Halloween 2 Review

Halloween 2 (4/10)

Director: Rick Rosenthal

Runtime: 92 Minutes

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As mentioned in my review 2 weeks ago, I will be reviewing all the Halloween movies every 2 weeks to coincide with the release of the new Halloween movie coming out this October. As promised, today I will be reviewing Halloween 2. The sequel to arguably one of the greatest horror movies of all time. The movie begins just as any sequel should, continuing directly after the events of the first. There's not too much to say about the plot as the movie follows straight after the first. We again see Jamie Lee Curtis as she gets wheeled away to the hospital, little does she know that Michael Myers is hot on her tail. Killing many people along the way, and just like the first Doctor Loomis is back on the search to find Michael and stop him for good.

My god, how the mighty have fallen. I used to like Halloween 2 as a kid but now watching it as an adult I have no idea why. John Carpenters original Halloween is one of the best and most effective horror movies of all time. This movie takes everything that the first did so well and ruins pretty much every aspect of it. Halloween 2 does do a lot of things well, it amps up the body count which can either be a good thing or bad depending on how you look at it. Michael has more screentime this time around, which might satisfy some people but it does take away a lot of the mystery surrounding the character. Personally, I don't find this that bad to the narrative as this is the sequel and I would expect to see more of him. Although it does make Michael a less menacing figure, id go so far to argue this movie steals every ounce of scare factor that Michael ever had and makes him feel like a cliche slasher villian than the troubled man hiding behind a mask of bloodshed that truly he is.

This movie has none of the artistry or the imagination of the original. However, despite all the hate that I'm giving the movie, it did entertain me enough for the length of its runtime. Sadly this was more down to some absolutely, ridiculous moments, that made me laugh so hard that for a second I forgot I was watching a horror movie. It was enjoyable for completely the wrong reasons. It does have some memorable kills though, seeing Michael disfiguring the face of a beautiful woman by plunging her repeatedly into scalding water of a whirlpool bath, was original and entertaining. A minor thing, I can't seem to get over how much I disliked the remixed version of the Halloween theme. It sounded like John Carpenter put over a techno 80's beat over the original music, it wasn't at all scary and I have no idea why they changed such a perfect and iconic song.

If you can look past all the idiotic choices that the characters make then you might find something enjoyable here. If anyone used just an ounce of common sense then this movie wouldn't even be half as long as it is. Then again, it wouldn't really be a slasher then would it.

I really didn't like Halloween 2, it tried to copy everything the original did but fails miserably. Michael is no longer scary or a menacing figure lurking in the darkness. Some unique kills and an always enjoyable performance by Donald Pleasence stops this movie from being terrible. I'm really happy that the new Halloween is forgetting the sequels ever existed. Maybe this will be the true sequel the original finally deserves.

Halloween (1978) Review

Halloween 1978 (9/10)

Director: John Carpenter

Runtime: 91 minutes

For more reviews like this please visit my main page at Insane Reviewer on Facebook. I review a new film every two days and push myself at delivering thought out and detailed reviews.

With the trailer just dropping and a new Halloween movie coming this October I figured what better time than now to start reviewing the entire franchise. So starting from today I'm going to be reviewing each Halloween movie every 2 weeks, starting with John Carpenters original classic and working my way up to Halloween 2 by Rob Zombie. Safe to say these reviews are going to get more painful to write as the movies go on.

On Halloween night of 1963, a young Michael Myers murders his older sister. 15 years later, Myers escapes the institution he's in and goes back to his old town searching for people to kill. This was back when slashers meant something, before Ghost face, before Freddy, even before Jason. There was Michael Myers. There had been prior slashers to Halloween but it was the first to revolutionise the genre. I hadn't watched Halloween prior to this review for years, the movie was released in 1978, that's 40 years ago and it still holds up surprisingly really well. It's a feat to be able to say that after 40 years it's still one of the greatest Horror movies ever made. The Horror genre most likely wouldn't be what it is today without the influence of Halloween.

The film triumphs greatly over its narrative, little is explained to the audience and we're left to piece together the parts ourselves. On the surface this is a story about the Boogeyman, Carpenter takes this tale and squeezes everything out he can for his audience. The brilliance of this movie lies within it's main centre piece, we know little to nothing about Michael Myers and although the sequels tried to add more and more layers of backstory to the character and give him a reason for killing. I prefer the simple fact that he's just plain crazy. This movie is really, really dark, but in a good way because it was shot on a small budget Carpenter knows how to utilise his lighting to create and dark and menacing figure. Michael materializes in and out of shadows, you're never quite sure where he is or where he's going to pop out. I've always loved just seeing his white pale face slowly peaking it's way through the darkness.

The movie also has one of the greatest opening scenes ever. It's one extremely long take as we witness a murder through the eyes of a killer. As it progresses we realise this killer is a little boy and is a young Michael Myers. It must have took them ages to get everything just right in that one scene. Halloween also has one of the greatest, and my personal favourite horror theme of all time. It's so scary and memorable, it's played to highlight something the audience should be paying attention to, whether this be Myers car or Michael standing watching someone. As much as I love the theme, 're watching the movie did make me think that in the first half it's way to over played. I absolutely love the theme but there's literally a theme playing every 5 mintues or so and I just felt that it became to much and slightly overpowering at times.

Halloween is an absolute classic, if you haven't seen it then definetely do yourself a favour and do. It paved the way for all the slashers to come and is still one of the best in its genre. Although many slashers came after him, Michael Myers is still an extremely effective and creepy villian. The theme is downright amazing, even if played a little too much throughout the film. Overall I think Halloween is an amazing movie that deserves all the love and attention that it gets.