Each horror franchise has its hated bastard step-child, and this is Halloween's. It's the sequel that Michael doesn't appear in because Tom Atkins is too much of a bad-ass. I know I shouldn't, but I kind of like this movie. Don't get me wrong, it's pretty goofy, it's verging into the "awesomely bad" category, but it's a fun movie. It's so damned weird, it has a couple of effective, disturbing gore scenes, a couple of likable performers, and a pretty neat idea that deserves to be in a more solid movie.
That idea? That some ancient warlock, posing as a toy manufacturer, is getting back at the world for the commercialization of the holiday, making the day mean nothing but kids in costumes begging for candy. He's going to teach 'em a lesson about what Halloween really means to his people, by bringing back some old fashioned sacrificin', which he plans to accomplish by turning the commercialization of Halloween against everyone; his cursed masks are the hot Halloween costume of the year, which will kill kids when a subliminal signal transmitted in a giveaway commercial airs on the 31st. The Silver Shamrock company's persistant commercial is hilariously irritating, to both viewers and characters, and it leads to a pretty tense final scene of the movie.
But so much of the movie is just so damned goofy, there's a lot of logic problems, and I honestly can't tell if it's supposed be taken seriously and has just aged poorly or what. But, like I said, the movie is fun and does have some things going for it. Even though the main character of Challis is a bad father, bad husband and bad doctor with major weaknesses for booze and women, you can't help but like the sonuvabitch because he's played by Tom Atkins. I think the character is meant to be more of a sad-sack screw-up, a flawed guy whose hands the fate of millions lies in, but Atkins makes him cool and, like, James Bond. It is a little strange that he's a doctor who's so intrigued that he's investigating all of this, though -- I've wondered if the movie would play better if he had been a P.I. hired by Stacey Nelkin's Ellie character to look into her father's death and the Silver Shamrock company. That would have given it a neat, noirish feel. Another bit of great casting is Daniel O'Herlihy as Cochran, who is having a blast making the character at turns charming and sinister.
In the absence of Michael Myers, the main physical obstacle faced by our protagonists is an army of blank-faced men in suits, who turn out to be androids created by Cochran. Kind of funny that Michael Myers always moved android-like and here his replacements are actual androids. I can't say I find them that scary, save for the one scene where there's several standing in a line outside of Challis' motel at night, staring.
It's a very flawed movie, but entertaining, and I don't find myself bored by it the way I'll be with most of the other standard Halloween sequels.
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