Halloween (Carpenter, 1978) – I am fully aware this is supposed to be the superior film and bestest slasher ever. It's just not (IMO). I mean, it's still a pretty decent movie, and I still think it is an important slasher and has to be seen by any fan of the genre, but there's so many things that just don't work for me that it's hard not to think it's overrated (I don't think, for example, that it should be considered more important than Black Christmas, nor a better film). Most of all – and I guess it's kind of a “hot take” – Donald Pleasance's Dr Loomis kind of ruins the film. That character is so bad that I can't rewatch Halloween without considering him an accomplice to Myers, and probably the crazier of the pair. I've watched the extended TV version and it only adds to that feeling (his reaction towards a 6 y/o boy (foreshadowing his inexcusable behavior around the little girl in parts 4&5?) certainly aren't that of a psychiatrist). Don't worry, I know the film is not supposed to be read that way, but the guy leaves the hospital car for Myers to escape with, knows instantly where Myers is going, makes one stop during his 150 miles trip to Haddonfield, exactly where Myers stopped to kill someone and steal his overalls, there he manages to find the nurse's matchbox in the grass but not the body that lies three feet away from him, he sends the cops in every and all directions except the right one, he pretends he doesn't see the hospital car at the hardware store, pretends he doesn't see it right next to him the whole time he waits at the Myers house, and he tells the sheriff not to inform the population. The guy is shady, obsessed with a patient that hasn't said a word in 15 years. It's hard to think it's not blanks that he shoots at Myers.
I won't even comment on the fact that the 6 y/o boy who spends 15 years staring at the window without speaking to anyone knows how to drive when he escapes, because it's probably Loomis who taught him. The extended version has the “Sister” marking in Myers' hospital room that introduced the sequel's family twist. I think it kind of saves the day for the killer, who's too easily read as a frustrated incel who follows women around. At some point, he follows Laurie and her friend, in his stolen hospital car, from daylight to darkness, without them noticing him even though they know a weirdo with a stationwagon has been following them. He's bumper to bumper the whole time! This goes with my second big problem with the film: Carpenter's spatial construction. The body in the grass, the car that Loomis doesn't see even though it's right beside him, the doors that don't open the right way, the interiors that don't match the exteriors of the houses, and Laurie's fall in the staircase – nothing works. You have to give it to Carpenter for a few amazing moments (Myers coming out of the shadows, wow, but right after that he tries to stab Laurie and misses her even though she's 3 inches from him and doesn't see him coming, which for some reason pushes her over the handrail and into the stairs), but I just don't think he's that good a director at that time. The robbery at the hardware store is really hard to place in the timeline too. The film has some cool atmosphere at times, but it has so many weaknesses that I have a hard time going over 5/10.
Halloween II (Rosenthal, 1981) – It had been a while since I'd seen this one. I usually refer to it as my favorite slasher, and it might just be. The last 30 minutes probably are. The ride to get there is a little bumpy, but this last stretch has Michael Myers at his most threatening (and better looking), and manages to create a dark and claustrophobic atmosphere in the hospital. Dr Loomis even almost looks sane and credible (not really but a lot more than usual) for a few minutes there. The first hour is certainly a lot weaker, with more than a few weak characters and with cheap and ineffective “scares” (the cat in the dumpster, the killer behind the closing door – stuff that makes you wonder how few ideas Carpenter was left with), even one that is so weirdly constructed that I had to rewind it a few times (the girl goes towards the door at the right of the frame, something very common to get the spectator's attention to that side of the frame, the jump scare comes from another side, sure, but you have Myers jumping on her from mid-frame as if he was... on the floor?) - but I think it was the only time in this one I had to try to figure out spatial construction, a huge improvement on the original. Some of the kills in the first hour are way too sophisticated for a man who's been locked up since he was 6 years old, but since he somehow learned to drive, I guess he might have pick up some other skills. It's still a little inconsistent with his other range of actions (can't push a door open, walks through it). Points to the sheriff for acknowledging Loomis is in cahoots with Myers. 6/10
I look like an idiot now of course because that is one beautiful film. Absolutely loved it. 
