It is still Halloween, 1978, and Michael Myers is on the loose after escaping certain death at Dr. Loomis' hands. By now, the entire sheriff's department is hunting for him, and Laurie Strode - his intended victim - has been taken to Haddonfield Hospital to be treated for wounds inflicted by Michael. Only Loomis & Sheriff Brackett- whose daughter had been murdered by Myers - seem aware of Myers' presence in the town, and a young man unknowingly alerts Myers to Laurie's location. When Myers reaches the hospital he eliminates virtually the entire staff in his pursuit. Meanwhile, Marion Chambers - who had been assisting Loomis during the planned pickup of Myers for his trial - meets up with Loomis to advise him that Myers is after Laurie for 1 reason: she is his sister - born 2 years before he was committed. Loomis is forced to overpower the U.S. Marshal who was to return him to Smith's Grove, and head for Haddonfield Hospital to stop Myers' blood spree. But are they too late?

The first time I saw this film, was immediately after I watched Halloween for the first time. And at that time, I had no idea that it took place on the same night. So I never looked at this film as a sequel (even though it obviously is), I looked at it as one complete movie. And I still do back to back marathons of this film, and yes...me being a film student...I have my own personal cut of the film, in which I cut both films together to be one continuous story. Too much time on my hands? Maybe.

So let's get the big question out of the way...is this film as good as the original? Well, in short...no. It mirrors the original very well, but it loses some of the feeling that the original film had going for it. Rick Rosenthal did his best, given he had some really big shoes to fill stepping in a director. John Carpenter and Debra Hill did return to the sequel as well...but only in a writer/producer capacity.

Dr. Loomis plays a much larger role in this film...so it's needless to say that he no longer stands in the bushes all night...he actually is looking for Michael. Especially since he shot the man six times (or seven if you listen to the gun shots at the beginning), and he got up and walked away. So this is where Loomis really makes himself known to the fans, and became the figure that all Halloween fans aspire to be...in a manner of speaking.

Jamie Lee Curtis returns to the role as Laurie Strode, but this time as in a more incapacitated, capacity. And lets talk about the elephant in the room right away. She wears the worst fucking wig I have ever seen put on somebodies head, in this film. It looks like something the prop department ran over on their way to set, and too it to wardrobe and said, “Hey, do you think this will work?” It doesn't folks...and Halloween fans have been blasting that wig for almost three decades now. Jamie Lee does an amazing job in this film, just as she did in the first. But she really isn't the focal point this time around. This story is truly about Michael and Dr. Loomis...more so Loomis than Michael.

Where I say this film isn't quite where the original was, that comes in with Rick Rosenthal, who I mentioned earlier. Sure, he did his best to mimic what Carpenter did in the original so much, that none of his vision comes through at all. It looks like countless cookie-cutter fan films trying to emulate what you saw in that first film. Don't get me wrong, it looks good. It looks like they were trying to recreate it to help push the fact that this is all happening on the same night...but I fell like it could have helped to change things up just a bit. Not the formula mind you...just the look a bit.

This film also got chopped to shit for the television version, and I'll tell you why in a minute. So this film has scenes that were shot at the time of principle photography, and were cut for obvious reasons. For starters, you have useless scenes of the doctor whining about what he did...and that he did it for the right reasons, and it just pulls you out of this film a bit. But the biggest difference comes in the character of Jimmy. If you haven't seen this film, spoiler alert, and skip ahead to the next paragraph. Jimmy survives in this film. That's right, after he collapse dead in the driver seat, you are meant to believe that he is dead...that is, until Laurie is in the ambulance at the end of the film, and a body covered with a sheet sits up (we are to believe this is Michael), and the sheet falls and it is Jimmy, alive and well...well, as well as he can be. His head is wrapped up pretty good. But this scene needed to be deleted. He wasn't a survivor character, and should have always remained on the causality list.

When the filming was done...the studios felt the film wasn't violent enough. The first film wasn't violent, but now at this time, Friday the 13th had come out, and they felt the need to compete with the gore factor. So the producers went to John Carpenter, and asked him to film some scenes that were a little more violent, just to spice the film up a bit. He did, and you can obviously tell which scenes he shot, because there really aren't too many violent scenes in this film...weird for a slasher series huh. Wait for it...they will come.

As much as I love this movie...it hurt me to see how it ended...again if you haven't seen it, stop reading...and WHY THE HELL ARE YOU READING THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE IN THE FIRST PLACE. I hate the fact that they killed Loomis and Michael Myers at the end. They were my own personal Dracula and Van Helsing. And I understand...they were ending the story. And I respect that...doesn't mean I have to like it. Plus, as many of you know...can you really kill off characters in a horror movie? Read further reviews to find out.

So in closing...if you do anything this Halloween, I recommend you watch this and the first film back to back. Really helps to put you in the mood for Halloween, and is textbook origin and ending to any story you could have. It meets all the expectations I had for a sequel...even it not being as good as the first is something I expected. But this movie is my 2nd favorite in this franchise, and for good reason. Plainly...it is a damn good movie.

Till Next Time Kiddies...

-RJ