Absolutely agree - the first and the sequal were great. Just wish I could get a region free or R1 dvd of the third one I havent seen.
I went for Evil dead 2...a truely great film. I have to confess, I've not seen a lot of the others: sequels arn't normally my bag. But maybe I'm being a bit narrow minded, so I'll try to give some of them a watch at some point!
I'm going with Evil Dead II. As much as it's been imitated it's never really been duplicated. I've never seen another movie that can match its manic energy. Dead Alive comes close for a while. But I think it runs out of steam well before it ends. Evil Dead II never lets up and never goes too far over-the-top. Halloween II is a movie I love to watch. But I can't help but regard it as a missed opportunity. Jamie Lee's involvement amounts to little more than a cameo until the climax. And instead of focusing on a small group of well drawn and sympathetic characters it spends a lot of time documenting the elaborate deaths of a bunch of cardboard cut-outs. I can live with all that. I think it's counter-balanced by Pleasence's increasingly unhinged characterization of Dr. Loomis, Alan Howarth's awesome electronic interpretations of Carpenter's themes, Dick Warlock's mean Shape, and the return of Dean Cundey. But I can't forgive H2 for introducing the uninspired, short-sighted, and downright stupid idea that Laurie is Michael's sister. Not only did that destroy one of the main ideas of the original film--it also hamstrung every future installment in the series to some degree. The ending montage of Halloween was meant to suggest that evil was still on the prowl--and it could be anywhere. The idea that Michael is just trying to polish off family members is nowhere near as scary or sustainable. Carpenter himself has admitted many times that he had no interest in continuing this story--and that he went with the sister device because he couldn't come up with anything better. I think his lack of genuine inspiration is clearly visible in the finished script. His heart wasn't in H2. He was working as a mercenary. The derivative script and the Carpenter-ordered, gore-centric re-shoots were admittedly designed with the box office in mind. H2 is still a lot of fun. But I'll always believe that Halloween deserved a better sequel.
Psycho 2!!! Both Evil Dead II and TCM 2 are insanely funny follow ups, Hellbound has all those gere effects and inner hell themes, and I remember loving Child's Play 2 and Scream 2 in my younger years, but Psycho 2 is the only sequel that manages to be genuinely suspenseful.
Friday the 13th Part 2 gets my vote because it's first one with Jason. Also like Halloween II as a close second!
This was tough but after some careful consideration i went with Evil Dead 2! Friday the 13th 2, Halloween 2, Phantasm 2, Hellraiser 2, Amityville 2, Critters 2, Child's Play 2, Psycho 2 and Ghoulies 2 are all great sequels as well though. Also got to give props to Troll 2 for its inane crappiness.
Agreed, not to mention that it, along with "Aliens," does not have "II" in the title, while all of the other films on this list do. I went with Ghoulies II, because it improves over the original and vastly. EDII, Halloween II, and Troll 2 are all favorites of mine, but I'm not sure if I'd agree that they improve upon the original. Except for Troll 2, but it's in a class all its own. :joshua:
