10 Things You Learn Rewatching Halloween II (1981)

With the film's reshoots lead to some tonal dissonance at times between the old-school suspense and the new-school slasher tactics, one sequence pretty much perfectly nails both of these in a stunning way.

After viciously flirting throughout the entire first half of the film, paramedic Vincent 'Budd' Scarlotti and nurse Karen Bailey decide to take advantage of their late-night alone time, going to the hospital's hydrotherapy tub together to have sex. Once they enter the tub together, Michael can be seen in the background of a shot, blurred out by the foggy glass, turning up the heat in the hot tub from the next room over. When Karen complains that the water is too hot, Budd gets out to go fix it.

As he does so, Karen gets out of the smoking hot tub and the camera keeps her in the foreground, as Michael effortlessly chokes Budd to death in the background. Michael then enters the room with Karen, placing his hand on her shoulder. She briefly thinks he is Budd, kissing his fingers, only to discover it isn't. Michael then proceeds to dunk her face into the scalding water several times in a row, melting several layers of skin off of her face.

This sequence is at once incredibly suspenseful and powerfully grotesque. Budd's death in the background of the frame, with little to no fanfare, is as subtle as the film gets, making it that much more unexpectedly effective. And then, to go straight from that into the film's most gory kill makes Karen's death that much more powerful.