Halloween II (1981 Rick Rosenthal)

Beginning at the end of I (like Bride of Frankenstein) we're still in the same night and Michael Myers - who has by now developed silly supernatural properties - remains unkillable. Unlike the original it's non-stop slaughter, and we're missing the slow build up and routine behaviour of kids and teenagers that marked the first one as being so good. Never mind - we still are treated to creepy and clever plotting from Carpenter and Debra Hill, and the same tantalising use of widescreen, though this time it's not so much the shadowy empty spaces you have to look out for as a variety of other ways of shocking you are presented (it's still - to me - very much on the wave of the Val Lewton films).

Carpenter's music has been given an extra synthesizer treatment (the original was played on a piano), making it quite one of the most angular scores I've heard (its high frequencies bound to disturb dogs). Dean Cundey repeats his wonderful night / Panaglide lighting (less blue light this time, I noticed).

So yes, it has brilliant moments and wonderfully creepy deserted hospital sequences, and is quite funny.

Below, two variations of the same (creepy) composition. In the first the killer is close left foreground, in the one below he's all the way in the far right background:

The producers - Hill and Carpenter again - have not let the budget go to their heads by shelling out for a decent cast (not referring to Jamie Lee, naturally). Didn't I make them enough money??