Halloween II

Three years after unleashing his box office busting independent horror hit, writer/producer John Carpenter picked up right where the original left off with 1981's HALLOWEEN II.

Donald Pleasance is back as Dr. Loomis, tracking Michael Myers as he refuses to die.

Jamie Lee Curtis returns as Laurie, wounded in the hospital and setting up plenty of Halloween night terror as our killer extends visiting hours to come after Laurie.

The moments in this sequel that stick with you are some of the graphic throwaways, including a young boy who's bitten into a razor blade (gross!) a claw hammer in the head (thump!) and a well staged fiery patrol car/pedestrian accident that would inspire me to make all my deputies go back to driving school.

Director Rick Rosenthal (Bad Boys with Sean Penn) keeps things moving by mimicking Carpenter with long tracking shots and quiet moments that disturb.

Charles Cypher (The Fog, Escape From New York) shows why he's a Carpenter regular.

Lance Guest (The Last Starfighter, Jaws: The Revenge) is 80's cool as a paramedic trying to protect Laurie.

There are plenty of knives, buckets of blood and some good old fashioned suspense as our killer refuses to go down, no matter how many times you shoot him.

All set to a great Carpenter/Alan Howarth music score, HALLOWEEN II is the best of the sequels and a decent successor to the original, earning a B-.

You'll never hear "Mr. Sandman" quite the same way again!

Followed the next year by one of the strangest sequels ever made, "Halloween III: Season of the Witch" and it went downhill from there.