'' (also known as '''''Halloween II: The Horror Continues''''' and '''''Halloween II: The Nightmare Isn't Over!''''') is a 1981
Horror Film set in the fictional
Midwest town of Haddonfield,
Illinois , on
Halloween night, 1978. It is the sequel to the influential film, ''
Halloween '' (1978). ''Halloween II'' was directed by
Rick Rosenthal and stars
Donald Pleasence as
Dr. Sam Loomis ,
Jamie Lee Curtis as
Laurie Strode , and
Stunt Performer Dick Warlock as
Michael Myers . This is the last film in the ''
Halloween '' series written by
John Carpenter and
Debra Hill . The film immediately follows the events of the first film, and centers on Myers's attempts to find and kill Laurie Strode and Loomis's efforts to track and kill Myers.
Stylistically, ''Halloween II'' reproduces certain key elements that made ''Halloween'' a success such as first-person camera perspectives and unexceptional settings. The film, however, departs significantly from the original by incorporating more graphic violence and gore, making it imitate more closely other films in the emerging
Splatter Film sub-genre. Still, ''Halloween II'' was not as successful as the original, grossing only $25.5 million at the
Box Office in the
United States despite its $2.5 million budget.http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=halloween2.htm
''Halloween II'' was intended to be the last chapter of the ''Halloween'' series to revolve around Michael Myers and the Haddonfield setting, but after the lackluster reaction to '''' (1988).http://www.halloweenmovies.com/filmarchive/h3bts.htm
After the film replays the last scene of ''Halloween'', it moves on to Dr. Sam Loomis warning Sheriff Leigh Brackett (
Charles Cyphers ) that although he has shot Myers six times, Myers still lives. Meanwhile, Laurie Strode is taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital and Myers wanders Haddonfield in search of her. One of the
EMS drivers, Jimmy Lloyd (
Lance Guest ) begins to show an interest in her.
(Dick Warlock) murders Nurse Jill (Tawny Moyer).]]Jimmy tells Laurie that the man who attacked her was Michael Myers, infamous for murdering his older sister fifteen years ago on Halloween night. After this, Laurie drifts in and out of
Consciousness , having strange
Flashback s about her
Adoption by the Strodes and visiting an unpleasant boy in an institution. Myers learns that she is at the hospital. He goes there and murders the hospital's staff one by one. Laurie manages to elude him, but she is limping badly and sedated and is thus unable to move very quickly.
Dr. Loomis and the Haddonfield police continue to search the town for Myers. At the local
Elementary School they discover that Myers has broken into a classroom and scrawled the word ''
Samhain '' in blood on the
Chalkboard . Loomis explains that it is a
Celtic word that means "lord of the dead," the "end of
Summer ," and "
October 31 " (''Samhain'''s symbolic importance is not elaborated on until later films). Nurse Marion Chambers (
Nancy Stephens ), Loomis's assistant, arrives and tells Loomis that she has discovered a secret file on Myers to which he was not privy. The file reveals that Laurie is actually Myers's sister, adopted by the Strodes after Myers killed his older sister, Judith. Chambers also informs Loomis that he has strict orders to return to Smith's Grove.
Instead, Loomis forces the marshal (
John Zenda ) and Chambers to drive to the hospital, knowing that Myers will have already tracked Laurie there. Once again, Loomis shoots Myers several times, but to no avail. After Myers kills the marshal, Loomis and Laurie retreat into an
Operating Room , and Laurie shoots Myers in the eyes after Loomis is stabbed. Loomis is able to turn on the
Oxygen tanks in the operating room, causing an explosion that engulfs himself and Myers. An alternate version of the film shows Jimmy and Laurie holding hands at the end.
''Halloween II'' boasted a much larger budget than its predecessor: $2.5 million. ''Halloween'' producers . Writer and producer Debra Hill says, "We investigated a number of 3-D processes ... 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."Debra Hill interview, ''Fangoria'', quoted at
HalloweenMovies.com .
