Horror 2026 Countdown: Halloween II (1981)

 Halloween II (1981), dir. Rick Rosenthal, Dino De Laurentiis Corporation 

A film that could only be brought about via lawsuit. Seriously, John Carpenter got himself into a spot of trouble. Irwin Yarblans, who produced the first film and had the idea of a psycho stalking babysitters, had a handshake agreement with Carpenter about doing his next picture, which he assumed would be a sequel. When word got back to him that John would focus on some flick about vengeful ghosts, the lawyers were sent for, and this was the resulting agreement. 

October 31, 1978

Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) has had a pretty bad night. Her friends have been murdered, and she's been stalked and slashed by some nut called Michael Myers (Dick Warlock). She's saved when Michael's doctor, Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) bursts into the room and pumps several rounds into Michael, sending him crashing to the ground outside. 

After comforting the injured girl, Dr. Loomis rushes to the window only to find nothing. Michael, injured or not, still has things to do. Stealing another kitchen knife, he wastes no time in killing local teen Alice (Anne Bruner).

Laurie is rushed to the hospital while Dr. Loomis talks with Sheriff Brackett (Charles Cyphers), who quickly leaves when his daughter Annie (Nancy Loomis) is discovered among the dead at the Wallace house. Deputy Hunt (Hunter Van Leer) takes over, but he clearly has no respect for Loomis. When a figure is burnt to a crisp by a police car crashing into him and a parked van, Hunt wants to close the book on Michael Myers, but Loomis insists they must be sure. 

Back at the mostly abandoned hospital, Laurie is tended to by paramedic Jimmy (Lance Guest). When her location is broadcast over the radio, Michael figures he has one more stop to make that night. 

Well, more like two. The police check out a break in at the local elementary school and find some scribbled nonsense word over the blackboard. Loomis isn't quick to dismiss it, as 'Samhain' refers to the ancient Celtic word for Halloween. 

That's when nurse Marion Chambers (Nancy Stephans) pops in. It seems, in light of recent events, it might be in Loomis's interest to see ALL of the info in the file of Michael Myers. Such as another sibling...

Yeah, this is the one that started it. Michael and Laurie being siblings honestly took away the mystery for me. What made Myers so scary is that he had no motive. He just is, like a shark. Here he wants to murder Laurie because they're siblings? You've taken the Boogeyman and given him proper shapes and limits. You made him smaller and that's not quite forgivable.