This failed sequel attempted to take the series in a new direction as it forgets about Michael Myers and his babysitter Halloween slaughters for a Twilight Zone inspired story that has doctor Tom Atkins and one of his murdered patients daughter (Stacey Nelkin, who's attractive) heading to the small California town of Santa Mira to investigate Halloween mask company "Silver Shamrock" only to come up against evil factory owner Dan O'Herlihy, a bunch of soul-less killer androids and all sorts of other strange goings-on.

While writer/director Tommy Lee Wallace has done many a decent horror sequel this isn't one of them. Despite some decent suspense in the opening sequence, a kick-ass electronic music score and some okay gore this would've fared better as a stand-alone film (and it wouldn't of pissed off Halloween fans so much) even though it suffers from having a paranoid conspiracy plot that doesn't work too well, a script that gets silly when Stonehenge comes into play, a Atkins/Nelkin love interest that's weakly developed and comes on too fast; and just the fact the whole movie feels a little bit long in the tooth (this would probably of worked better as a half-hour sequence in an anthology film).

Throw in a mean-spirited tone, some gross-out moments (like a blown-out face with a bug crawling out of the mouth and some nastiness involving a mask meltdown) and a pyrotechnic finish that's ridiculous (though the final shot isn't bad) and you have this failed sequel that was such a flop they didn't make another Halloween film for six years.

References the original by showing it playing on a TV in a bar.

Directed By: Tommy Lee Wallace.
Written By: Tommy Lee Wallace.

Starring: Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin, Dan O'Herlihy, Michael Currie.