And this is where the problems with the Halloween sequels start. Is it canon? Is it not? How do you define canon?

John Carpenter got himself a producer’s credit for this film, as well as having a hand in editing and the music for the film, but the biggest indicator, no matter what he thought of the end product, was that John Carpenter, who wrote the original Halloween also wrote this film – yes, he hated it, but he wrote it.

Universal was eager for a sequel to the original film, and so Rick Rosenthal, with Carpenter and Debra Hill’s script delivered. It continues the story of Michael Myers (Dick Warlock), Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance) and Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis in a pretty bad wig).

Laurie is taken to the hospital following the climactic events of the first film (which opens the second film) by some paramedics, including Lance Guest (!), while Loomis hunts Haddonfield for Myers who seems to have survived the bullets Loomis filled him with, not to mention a plunge from a second-storey window.

The killings continue, Loomis argues with the local law enforcement, and Myers begins to make his way to the hospital to finish what he started.

Laurie doesn’t make a lot of appearances in the first two-thirds of the film, Guest’s Jimmy pops in to flirt with her occasionally, but most of the film is frontloaded with Michael adding to the body count as he works his way to and through the hospital.

Loomis is informed of a secret file that he wasn’t given, and surprise, surprise, we’re given a reason as to why Michael has targeted Laurie – she is his older sister.

A little silly, but does serve as an explanation, which makes Micheal a little less scary. Instead of a killing machine that doesn’t pick or choose, there’s now a reason, if you’re in between he and his final target, his sister, he’s going to kill you.

Carpenter’s hand in the re-editing makes the film feel a little close to the original, and there’s some fun scares, but overall, no matter how successful the sequel was, it doesn’t quite stand up to the original – even with Carpenter’s themes weaving through it.

Curtis is horribly underused, Pleasance seems to be having a grand time chewing scenery as Loomis hunts Michael and gets to make the ultimate sacrifice in his attempt to stop Micheal, which, as the film ends, seems pretty final.

It’s not exactly horrible, it definitely could have been better, but for the time, it was entertaining, if run-of-the-mill. It could have put an end to the series right then and there, but if Jason keeps coming back, surely Michael can too.

But Carpenter had other ideas for Universal’s new franchise.