The screenplay of ''Halloween II'' was written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill, the writers of ''Halloween''. Hill notes in a 1981 interview with ''
Fangoria '' magazine that the final film differed somewhat from the original screenplay. They considered setting the sequel a few years after ''Halloween'' and in a high-rise apartment building in which Laurie Strode lived. Instead, Carpenter and Hill decided to set the film in 1978 at a hospital immediately following the events of ''Halloween''. ''Halloween II'' was intended to wind up the story of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode and neither Carpenter nor Hill was involved in writing material for later sequels. The third film, ''Halloween III: Season of the Witch'', released a year after ''Halloween II'', contained a plot that deviated wholly from the first two films.http://www.halloweenmovies.com/filmarchive/h3bts.htm
Film critic , the problem would be solved and the movie would be over."Roger Ebert, review of ''Halloween II'', Chicago ''Sun-Times'', 1 January 1981, at
RogerEbert.com . Characters were also described by some as shallow and like cardboard. Hill rebuffed such critiques by arguing that "in a thriller film, what a character says is often irrelevant, especially in those sequences where the objective is to build up suspense."Debra Hill, quoted in Robert E. Kapsis, ''Hitchcock: The Making of a Reputation'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992), p. 172, ISBN 0226424898.
Historian Nicholas Rogers suggests that a portion of the film seems to have drawn inspiration from the "contemporary controversies surrounding the holiday itself."Nicholas Rogers, ''Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), p. 121, ISBN 0195168968. He points specifically to the scene in ''Halloween II'' when a young boy in a and clearly traded on the uncertainties surrounding
Trick-or-treating and the general safety of the festival."Rogers, ''Halloween'', p. 121.
An adaptation of the screenplay was later released as a
Mass Market Paperback in 1981 by horror and science-fiction writer
Dennis Etchison under the
Pseudonymn Jack Martin. The ''Halloween II''
Novelization was distributed by Kensington Books and became a bestseller.Jack Martin, ''Halloween II'' (New York: Kensington, 1981), ISBN 089083864X.Dennis Etchison, Jack Dann, and Ramsey Campbell, eds., ''Gathering the Bones: Original Stories from the World's Masters of Horror'' (New York: Tor/Forge, 2003), p. 447, ISBN 0765301792.
and
Donald Pleasence reprise their roles in ''Halloween II'' in 1981.]]The main cast of ''Halloween'' reprised their roles in ''Halloween II'' with the exception of
Nick Castle who played the adult Michael Myers in the original. Veteran
English actor Donald Pleasence continued the role of Dr. Sam Loomis, who was Michael Myers's
Psychiatrist for the past fifteen years while Myers was institutionalized at Smith's Grove Sanitarium. Jamie Lee Curtis (now 23), once again played the teenage babysitter Laurie Strode, the younger sister of Michael Myers.
Stunt performer Dick Warlock played Michael Myers (once again listed as "The Shape" in the credits) in ''Halloween II''. Warlock's previous experience in film was as a stunt double in films such as ''s artist Don Post, who would create the masks for ''Halloween III: Season of the Witch''.Aljean Harmetz, "'Halloween III' Masks To Help Scare Up Sales," New York ''Times'', 16 October 1982, p. 12.
The supporting cast of ''Halloween II'' was played by relatively unknown actors and actresses, with the exception of
Jeffrey Kramer who had previously played Deputy Jeff Hendricks in ''Jaws'' and ''
Jaws 2 '' (1978). In ''Halloween II'', Kramer plays Dr. Graham, a dentist who examines the charred remains of a boy confused with Myers.
A host of , known for his supporting roles in ''
Bonanza '', ''
Gunsmoke '', and ''
The Bionic Woman ''.http://imdb.com/name/nm0707077/
actress
Ana Alicia .
John Carpenter refused to direct ''Halloween II'' and originally approached
Tommy Lee Wallace , the art director from the original ''Halloween'', to take the helm. Carpenter told one interviewer, "I had made that film once and I really didn't want to do it again."John Carpenter interview, ''Famous Monsters'' magazine, quoted at
HalloweenMovies.com After Wallace declined, Carpenter chose Rick Rosenthal, an unknown and inexperienced director whose previous credits included episodes of the television series ''Secrets of Midland Heights'' (1980-1981).http://www.halloweenmovies.com/filmarchive/h2bts.htm
''.]]Stylistically, ''Halloween II'' recreates some of the scenes from ''Halloween''. The opening title features a , Rosenthal explains,
''The first movie I ever did '' II '' was a sequel, but it was supposed to be a direct continuation. It started one minute after the first movie ended. You have to try hard to maintain the style of the first movie. I wanted it to feel like a two-parter. You have the responsibility and the restraints of the style that's been set. It was the same crew. My philosophy was to do more of a thriller than a slasher movie.''Luke Ford, interview with Rick Rosenthal, 12 March 2002, at LukeFord.net .
