Hi, it’s me, Ben Tramer! Ha ha, no, actually it’s Burl, here
again with a review for you! The other night, which was actually Halloween
night, I watched Halloween 2 once
again! I’m talking about the original sequel, not the sequel to the remake that
didn’t itself actually seem to be a remake of the sequel! Ha ha, are you
following me? Doesn’t matter! The point is that Rob Zombie had nothing to do
with this one, as he was a mere cradle baby when it was made!
As you know from my review of the original Halloween, I consider it a superior
picture in almost every respect! And I also harbour a great fondness for Halloween III, even as I recognize the
great lost opportunity it represents! So where does a fellow like ol’ Burl stand
on Halloween II, the sequel that doesn’t simply take up the story exactly as it
ended in the first picture, but shows us the last five or six minutes of that
John Carpenter masterwork, just in case we’d forgotten them!
After a few pokings and jumpabouts, Michael Myers makes his
way to the hospital where Jamie Lee Curtis is being treated by Doctor “I’ve
Just Been To A” Mixer! Ha ha, he’s pretty soused, is old Doc Mixer! Some kind
of terrible statewide health care budget cuts have evidently taken effect, as the
hospital is severely underpopulated! Perhaps it’s simply that the Haddonfield
General administration recognize what an important holiday Halloween is in
movies like this, and have let as many staff as possible have the night off! (They must have learned the trick from the administrators of the hospital in Hospital Massacre!)
Michael sets about reducing the staff roster to zero! The
only patients we see in the place are babies, but he lets them alone as far as
we can tell! But everybody else is fair game, and Michael gives the old kitchen
knife a rest and tries a few creative variations, like exsanguination, needles,
a boiling hot tub, and a claw hammer! Ha ha, I guess this sort of thing was
hinted at by his use of a curly phone cord in the first picture – an example, I
guess, of movie murder using a weapon that no longer exists in our day and age!
At any rate, it’s all very unlikely, and though there are
some efforts at stylization, as well as the usual attractive, pumpkiny
camerawork from the portly cinematographer Dean Cundey, the picture has a
slightly wheezy air! I used to think it was a crackerjack entertainment, bold
and gleaming, but as each year passes the gap in quality between this sequel
and the original becomes more apparent! To a certain segment of the population
this one might come out on top, as there are more victims and even a few
Special Makeup Effects! Dr. Loomis is a bit crazier, as one might be after
shooting someone six times! Ha ha!
Altogether for an early-80s slasher picture it’s pretty
good! The technical quality is marvelous, and The Shape will always be an
iconic fellow, and a pleasure to watch on screen as he walks purposefully down
a corridor or melts slowly out of the darkness! It's a typical 80s slasher movie, but as such things go, a superior one, though as a sequel to such a grand original, is inevitably a disapointment! I give Halloween II two razor blade apples!
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