10 Exact Moments Horror Movies Stop Trying

On the list of disappointing horror sequels, Rick Rosenthal’s Halloween II is near the top. Following up on the story of Michael Myers (here, Dick Warlock) immediately after the first film, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital while psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) attempts to find Michael and put an end to the killing for good.

Perplexingly still written by John Carpenter, the film manages to squander basically all the key elements that made the first picture so good, but it starts off well enough, with Michael continuing his spree and tracking Laurie, while the results of his night of terror around Haddonfield are laid bare. Once Michael is at the hospital trapping the staff and dispatching patients left, right, and centre, the film gets stuck in a rut, not really knowing where to go next. Loomis is still uncovering Michael’s movements, but where they lead him does not do anything to rescue it.

Over halfway through Halloween II, we are hit with the eye-rolling one-two revelation that Michael is invulnerable because of wishy-washy links to the occult, and then, straight after this, Loomis’ colleague Marion Chambers (Nancy Stephens) drops the news that Laurie has been Michael’s sister all along. Wah-wah. Some horror movies go into space to die; others just go home.