Halloween II: By: Matt Rusell
After the worldwide success of HALLOWEEN, and the endless amount of rip off movies, producer Irwin Yablans finally turned to John Carpenter and Debra Hill and
told them that they had to make a sequel.

HALLOWEEN II begins where the original left off, satisfying the audience in telling them what happened at the cliffhanger ending of the first film. The rest of the film continues on the same night, following Laurie to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, and Dr. Loomis as he rushes through the town, still trying to find Michael. The film has the same feel as the original, most likely because it was written by the same duo, and was filmed in the same area. The great continuity of the film to the original (with the exception of Michael landing in the front yard instead of the backyard in this film) makes you almost feel like they filmed this sequel during the original's shoot. We do get to see more of Michael this time around and the body count rises. Michael also gets a little more brutal in his killings (most likely because he's getting pissed off that it's this much trouble to get to Laurie), and we learn the whole reason as to why Michael is after Laurie.
The acting in this sequel is as flawless as in the first. Jamie Lee Curtis (Laurie) plays the innocent victim perfect once again. She really can communicate pure fear in her eyes while she lies in her hospital room. Donald Pleasence (Loomis) is as enjoyable to watch in this film as he was in the original. It is a bit different now because we now know that Michael is in fact what Loomis says he is and is not crazy. Nancy Stephens (Marion) is very convincing and does great in her scenes with Pleasence. Dick Warlock (The Shape) does great taking Nick Castle's place. He is scary as hell and does the stalk scenes very well!
The soundtrack is filled with the same classic theme but this time is given a techno twist and is now faster and a bit more firm. It's great!

Rick Rosenthal does fine taking over John Carpenter's seat. He keeps the same theme to the film that original had. He gets a good grade in my book.

Overall, this sequel is not an embarrassment to the original. It still communicates the same amount of fear that the original did, and I must admit, the film is set in a much more frightening place than in the original. I would definitely not enjoy being locked in an abandoned hospital with Michael chasing me around. The long dark corridors, the many weapons Michael could use... one word: CREEPY!!!