Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Charles Cyphers (II), Jeffrey Kramer (II), Lance Guest
Picking up right where the first HALLOWEEN left off, HALLOWEEN II continues the story of the night HE came home. The notorious Michael Myers is still alive. Dr. Loomis, shouting "I shot him six times...I shot him in the heart..." tries to convince town sheriff Brackett that the monster is still on the loose. Meanwhile, seventeen year old Laurie Strode has been taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital.
After Loomis and Brackett find a trail that leads to the local elementary school, Marion Chambers (the nurse who accompanied Dr. Loomis in the first film) informs Dr. Loomis that by order of the governor, he is to return to Smith's Grove, and leave Myers for the police.
Meanwhile, Myers has been on a rampage at the hospital. Killing each victim slowly, Myers makes his way through Mr. Garrett, the night watchman, Bud the ambulance driver, nurses Jill, Karen, Janet, and Mrs. Alves, and even the drunken Dr. Mixter. Laurie is left alone in the hospital with Jimmy, an orderly who has taken interest in the young woman.
An exciting finale fills the end of this sequel with suspense much like the first film. A dramatic secret is revealed about Laurie Strode's family history leading to an explosive final scene in the hospital operating room.
Watch Now the Movie..
John Carpenter and Debra Hill were enlisted to create one of the first slasher sequels. After first approaching Tommy Lee Wallace to direct, they enlisted Rick Rosenthal to take the helm on the picture. "I think that people will imagine more in their own minds than any filmmaker will ever show them," Hill said in a Fangoria interview in 1981. Hill also stated that there were no circum- stances under which John Carpenter would direct the sequel, although it has been confirmed that Carpenter came in and directed a few sequences to clean up some of Rosenthal's work. "I had made that film once and I really didn't want to do it again," Carpenter told Famous Monsters magazine. Rosenthal and Carpenter seemed to have clicked..."We seemed pretty philosophically compatible regarding suspense and horror," Rosenthal said in the same interview.
On HALLOWEEN II," Debra Hill told Fangoria, "we have total, 100% control. The only way they could do the deal was to grant us that control." Hill continued to say that an interesting possibility for HALLOWEEN II was thought about, although not used. "We investigated a number of 3-D processes for HALLOWEEN, but they were far too expensive for this particular project. Also, most of the projects we do involve a lot of night shooting - evil lurks at night. It's hard to do that in 3-D."
Originally, the plot of the film centered on Laurie Strode, who lived in a high-rise apartment building. Much of the film was shot in a wing of the Morningside Hospital in Inglewood, CA, with other scenes filmed at the Pasadena Community Hospital. Perhaps one of the most difficult scenes to shoot was the final explosion. Dick Warlock, who played Michael Myers, remembered, "There was a lot of preparation for that scene, and then the fire did not turn out like the director wanted, so we had to shoot it again."
A small controversy surrounded the film after its release. Richard Delmer Boyer, of Fullerton, CA, murdered an elderly couple while on drugs. In court, he claimed that the drugs caused him to flashback to HALLOWEEN II, and thus commit the murder. It became known around Fullerton as the "HALLOWEEN II" murders, according to TNT Monstervision host Joe Bob Briggs.
Donald Pleasence Dr. Sam Loomis
Jamie Lee Curtis Laurie Strode
Tawny Moyer Nurse Jill
Lance Guest Jimmy
Charles Cyphers Leigh Brackett
Pamela Susan Shoop Nurse Karen
Hunter Von Leer Dep. Gary Hunt
Leo Rossi Bud
Nancy Stephens Marion Chambers
Dick Warlock The Shape
Ana Alicia Nurse Janet
Gloria Gifford Mrs. Alves
Ford Rainey Dr. Mixter
Rick Rosenthal Director
John Carpenter Co-writer, Music, Co-Producer
Debra Hill Co-writer, Co-Producer
Alan Howarth Music
Irwin Yablans
Moustapha Akkad
Joe Wolf Executive
This much anticipated sequel was released to theaters on October 30, 1981 in the United States. After the success of the original HALLOWEEN, distribution rights were sold to movie mogul Dino DeLaurentiis - who chose Universal Pictures to distribute the film. The film went on to make over $25 million.
An early cut of the film, often called the "Rick Rosenthal" or "Television Version" features several deleted scenes, mostly involving a few extra seconds of theatrical scenes. A different ending features Jimmy in the ambulance with Laurie. Their hands come together and Laurie mutters, "We made it," through her tears. This version originally aired on independent television stations, but rarely makes an appearance today. Rumors were a special edition DVD was set for 2001, but Universal instead released a bare-bones edition.
The film featured a Dolby Stereo soundtrack. On a side note, it was banned in Germany. If you lived in Sweden, the movie didn't open in theaters until March 5, 1982 when most people could already view it on video!
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