Halloween II (Film)
Halloween II is a 1981 horror film and the sequel to the influential film Halloween (1978). Directed by Rick Rosenthal, the film stars Donald Pleasence as Dr. Sam Loomis, Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, and stunt performer Dick Warlock as Michael Myers. Set in the fictional American Midwest town of Haddonfield, Illinois, on Halloween night, 1978, Halloween II immediately follows the events of the first film, and centers on Myers' attempts to find and kill Laurie Strode and Loomis' efforts to track and kill Myers. While other films in the Halloween series follow, this is the last one written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill.
Stylistically, the sequel reproduces certain key elements that made the original Halloween a success such as first-person camera perspectives and unexceptional settings. The film, however, departs significantly from the original by incorporating more graphic violence and gore, making it imitate more closely other films in the emerging slasher film sub-genre. Still, Halloween II was a box office success grossing over $25.5 million at the box office in the United States.
Halloween II was intended to be the last chapter of the Halloween series to revolve around Michael Myers and the Haddonfield setting,[1] but after the lackluster reaction to Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), Myers returned seven years later in the film Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988). The 1998 film Halloween H20: 20 Years Later would also be intended as a sequel to Halloween II.
Stylistically, the sequel reproduces certain key elements that made the original Halloween a success such as first-person camera perspectives and unexceptional settings. The film, however, departs significantly from the original by incorporating more graphic violence and gore, making it imitate more closely other films in the emerging slasher film sub-genre. Still, Halloween II was a box office success grossing over $25.5 million at the box office in the United States.
Halloween II was intended to be the last chapter of the Halloween series to revolve around Michael Myers and the Haddonfield setting,[1] but after the lackluster reaction to Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), Myers returned seven years later in the film Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988). The 1998 film Halloween H20: 20 Years Later would also be intended as a sequel to Halloween II.
Plot
After the film replays the last scene of Halloween, it moves on to Dr. Sam Loomis warning Sheriff Leigh Brackett (Charles Cyphers) that although he has shot Myers six times in the heart, Myers still lives. Meanwhile, Laurie Strode is taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital and Myers wanders around Haddonfield in search of her. One of the EMS attendants, Jimmy (Lance Guest) begins to show an interest in her.
Jimmy tells Laurie that the man who attacked her was Michael Myers, infamous for murdering his older sister fifteen years earlier on Halloween night. After this, Laurie drifts in and out of consciousness, having strange flashbacks about her adoption by the Strodes and visiting a boy in an institution. Myers learns that she is at the hospital. He goes there and murders the hospital's staff one by one. Laurie manages to elude him, but she is limping badly and sedated and is thus unable to move very quickly.
Dr. Loomis and the Haddonfield police continue to search the town for Myers. At the local elementary school they discover that Myers has broken into a classroom and scrawled the word "Samhain" in blood on the chalkboard. Loomis explains that it is a Celtic word that means "lord of the dead", the "end of summer", and "October 31" (Samhain's symbolic importance is not elaborated on until later films). Nurse Marion Chambers (Nancy Stephens), Loomis' assistant, arrives and tells Loomis that she has discovered a secret file on Myers to which he was not privy. The file reveals that Laurie is actually Myers's sister, adopted by the Strodes after Myers killed his older sister, Judith. Chambers also informs Loomis that he has strict orders to return to Smith's Grove.
Instead, Loomis forces the Marshall (John Zenda) and Chambers to drive to the hospital, knowing that Myers will have already tracked Laurie there. When they arrive at the hospital they find that Jimmy and Laurie are the only ones left alive (Jimmy is unconscious in a car). Once again, Loomis shoots Myers several times, but to no avail. After Myers kills the Marshall, Loomis and Laurie retreat into an operating room, and Laurie shoots Myers in the eyes after Loomis is stabbed. Loomis is able to turn on the oxygen and ether tanks in the operating room, utters the line "It's time, Michael", then lights his cigarette lighter, causing an explosion that engulfs him and Myers. A shocked Laurie watches as Michael still pursues her while he is engulfed in flames. Nonetheless, he collapses finally and the film ends as Laurie is transferred to another hospital.
Jimmy tells Laurie that the man who attacked her was Michael Myers, infamous for murdering his older sister fifteen years earlier on Halloween night. After this, Laurie drifts in and out of consciousness, having strange flashbacks about her adoption by the Strodes and visiting a boy in an institution. Myers learns that she is at the hospital. He goes there and murders the hospital's staff one by one. Laurie manages to elude him, but she is limping badly and sedated and is thus unable to move very quickly.
Dr. Loomis and the Haddonfield police continue to search the town for Myers. At the local elementary school they discover that Myers has broken into a classroom and scrawled the word "Samhain" in blood on the chalkboard. Loomis explains that it is a Celtic word that means "lord of the dead", the "end of summer", and "October 31" (Samhain's symbolic importance is not elaborated on until later films). Nurse Marion Chambers (Nancy Stephens), Loomis' assistant, arrives and tells Loomis that she has discovered a secret file on Myers to which he was not privy. The file reveals that Laurie is actually Myers's sister, adopted by the Strodes after Myers killed his older sister, Judith. Chambers also informs Loomis that he has strict orders to return to Smith's Grove.
Instead, Loomis forces the Marshall (John Zenda) and Chambers to drive to the hospital, knowing that Myers will have already tracked Laurie there. When they arrive at the hospital they find that Jimmy and Laurie are the only ones left alive (Jimmy is unconscious in a car). Once again, Loomis shoots Myers several times, but to no avail. After Myers kills the Marshall, Loomis and Laurie retreat into an operating room, and Laurie shoots Myers in the eyes after Loomis is stabbed. Loomis is able to turn on the oxygen and ether tanks in the operating room, utters the line "It's time, Michael", then lights his cigarette lighter, causing an explosion that engulfs him and Myers. A shocked Laurie watches as Michael still pursues her while he is engulfed in flames. Nonetheless, he collapses finally and the film ends as Laurie is transferred to another hospital.
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