10 Things You Learn Rewatching Halloween II (1981)
1. In Summary
Halloween II is a solid slasher, but one that falls well short of the brilliance of its predecessor. The troubled production and various reshoots result in a film that's a bit of a mixed bag. Some sequences work wonderfully, while others hardly work at all. Loomis is back and maybe even better-than-ever, but Laurie gets completely shafted. Halloween II has by far the hardest job of the entire series (following up the original) which isn't really fair. Overall, its a solid horror film with great cinematography and moments of ingenuity.
Haddonfield High Superlatives:
Best Kill: Nurse Karen's exfoliating dive into the hot tub.
Funniest Scene: Loomis forcing Marshall Terrence Gummell to turn the car around and head to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital by shooting out his rearview mirror and Gummell's subsequent full-speed turnabout. Loomis is absolutely sweeping this category thus far.
Biggest Dick of a Character: Budd, obviously.
How Awful of a Town is Haddonfield?: 4 out of 10 (loves the occasional mob, has one of the worst hospital staffs imaginable)
Scream Queen Award: As much as I wish we could give this to Jamie Lee once more, Laurie's reduced role practically disqualifies her from the race. Thus, the award shall go to Donald Pleasence as Dr. Loomis, for continued greatness and the wonderful screaming of "I SHOT HIM SIX TIMES!" he gets in at the beginning.
Ranking of Films Revisited Thus Far From Best to Worst: Halloween (1978), Halloween II (1981)