Halloween II

Halloween 2 (1981)

  • 30% of critics liked it
    (33 reviews)

  • 66% of users liked it
    (74,530 ratings)

While John Carpenter's 1978 horror classic Halloween irrevocably changed the style of horror cinema with its simple but relentlessly tense story, it triggered more than a decade's worth of uninspired, exploitative knock-offs, and one could easily list Halloween II among these failures. As… More

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R,
Directed By
Genres
Drama, Horror
In Theaters
Oct 30, 1981 Wide
On DVD
Sep 22, 1998
Universal Pictures

Critic Reviews

  • Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

    Rick Rosenthal, who directed this 1981 sequel, doesn't have Carpenter's expansive, affectionate way with stereotypical characters, and without it they're empty shells -- bodies waiting for the slaughter.

  • Variety Staff, Variety

    This uninspired version amounts to lukewarm sloppy seconds in comparison to the original film that made director John Carpenter a hot property.

  • Derek Adams, Time Out

    The result won't make any converts, but Jamie Lee Curtis is as good as ever.

  • Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

    It's a little sad to witness a fall from greatness, and that's what we get in Halloween II.

  • Janet Maslin, New York Times

    Halloween II is good enough to deserve a sequel of its own.

Read all 21 critic reviews

See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Sophie B


    Contrary to the critics, I actually quite liked this. No it wasn't as good or well done as the first, however it could have been a lot worse. There was still tension and unpredictability, which is good enough for a sequel.

  • Carlos M


    A terrible, useless sequel that invests in mindless gore instead of creating any real tension. Besides, it is ridiculous how it turns Michael Myers into an indestructible monster and leaves the rest of the cast as shallow bodies for slaughter.

  • Eric A


    I love the Halloween films, but my words can't save a failure movie. I think this movie in particular was pretty funny since NO ONE else seemed to be in the hospital as the mayhem was going on! What kind of realism is that?

  • Cory T


    Of course, 'Halloween' is the forefather of the 70's and 80's slasher genre only because of its inexplicable popularity. To me, it's dull, reductive and hardly worthy of being nominated as innovative (the stalking POV was implemented before and in a… More

  • Alexander D


    To barely alter the most famous quote from THE SHINING: "All gore and no plot makes HALLOWEEN II a dull film." It seems now that Michael Myers just loves to heartlessly, mindlessly slice and dice his victims (which is technically every young person in sight). Like the… More

Read all 20 featured audience ratings

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