1981
9 kills
First Kill - 11 minutes
This movie picks up right where part 1 ends. They even redo the last scene from part 1. Loomis comes in and blows Michael away, only to realize that he disappears again.
Well, Michael isn't stupid. He knows he needs to find a weapon before he does anything else. Luckily there's an old lady making a sandwich with a huge butcher knife about 2 or 3 houses away. Michael takes the knife and doesn't even bother to kill the old lady or her husband. He does take out the girl next door. I guess he needed a place to hide out and collect his thoughts.
Meanwhile, Laurie is being taken to the hospital and Loomis is helping the Sheriff search for Michael. After looking around for a little while, they see someone walking with a mask like Michael's. They startle the guy and he stops walking, only to be completely smashed by a flying truck! Great scene. But was it Michael? Nah. (Turns out, it was Ben Tramer! Ben is the kid who Laurie talked about in part 1. Remember, Annie was trying to set them up?) Anyway, as Ben's burning, the Sheriff is informed about Annie, his daughter. (These are more great examples of how the 2 movies go together perfectly.)
Now, how does Michael find Laurie? Easy! This boy is walking with a boom box up on his shoulder. Yeah, he's listening to the news. Michael walks by him just in time to hear that "the victim was taken to Haddonfield Memorial." He walks down the street, looks up, and wow! A sign pointing the way to Haddonfield Memorial! So, he heads on over there to start some more killing.
At the Myers' house, as bodies of Laurie's friends are being dragged out, the sheriff finally decides he's had enough of Dr. Hamlet, I mean, Loomis. He's sent away, ordered to leave town, with a police escort. As he's on his way out of town, though, he's informed of a secret file that he's never seen... The file which states that Laurie Strode is Micheal Myers' little sister. Loomis immediately turns around and heads for the hospital...
Enough of the plot, let's talk about Loomis! Played by Donald Pleasence, Loomis is the star of this series. This is the last time we see Jamie Lee until H20, and let's face it... half of her time in the series is spent running and screaming. Loomis, my friends, steals the show. One of his great lines takes place right in the beginning of this movie. After they realize Michael is gone, a neighbor comes out and says, "Is this a joke? I've been trick-or-treated to death tonight!" Loomis, stunned by this guy's stupidity, replies, "You don't know what death is." Another great line is when the sheriff tells him, "No man could take six shots." Loomis shouts, "I tell you! This isn't a man!!" He delivers his best soliloquy about halfway through the movie and is very disturbed when he's interrupted by Ben Tramer's friends, who are worried about their missing pal. Loomis could've gone on for hours...
Now, I did catch Loomis in one error. Throughout the entire movie, he's shouting to everyone "I shot him six times! I shot him six times!" (He's very proud of his sharp-shooting skills.) But if you watch the beginning (I also want to see the end of part 1 again to see if it matches up) you'll see he actually shoots him seven times. I don't know. Maybe he missed once and Michael just flew back to trick him. Either way, it's a minor mistake. I still think Loomis is great, especially when he's doing his gun-wielding maniac bit.
And Michael... great as as usual. There isn't a lot of variety in his kills, but these movies are more about the evil and the one goal: killing Laurie Strode. He slashes a guy's throat and it looks pretty good for 1981. He has the usual stomach stabbings as well. My favorite may be when he sticks a needle in this guy's head. I can barely watch that kill. The point is, you can't go wrong when Michael's doing the killing.
As for the movie itself, I rank it right up there with part 1. I think it needs to be viewed immediately after part 1 (on Halloween Night!) to have the full affect. It is an original that will never be beaten. (If you saw the stupid movie Valentine that came out earlier this year, which Rev. Blood never did a review of, you'll see them try to copy the hot tub kill, yet it lacks the balls of a Michael Myers kill.) Like I've always said, Michael (in the first 2 movies) is the only killer that could be real. Another one who could be real is Jason's mom, but Jason himself is a very unrealistic character. Angela from Sleepaway Camp is just silly and unbelievable. And Freddy? Ha. This series does start to lose credibility after this one (and I don't even consider part 3 as part of the series) but as long as Michael is killing, we'll keep watching!
-- Coolio
