Every Halloween Movie Ranked Worst To Best

2. Halloween II (1981)

Halloween H20 Laurie Strode Michael Myers
Universal Pictures

Much like Jaws 2, Rick Rosenthal's Halloween II is one of the most underrated sequels in horror history.

Matching John Carpenter's Halloween was always going to be an impossible task, and because Halloween II didn't manage to do that, some immediately wrote the film off as a dud. But seriously, this 1981 sequel is an absolute belter, picking the action up in the immediate aftermath of the closing moments of Carpenter's classic.

With Michael Myers having vanished at the end of that first Halloween, here we have Sam Loomis and Sheriff Brackett on the hunt for the masked murderer; all while Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode is rushed off to hospital following her encounter with Michael.

There's so much to love about Halloween II, with the hospital setting working wonderfully, Donald Pleasance getting to showcase Sam Loomis' iron will to track down Michael, the death of Pamela Susan Shoop's Nurse Bailey being an all-timer of a kill, and the fiery finale serving as likely the best finale of the entire franchise.

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Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.