10 Things You Learn Rewatching Halloween II (1981)

While there are several aspects of Halloween II that ultimately just kind of feel like diluted elements of the original film, one man absolutely holds down the fort and that is Donald Pleasence as Dr. Loomis. If anything, Pleasence is even more off-his-rocker than he was in the first film, and that is a very great thing.

With the increased budget, they could afford to pay Pleasence adequate amounts for a longer stretch of filming, and thus his screen-time is upped significantly. And it doesn't matter what he's doing, whether he's discussing the dental records of Ben Tramer with a medical examiner or having extended conversations with Marion Chambers in a school hallway while an overworked night-shift janitor buffs the floors in the background, every scene he's in is electric with Pleasence's manic energy.

His wild-eyed zeal was put to great use in the first film, but here its turned into a defining character trait. The script gives him little more to do than snoop around Haddonfield for the first two acts, but Pleasence sinks his teeth into every action and line of dialogue with such commitment that it's impossible to not be in awe of him.

He gives a great performance here that arguably, is the reason this film works as well as it does. He is the most compelling character here by about a mile-and-a-half and it is great to just watch him joyfully tear into another couple of monologues about how evil Michael is.