How to keep 'Halloween II' in the horror movie canon

The flaws of 1981's Halloween II are pretty self-evident, especially in comparison to the 1978 John Carpenter original that proceeded it. It's pretty humorless, Jamie Lee Curtis doesn't have enough to do and it stretches that idea of Michael Myers being pretty much immortal to absurd lengths.

Also, in a controversial move, it tacks on a subplot about Curtis' character Laurie Strode being Michael Myers secret sister that feels tacked on and wholly unnecessary.

And yet, there is a lot that is great about it. There are some legit, terrific scares. The film uses its claustrophobic hospital set to great effect. And Donald Pleasence's delightfully over the top characterization of Dr. Loomis still doesn't disappoint.

Basically, it's a totally worthy sequel that has much if not all of what I love about the original.

But 2018's fantastic reboot Halloween negated that movie. Set 40 years later, the film implored audiences to ignore the good, the bad and ugly from the films that followed the original Halloween as if they never existed and instead they as realistically as they could, made a direct sequel which established a new canon.

As much as I enjoyed that movie -- and I did -- I still wanna be able to appreciate Halloween II as part of the series' universe, and I think one view of the film allows me too.

Whether intentional or not, the filmmakers behind Halloween II (Carpenter was a producer on this one) leave plenty of breadcrumbs to interpret that entire movie as a nightmare fever dream of Laurie Strode's. Early on the film we watch her being hurried to the hospital after the harrowing events of the first one, but then she mostly is drifting in and out of sleep throughout the movie, while mayhem happens all around her.

It stands to reason that in the immediate aftermath of the events of the first film -- if treated realistically as the 2018 edition does -- that Laurie Strode would be suffering post traumatic stress disorder as that night continued on.

If the 2018 film is to be believed, Strode is still a wreck 40 years after the fact, understandably so.

So -- I think the 1981 movie works if you view it entirely as a bad dream -- especially the denouement in which, SPOILER ALERT, Michael Myers is exploded and  shot several times point black and still comes back for more.

What can I say, I'm a stickler for continuity!