a review of 月光光心慌慌2

Hooptober Night Twenty-Six: and 2020 Cult Movie Challenge Week 43: Slasher Week: Although we get several scenes that remind us of why the first one was so good as a stripped-down suspense/slasher film, there are several signs here that maybe this wasn't a franchise designed to sustain a continuous serialized narrative. The way the movie sidelines Jamie Lee Curtis until the last reel is such a weird choice, especially given how literally disposable the rest of the cast are. It doesn't help that their deaths feel like an early indication of the '80s slasher tendency toward goofy/gimmicky kills over ones that make more logical sense and heighten tension instead of dissipating it. I like the decision to put more of a spotlight on Donald Pleasence as Loomis, and watching him become progressively more and more unglued by the scene, but I would have liked if he and Laurie had been paired up more throughout. The revelation about why Michael specifically targeted Laurie in the previous film is a jaw-droppingly bad retcon that feels like an attempt to add personal stakes to the killings but at the same time it undercuts his projection of pure, faceless sociopathy.