The Afternoon HE Came Home - HALLOWEEN II (1981)

Welcome once more dear friend. (May I call you that? I do hope so). Today we are leaving the illustrious luxurious cinemas of the West End behind and venturing up Edgware Road W2. We are, perhaps rather surprisingly, passing by the magnificent panoramic screen at the Odeon Marble Arch and instead heading upstream into somewhat murkier waters... As we come to the Marylebone Flyover we will take a sharp left turn and just before the bus stop we will come to the ABC Edgware Road.

It is 1982, and there is a very good reason I have brought you here today. The 4 screen ABC Edgware Road of 1982 is very much of the ‘fleapit’ rather than the ‘picture palace’ category – its heyday was back in the late 30’s – but it will always be held dear in my heart. Why dear friend? Well, primarily because on this very day in March 1982, as a mere slip of a lad at only thirteen years young, I was allowed in to see my first ‘X’ certificated horror film.

I was not alone in this daring under-age venture into the unknown. I was accompanied by a 14 year old school friend of quite remarkable stature (and truth be told rather handsome features – I envied him in many ways). I was not too scared to view this particular film alone you understand, it was more for ‘Dutch courage’ in trying to blag my way into age-restricted fare. I can still vividly recall the palm-sweating heart racing moment when I approached the grey-haired lady in the ticket kiosk and asked with a voice as deep as my 13 year old vocal chords could muster: “One for Halloween II please.” The traffic noise from the flyover drowned out her initial response. With an almost resigned sense of disappointment I asked her to repeat the question, sure that the inevitable enquiry as to my age was being (quite rightly) raised. When her reply came back through the glass window it took several delayed seconds for me to process the question: “Have you got anything smaller than ten pounds?”

After all that build-up I found Halloween II neither palm-sweating nor heart racing. In fact, I found it rather pedestrian – particularly in comparison to John Carpenter’s masterful original – which I’d previously watched on ITV late one night; in the sitting room; on my own: in the dark. I only breathed during the commercial breaks. Had it been shown on the BBC I would probably have succumbed to asphyxiation. But the fact that Halloween II didn’t live up to my (unrealistic) expectations wasn’t the point. I had broken my ‘X’ certificate ‘duck’, and now I wouldn’t have to rely on late night tele to appease my appetite for horror films. No sir, now I had a 4-screen smorgasbord from which to sample the horrific cinematic releases of 1982, and boy was I going to have a feast.  

Until next time then, and by the way, the cost of that cinema ticket on that day was £2.60.