New Jersey Stage 2015 - Issue 10 | Page 34

Halloween II (1981) Halloween had become the most profitable independent movie ever so it didn’t take a psychic to see a sequel would be on the way. Compared to today, when we get a new Paranormal Activity movie every October, a three year gap seems like an age. In the intervening years, Carpenter’s original had spawned dozens of imitations, most of them frankly unwatchable. Thanks to the success of Friday the 13th, the elements NewJerseyStage.com that made Carpenter’s film so effective (suspense, mood, tension and atmosphere) had been replaced with gore and over the top death scenes. Each new slasher flick attempted to outdo the competition by giving us increasingly inventive death scenes. The simple act of stabbing a victim with a kitchen knife had become passe; audiences now wanted to see killings that utilized every household implement possible. 2015 - ISSUE 10 34