Every Halloween Movie Ranked From Worst To Best

No one, it seems, anticipated just how influential Halloween would prove. Director John Carpenter and producer/co-writer Debra Hill resisted pressure to make a sequel for a time, finally succumbing on the condition that Carpenter abdicated the director's chair for Rick Rosenthal. The ensuing film brought back Donald Pleasance and Jamie Lee Curtis, and proved an enjoyable slasher movie in its own right - though it's debatable just how well it serves the original.

Picking up immediately after the first film's "uh-oh, where is he?" finale, Halloween II sees Laurie Strode carted off to hospital, hoping the worst of the night's horrors are behind her. But of course, Michael is still hot on her tail, and starts hacking his way through the hospital to get to her. And it's here we learn why he's so drawn to this particular girl: she's actually his little sister.

While this twist has informed the whole series since, Carpenter has admitted he considers it a mistake, citing the climactic revelation of The Empire Strikes Back as a key influence.

Nor is that the only early 80s film to influence Halloween II: the sequel significantly ups the gore and nudity quota to keep up with the trends of the time (as epitomised by Halloween imitator Friday the 13th), which is far removed from the more suggestive approach of its predecessor. As such, while fun, Halloween II can't help feeling like just another slasher movie, of which there were quite a lot already by 1981.