☆★☆★☆★☆★
Roger Ebert gave Halloween II two stars, called it a fall from greatness, and criticized its violent escalation and “idiot plot”; the hosts defend horror as a thrill-focused amusement ride.
In the discussion (2)
- Ebert argues common sense would end the movie, while the panel says plotting is the wrapper around murder-set-piece thrills.
- The hosts land around two to two-and-a-half stars while acknowledging nostalgia and its effectiveness for a first-time child viewer.
Laurie’s absent adoptive parents may be worse than the Home Alone parents; Brackett and every Haddonfield adult also fail to protect children.
In the discussion (2)
- They never appear despite their daughter being stabbed, hospitalized, attacked again, and transferred after dawn.
- Adoption might explain emotional distance but not their total absence; an all-night adult party is the comic alternate explanation.
No casting what-ifs are found.
In the discussion (1)
- No casting what-ifs are found.
Tom Hanks for Jimmy, Heather Thomas for the blonde nurse, and Catherine Bach for Karen are proposed without a final vote.
In the discussion (1)
- Young Hanks is supported partly because he resembles Lance Guest in the period.
Research covers an abandoned high-rise sequel, Carpenter’s sibling explanation, the demolished hospital, Shoop’s ear infection and cold set, Carpenter’s reshoots, Warlock’s dual role, and the TV ending.
In the discussion (6)
- An early sequel concept moved Laurie to a high-rise years later, a setup the panel strongly prefers.
- Carpenter said the sibling twist came from needing any remaining story.
- Morningside Hospital was demolished and replaced by senior apartments.
- Shoop said the cold, dirty hot-tub water gave her an ear infection while the actors had to portray boiling heat.
- Carpenter judged Rosenthal’s cut insufficiently scary and added material including boombox boy to explain how Michael locates the hospital.
- Warlock both played Michael and drove the police car that killed Ben Tramer.
The elastic timeline, Michael’s bodily needs and unexplained skills, unguarded Laurie, odorless burned body, Karen’s attraction to Bud, workplace rules, scalpel physics, scalding water, and survivable headshots generate the nits.
In the discussion (7)
- Halloween’s first night seems to end around ten or eleven, yet downtown remains busy and the hospital action stretches plausibly or implausibly until dawn.
- Michael’s eating, digestion, driving, Samhain knowledge, needle use, and ability to continue after gunshots are explained only by Loomis’s insistence that he is not human.
- No police guard Laurie even though the town knows an active killer attacked her.
- Investigators casually inspect a newly incinerated body without reacting to heat or odor.
- Karen’s attraction to Bud is doubted; his own ban on patient relationships does not stop him from having sex with a coworker on shift.
- A scalpel cannot plausibly lift a full adult into the air, and scalding water should burn Michael’s hands.
- Two close-range shots from Laurie’s Colt should do more than neatly blind Michael.
Questions cover Brackett’s marriage, police consequences and Ben Tramer litigation, Laurie confronting her parents, unused Dana Carvey comedy, hospital youth, and Michael’s impossible knowledge.
In the discussion (5)
- Brackett may be blamed and divorced after failing to warn or protect Annie.
- The officer who killed Ben may be suspended or retained during the shortage, while Ben’s parents have a powerful claim against Haddonfield.
- Laurie must ask her parents why they hid her adoption and sibling and remained absent through two attacks.
- Carvey could have contributed a Church Lady broadcast or impressions instead of silent background work.
- The hospital improbably concentrates many young, attractive employees in a tiny town.
Halloween is the clear double-feature choice.
In the discussion (1)
- Halloween is the clear double-feature choice.
Roger Ebert's review