Halloween II (1981) is an Underrated Sequel Because it’s Not Really a Sequel

In my mind, you’re not a true cinephile unless you have at least a handful of truly wild movie opinions. The kind of scalding hot takes that you truly believe despite understanding how insane it sounds in casual conversation. It’s things like this—our trivial opinions about art—that separate men from machines.

Whether or not I’m a “true cinephile” is certainly up for debate. But I minted one of my boneheaded cinematic convictions eight years ago during a rewatch of the Halloween franchise: I realized that I prefer Halloween II to Halloween, and I didn’t care who knew it.

After a rewatch, I’m ready to walk that take back a little bit. But not enough to throw it out just yet.

This opinion was formed on the basis of two conjoined opinions. The foundational belief: I think Halloween is a bit overrated. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a very good film. The storytelling is strong, the craft is palpable, the cultural impact is unignorable, and the fact that it terrified audiences during its first run shouldn’t be dismissed just because it’s been imitated to death.¹ All that said…it’s not in my top 5 John Carpenter films, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.²

And then there’s the fact that I’ve always found Halloween II to be underrated. This is always a bit more difficult to explain. Especially when I’m comparing it to its predecessor.

But let’s start with the easy part. Halloween II isn’t a sequel in the conventional sense. It doesn’t pick up a year or a decade later as Laurie Strode deals with the trauma of that night or as Michael Myers breaks free from a new set of shackles. It picks up right where Halloween leaves off. After all, Halloween ends with Michael’s body vanishing, letting us know that he’s still out there. So why not show him continue his reign of terror over Haddonfield?

The journey doesn’t just continue on the neighborhood streets, though. Carpenter and his partner Debra Hill (who co-wrote the screenplay) were smart enough to quickly move the action to a different setting.³ The hospital location may seem obvious—every small town has one, and it’s where Laurie would logically end up after the night she endured—but it still presents a refreshing change of pace.

The Haddonfield Memorial Hospital is kind of a perfect slasher movie setting too. It’s full of tools and machines that could be wielded as weapons. It’s run by a small staff of people who seem largely unphased by the breaking news reports of a masked killer wandering the streets. And it’s eerily quiet. Far too empty and uneventful for Halloween night.⁴ It adds to the previous film’s grounding of Haddonfield as an idyllic suburban community.

Yes, Halloween II ups the ante with more murders, more mayhem, and more automobile explosions.⁵ But I think director Rick Rosenthal isn’t given enough credit for doing a fine job in an unenviable position.

Though Rosenthal and Carpenter are close in age—Carpenter was 30 when filming Halloween in 1978, and Rosenthal was 31 when he was passed the torch—Carpenter had considerably more experience when he was running his set. Halloween was his third feature film, and while his previous film, Assault on Precinct 13, didn’t do very well at the box office, it did premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Rosenthal only had a well-received short film from his days at the American Film Institute and an episode of the short-lived Secrets of Midland Heights to his name.

And that’s all ignoring the fact that he had enormous shoes to fill. Carpenter hadn’t yet been minted a master of horror, but Halloween was a sensation, grossing $70 million on a low six-figure budget.

But you wouldn’t know it from the final product. Even if Rosenthal’s assignment was to imitate Carpenter’s direction (and maybe add a bit of extra juice to it), his command of the action is steady, and he builds the suspense well. Even Roger Ebert had nice things to say about Rosenthal when reviewing his second feature, Bad Boys.⁶ “The direction,” he said, “is sure-footed, confident and fluid,” going on to note that “we are in the hands of a fine director.”⁷

Rosenthal would go on to have a career as a director (or producer) for hire on dozens of TV shows, but he did return to the Halloween franchise years later to direct Halloween: Resurrection, and I think that’s pretty neat. But not as neat as his greatest accomplishment during the production of Halloween II: Rick met his wife, actress Nancy Stephens (who plays supporting character Marion Chambers), on set, and apparently they fell madly in love. They were married five days after the film wrapped, and after raising three children, they’re still married today. How about that.

Do I still believe Halloween II is a superior film to Halloween? Maybe it doesn’t have to be that cut and dry. Maybe I can give them the same score on Letterboxd and say that I have more fun watching Halloween II while acknowledging Halloween as the greater, more lasting achievement. (And if you catch me on the right day, I might tell you that Halloween III: Season of the Witch is better than either of them.)

Halloween II is now streaming on Peacock, AMC+, and Philo, and it is available to rent elsewhere.

1. I will remind you, though, that despite being highly influential in its own right, Halloween owes a sizable debt to films like Peeping Tom and Black Christmas.

2. Am I judging Halloween too harshly because I can’t extrapolate it from the context of its director’s full body of work? Perhaps. But it’s not my fault John Carpenter made multiple masterpieces.

3. Carpenter said that his writing of the screenplay “mainly dealt with a lot of beer, sitting in front of a typewriter saying ‘What the fuck am I doing? I don’t know.’” He’s just like us, screenwriters.

4. I asked my doctor girlfriend if holidays like Halloween are busier than normal days. She pointed out that the emergency departments often are, especially toward the end of the month when people run out of money. I hadn’t considered the financial ramifications. How sad.

5. This is an underrated aspect of Halloween II. Seeing that police car crash into that van and instantly explode always makes me holler.

6. No, not that Bad Boys. The one with Sean Penn. It’s really good.

7. Though his issue seemed to be mainly with the script, Ebert wasn’t as kind in his review of Halloween II: “The plot of Halloween II absolutely depends, of course, on our old friend the Idiot Plot, which requires that everyone in the movie behave at all times like an idiot. That’s necessary because if anyone were to use common sense, the problem would be solved and the movie would be over.”