Halloween II (1981)

Written by Filipe Manuel Neto on November 8, 2023

An honorable continuation, which respects the previous work without bringing anything new.

I don't like Halloween, and I've had time to say it before, but I recognize that it's the best time for good horror films to be broadcast on television. These days, I saw this film as a follow-up to “Halloween”. I have no doubt that it is a worthy sequel, perhaps one of the best I have seen, in that it is strictly faithful to the original and is made with quality.

It is directed by Rick Rosenthal, but the team and cast remained the same, with the addition of specific names, and John Carpenter's inspiration continues in the script he wrote and in the attention he undoubtedly gave to the entire project. Pleasance is the actor who looks in the best shape here. He finally had better material and more time to show some value on stage. Jamie Lee Curtis has essentially stayed the same and retains much of what he did. It doesn't disappoint, but it doesn't bring any surprises either. The soundtrack also doesn't bring anything new, maintaining the essence of the first film's score, which is positive.

After its initial success, it is no wonder that this film's budget was more substantial than that of the first, and that the number of corpses that fall throughout the plot also increases. A plot that is not particularly brilliant, well written and elegant, and that falls into the most basic clichés of slasher horror without any shame, but that manages, at least, to respect coherence with the original film and give the villain an almost iconic aura, an invulnerability that makes him unstoppable and impossible to kill, and that turned him into a cinema icon. In addition to these points of relative quality, we also have good lighting and cinematography, good use of sets and filming locations, better quality effects that are as well executed and practical as those previously used. Everything comes together, therefore, to form the image of a film that is not surprising, but manages to respect and stand alongside its predecessor.