Set shortly after the excellent first film, we find Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) being taken to hospital after her traumatic encounter with The
Shape, AKA Michael Myers. Meanwhile, despite shooting him six times (‘I
shot him six times! Six times! He’s not Human!’) Dr. Loomis believes
Michael Myers is still walking the streets and he and the sheriff (Charles
Cyphers) hunt him down. Hmm, could he be headed for the hospital? And just
why is he so hell-bent on getting this particular girl? Luke, I am Your
Father…oops, wrong movie.
For years I’ve been saying that this Rick Rosenthal sequel was the best of the rest of the series, but on reflection, it does not hold up well at
all. For one thing, the cast is less interesting this time around,
although greater in number. Oh sure, Donald Pleasence (easily the best
thing in the film) is great fun running around like a stark raving mad
Ahab of the medical profession, and Leo Rossi (anyone seen the
never-ending and aptly titled ‘Relentless’ series?) is perfectly sleazy as
the hospital worker you just hope will get it in the worst way.
But then there’s Jamie Lee. Not only is she less interesting than in the first film (where we were with her every step of the way screaming for her
to look behind her etc.), whispering and mumbling way too much, but I
can’t help but feel she didn’t really start to act until ‘Trading Places’
(the film where she finally got naked. Connection anyone?). Here she’s
almost non-existent, and the same goes for her abortive romantic interest
Lance Guest as a shy member of the hospital staff. They make for a pretty
glum leading pair and aside from a brief cameo by then-unknown Dana
Carvey, there’s no one else of interest. In the first film we at least had
the quite underrated Nancy Loomis and Curtis was much better.
Rosenthal’s direction is fine, there are one or two choice kills (the hot tub bit is one of the most memorable in the series), but there’s one huge
speed bump to get over- the cinematography and lighting. In the case of
the latter, there doesn’t appear to be any. Scenes set in near total
darkness are obviously meant to be that way, but we can’t see a damn thing
in some scenes, notably the outdoor scenes with Dr. Loomis and the
sheriff.
The less said about the music score the better, apparently the work of
John Carpenter ‘in association with Alan Howarth’, though I’ll bet it’s
the other way around. It’s limp, including the requisite ‘stings’.
OVERALL SUMMARY
It’s just a ‘stalk and slash’ film, but so was the first one. It was
better, though this still stands as far from the worst of its type. I
guess when you see the name Dino Di Laurentiis in the opening credits, and
still watch the film, you get what you deserve. For die-hard slasher fans
only.
