Hospital. Meanwhile Loomis continued his pursuit of Michael and is accompanied by Sheriff Brackett. Dr.Loomis mistakens a costumed teenager named Ben for Michael ends up getting hit by a cop car and being burned to death. Then once Sheriff Brackett learned that Annie was murdered he blamed it all on Dr. Loomis and abandoned the search for Michael. Meanwhile a paramedic named Jimmy befriends Laurie. Michael soon learns of a news report of Laurie's location which is at The Hospital and that is where he is headed to,cutting phone lines and slashing tires so that no one can escape his wrath or call for help. He ends up killing a security guard and several nurses throughout the night while Laurie was dreaming about the day she learned she was adopted and remembers visiting a young Michael Myers at the sanitarium. Meanwhile police are informed that early in the day Michael Myers had broken into an elementary school. Well Marion Chambers had arrived to escort Dr.Loomis back to Smith's Grove under the orders of the governor and under the enforcement of the U.S. Marshal,on the way there Chambers tells Loomis that Laurie is Michael's younger sister (What in Fuck?) and that she was put up for adoption following the death of Michael's parents with records sealed to protect the family. After realizing that Michael is after Laurie who is at the hospital Dr. Loomis forced the Marshal at gunpoint ordering him to drive him to Haddonfield. After killing the last nurse at the place Michael finds Laurie and pursues her through the hospital. She managed to escape out in the parking lot only to hide in a car. Jimmy who suffered a concussion earlier rescues Laurie and attempts to escape Michael only to pass out while still concussed drove to safetty long enough to pass out and he laid his head on the horn causing a commotion which got the attention of Michael,The Marshal,Marion and Dr.Loomis. They reached the hospital in time to save Laurie. The Doc shoots Michael until he falls,seemingly dead. While Marion calls the police using the Marshall's radio,the marshal attempts to check Michael who rose up and slit his throat with a surgeon scalpel. Loomis and Laurie run into an operating room where he gives her the marshal's gun before being stabbed by Michael. Laurie then shoots Michael in both eyes blinding him as he swings the scalpel violently the two filled the room with flammable gas Loomis tells Laurie to get out before igniting the gas immolating himself and Michael in the explosion. Laurie watched on as Michael engulfed in flames emerge briefly before finally collapsing to the floor. The following morning she is transferred to another hospital traumatized but survived the real night nightmare.
That is a pretty damn good sequel. Released on October 30,1981 Distributed by Universal Pictures with the production of Dino De Laurentis's Production company the film was made with a $2.5 million budget and did $25.5 million in the North American Box Office. Overall rating of the film is an 85/100 and I ranked this movie at #7 on my favorite movies of 1981.
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