Halloween II Movie Review

I had very little memory of this first sequel. Some of it looked familiar as I watched it for this series, but mostly I don't think I ever really saw it.

Click here for a list of all other films reviewed and considered for this October 2012 series of horror reviews.

These days film sequels are almost obligatory when it comes to any big budget action, comedy, or horror film. Studios are always looking to create a franchise cash cow that they can continue milking for minimal investment and effort. But there was a time when sequels were mostly limited to horror films. It was a pretty obvious fit. Films produced in the horror genre were traditionally low budget films written quickly and on the cheap, using casts of mostly unknown actors (though many of these such as Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Bacon, Johnny Depp, and Jennifer Aniston have gone on to become stars), shot and produced in an almost guerilla style in a matter of a few weeks. The popular ones made significant returns on investment, so sequels were usually inevitable. What’s more, they were (and continue to be) almost universally excoriated by critics because they tend to be cheap retreads of what came before. It’s insulting to people like me who spend a great deal of time watching movies.

From My Collection: Horror Classic Review of Halloween

For me this was always one of the scariest horror movies of my childhood and youth. I'm not even sure I saw this in its entirety before my teenage years or even before college, but I'm sure I caught pieces of it here and there.

Click here for a list of all other films reviewed and considered for this October 2012 series of horror reviews.

John Carpenter’s Halloween remains one of the great classics of the horror genre with good reason. It spawned a tireless list of copycats that attempted to repeat the formulas of a low-budget film with a psycho killer picking off young people who take drugs and have sex. Unfortunately, the writers and directors responsible for films like Friday the 13^th and even the Halloween sequels forgot about the great artistry that went into Halloween. In a way, Carptenter’s original film is the purest of the slasher films. It is simply constructed and executed from a smart screenplay by Carpenter and Debra Hill. It features a memorably hunting musical score by Carpenter and a faceless killer of blank expression and inexplicable motivation upsetting the delicate balance of suburban America.

Terror Train Movie Review

The story goes that I was three years old when I saw this film and it gave me nightmares and a general inability to go to sleep on my own. I was permitted to watch it because my sister, nine years older than me, was into horror films and my eight year old brother just didn't believe these movies. No one expected I would be so affected by it. I had no memory of it growing up and I never watched it until I decided to include it for this series.

Click here for a list of all other films reviewed and considered for this October 2012 series of horror reviews

Terror Train is just one in a series of late 70s and early 80s slasher films attempting to capitalize on the popularity of the genre, especially after John Carpenter’s great Halloween. But Terror Train, directed by Roger Spittiswoode from an inane script by T. Y. Drake, contains none of the artistry of Halloween and instills almost none of the fear engendered by Michael Myers or the terror of the title. About the only thing it shares in common with its predecessor and inspiration is Jamie Lee Curtis as the shrieking star, a pure and virginal young woman whose chaste behavior is ostensibly what helps her survive. Both films tally up the body count of young people, but they are far less interesting or cinematic here.