10 Heart Stopping Horror Movie Chase Scenes You Can't Forget
4. Halloween II (1981)
As game-changing as John Carpenter's Halloween was for horror cinema, given the subgenre it helped to launch it's ironic that the film doesn't contain much slashing. In that same vein, the film also doesn't have much chasing going on. Sure, Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode does plenty of running, but Michael Myers never seems too worried, as he ambles pleasantly along.
1981's Halloween II, however, ramps both of those elements up. Here, we have more carnage, much more blood, perhaps a smidge more tension and one hell of a final chase scene.
Halloween II picks up right where the original film left off and follows Curtis' traumatized Laurie as she is taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital. Elsewhere, Dr Sam Loomis and the local police hunt Michael Myers after he's escaped into the night. From here, an array of doctors, nurses and hospital employees feel The Shape's wrath from various edged and pointed weapons, as he brings chaos to the small-town clinic in his hunt for Laurie Strode.
With the promise of more gore and visceral violence to keep up with an ever-more gore-soaked market, Halloween II achieves the impossible and makes Michael Myers even more of a threat.
In this follow-up offering, Michaels seems angry. Very angry, in fact.
All of this culminates in a stunning scene wherein, like a ninja, Myers appears behind an unsuspecting nurse and lifts her off her feet with a scalpel through her back as a wide-eyed Laurie looks on.
The chase is then on as the injured final girl books it as best she can through the maze of hospital corridors and stairwells. Michael follows at his usual unbothered speed, but low, imposing angles and a pulsing score make every second he's on screen terrifying.
Cast in eerie red gels as the chase moves to the hospital basement, The Shape's white mask looms from the darkness as he approaches Laurie with slow determination while she frantically calls an elevator. With the tension at its absolute peak, one can't help but cry out in fright as the elevator doors slowly close and Myers takes a swipe at his victim before she is out of sight.