Halloween II (Film review)

1981 Universal Pictures
Directed by: Rick Rosenthal; Written by: John Carpenter and Debra Hill
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 92 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 7/10

Laurie Strode is having one of the worst Halloween nights in history. A massive, terrifying masked killer named Michael Myers has dispatched most of her friends, and nearly dispatched her. The 21-year-old Myers, who killed his older sister when he was only six years old, had escaped from a mental institution, and was barely prevented from killing Laurie when his psychiatrist, Dr. Loomis, arrived and put six bullets in him. Six bullets may be more than enough to kill an average man, but Michael is something else: The Shape, an almost supernatural evil force that only wants to kill. As a battered Laurie is driven to the hospital, Myers's supposed corpse is gone. Looks like he's on the loose and on the hunt for Laurie--and intent on killing everyone who gets in his way.
Horror movie sequels are often not only disappointing, but dreadful. They often not only miss what was great about the original, but lack a general competency. Halloween II is almost shockingly competent. First time director, Rick Rosenthal, takes a large page in style from John Carpenter's original, working from a script that Carpenter himself has written. With this film taking place on the same night, and starting just minutes after the original ended, it feels almost like the second part of a two-part story.
With that said, Halloween II also feels like it's trying to do doing the same thing as the first film. There's nothing fresh here, outside of a late-film plot twist that has no actual bearing on anything that's happening onscreen. In fact, the twist actually works negatively to take some of the mystery out of Myers. The mystery of Myers' darkness and powerful pure evil, along with his seemingly random mano a mano against his exact opposite in Laurie Strode's light and powerful pure good, is one of the original film's greatest assets, which this twist weakens. It seems like a desperate attempt to inject something different into the film, yet also just feels like it's cribbing from the previous year's The Empire Strikes Back, to infinitely inferior results.
With that said...this is still a very solid film. The horror, suspense, and style are out in full force, with Myers again popping up all over the background of the frame in increasingly creepy ways. Curtis is again excellent as the this time beleaguered Strode, and the scenes of her just trying to crawl and hide on her crippled legs are thrilling. Again as well, the scenes where she has to take action, showing a competency and assertive resolve that sets her apart from her dead peers, are supremely satisfying. They're just...not nearly as satisfying as they were in the original. It's like a second bowl of ice cream. It still hits the spot, but it's hard not to think about how much better that first bowl was.