Halloween II

THE GIST: Following Michael Myers's attack on her, Laurie is transported to the local hospital for treatment. Michael isn't dead though, and follows her there.

Halloween II picks up precisely where its predecessor left off, moves the action to a hospital, and proceeds to double down on the "c'mon!!" factor.

At least it's finally revealed why Michael is hell bent on pursuing Laurie, a glaring omission from the first movie if you ask me. I wonder if John Carpenter, Halloween's creator and director, never expected the movie to have a sequel, so Laurie's backstory was conveniently made to dovetail into the original's story.

Naturally, the thing that sets anyone aback is Myers's non-death at the end of the first movie. He gets shot six times, falls off a balcony, and yet simply gets up and walks away. Talk about defying logic.

Let me ease things for you, since this is never really fleshed out: Dr. Loomis, Myers's therapist, mentions that after all the years of treating Michael, he's come to realize that Myers is pure evil; that there's nothing human left behind his eyes. Just accept this fact, that Michael Myers is some sort of demon, and you can more readily accept his ability to just keep getting up and going on killing people. He's like a zombie in that nothing really can stop him.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Halloween II is much worse than the opening chapter on the incredulity-chart. If you absolutely loved the first one, then go ahead and enjoy this. Otherwise, steer clear.

Grade: 4