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I watched the Scream Factory "Producer's Cut" release of this film, which is supposedly better than the original theatrical release, and I have to say I enjoyed this film better than I remembered from the last time I watched it, which I think was back in the days of VHS. Six years have passed since the events of the last Halloween film. The one made no sense, ending with an unexplained mysterious man in black shooting up a police station and freeing a captured Michael Myers. Although a lot of time has passed between films, this sequel continues the bizarre "Thorn Trilogy" plotline about Michael Myers being controlled by a cult that is forcing him to kill off his relatives on Halloween. The film starts with Michael and his niece, Jamie Lloyd, now older and no longer played by Danielle Harris, kidnapped by the cult's Man in Black. From there, the story just gets weirder and weirder, with kidnapped babies, fanatical cult members, and even attempts to clone Myers! It's completely bonkers, and that's why I like this one better than part five, but it's still not all that great. Another fun element is the return of a teenage Tommy Doyle, who Jamie Lee Curtis babysat in the first film, played by a young Paul Rudd (billed as Paul Stephen Rudd). It's also fun because he plays kind of a creep compared to his usual charming film persona. Joe Chappelle directed this film and brings some flair to a pretty dumb story. He'd go on to direct the surprisingly fun PHANTOMS (Ja": "Word, bit-h, Phantoms like a motherf---" r!" IYKYK).

Not a classic, but Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet are always a fun pairing, even if it's in a rather staid Victorian murder mystery. An innocent man is executed, and Scotland Yard inspector Greenstreet resumes his search for the real killer. Another reason to check out this film is that it's the feature directorial debut of Don Siegel, who would go on to direct classics like INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, DIRTY HARRY, and ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ, to name a few. Siegel also created the opening montage for CASABLANCA when he was working his way up the chain at Warner Bros. Overall, the convoluted murder mystery is not exactly Agatha Christie, but Lorre and Greenstreet are always worth watching.

Myers returns to Haddonfield again for more slasher mayhem. His niece, Danielle Harris, is now mute and in an insane asylum as a result of her trauma from the first film, which actually had a pretty good tag ending and was a clever callback to the first film. The second of the HALLOWEEN "Thorn Trilogy," where the origins of Myers are explained by him being controlled by a cult forcing him to kill his relatives, although that's still only hinted at in this film and not fully explained until the next film. That's where this film is kind of a mess, which also features a mysterious stranger who randomly shows up to help Michael and is never explained. This was reportedly a result of post-production re-edits, which eliminated plot lines that would have explained the cult in more detail. What's left is a slasher film that makes little sense and an ending that makes just about zero sense. Still, Donald Pleasence hamming it up again as Dr. Samuel Loomis is a lot of fun, and Danielle Harris gives a solid performance for a child actor, but I would have liked to see the film follow up on the twist ending of the prior film, which I think would have been a whole lot interesting. Overall, as bad as it is, it's still not the worst of the sequels. That honor goes to HALLOWEEN: RESURRECTION. Ellie Cornell is good as Harris' caring foster sister, but this is a Halloween picture to skip.