The decision to include more gore and nudity in ''Halloween II'' was not made by Rosenthal, who contends that it was Carpenter who chose to make the film much bloodier than the original.Bill Chambers, review of ''Halloween II'' at
FilmFreakCentral.net . According to the film's official website, "Carpenter came in and directed a few sequences to clean up some of Rosenthal's work."http://www.halloweenmovies.com/filmarchive/h2bts.htm One reviewer of the film notes that "Carpenter, concerned that the picture would be deemed too 'tame' by the slasher audience, re-filmed several death scenes with more gore."James Berardinelli, review of ''Halloween II'' at
ReelViews.com . Many of the graphic scenes contained elements not seen before in film. Roger Ebert claims, "This movie has the first close-up I can remember of a
Hypodermic Needle being inserted into an eyeball."Ebert review. The film is often categorized as a
Splatter Film rather than a
Slasher Film due to the elevated gore. Film critic John McCarty writes of splatter films: "
aim not to scare their audiences, necessarily, nor to drive them to the edge of their seats in suspense, but to mortify them with scenes of explicit gore. In splatter movies, mutilation is indeed the message ...."John McCarty, ''The Official Splatter Movie Guide'' (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989), ISBN 0312029586, quoted at [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19810101/REVIEWS/101010336/1023 RogerEbert.com .
''Halloween II'''s score was a variation of John Carpenter's compositions from ''Halloween'', particularly the main theme's familiar '' (1979) and would continue to work with Carpenter on projects such as ''
Escape From New York '' (1981), ''
The Thing '' (1982), and ''
Christine '' (1983).http://imdb.com/name/nm0397697/
The film also featured the song "
Mr. Sandman " performed by
The Chordettes .http://www.halloweenmovies.com/filmarchive/h2soundtrack.htm
Film Information
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USA:R / UK:18 / Canada:18+ (Quebec) / Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) / Australia:R / Australia:MA (TV rating) / Finland:K-18 / France:-12 / Netherlands:16 / Sweden:15 / West Germany:18 (Banned) / Iceland:Banned / Norway:18 (video premiere 1983) / Norway:Banned (video 1986) / Norway:18 (re-release 1988) / Norway:15 (video re-release 1999) / Singapore:NC-16
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violence / gore / sex / nudity / profanity
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''Halloween II'' premiered on '' ($20,471,382), and ''
The Howling '' ($17,985,893).http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=1981&p=.htm
Internationally, ''Halloween II'' was released throughout
Europe , but it was
Banned in
West Germany and
Iceland due to the graphic violence and nudity; a later 1986 release on home video was also banned in
Norway . The film was also shown in
Canada ,
Australia , and
Japan .http://www.halloweenmovies.com/filmarchive/h2distribution.htmhttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082495/Censorship in Germany, at
MelonFarmers.com .''Halloween II'' Censorship History, at
EEOFFTV.com .
To advertise the film in America, Universal produced a skull superimposed onto a pumpkin, described by film historian and sociologist Robert E. Kapsis as "an unmistakable horror motif." Kapsis points out that by 1981 horror had "become a ''genre non grata''" with critics and the distributor hoped to promote ''Halloween II'' as both a horror film and "stress that the film was more a quality suspense film than a 'slice and dice' horror film" like its predecessor.Kapsis, ''Hitchcock'', p. 171. Use of the
Tagline ''More Of The Night HE Came Home''—a modified version of the original ''Halloween'' tagline—hoped to accomplish the same task.
In 1982, ''Halloween II'' was nominated for two '' (1981) and
Harrison Ford was chosen over Pleasence for his role in ''
Raiders Of The Lost Ark '' (1981).http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Academy_of_Science_Fiction_Fantasy_And_Horror_Films_USA/1982
''Halloween II'' was first released on
VHS and
Laserdisc in 1982 by
MCA/Universal Home Video and later Goodtimes Home Video.
DVD editions have been released by these companies as well beginning in 1998.http://www.halloweenmovies.com/filmarchive/h2distribution.htm
poster for ''Halloween II'' that advertises the film's gory content.]]Critical reaction to ''Halloween II'' was mixed. While most film critics had showered praise on ''Halloween'' they were not as enthusiastic about the sequel and most tried to review ''Halloween II'' in comparison with the original. Roger Ebert of the ''. The characters have all been
Lobotomized , and, in keeping with the slasher trend, the gore content is way up. There was virtually no blood in ''Halloween''; ''Halloween II'' cheerfully heaps it on.'' Berardinelli review.
On the other hand,
Janet Maslin of the ''
New York Times '' compared ''Halloween II'' to other horror sequels and recently-released slasher films of the early 1980s rather than to the original. "By the standards of most recent horror films, this—like its predecessor—is a class act." She notes that there "is some variety to the crimes, as there is to the characters, and an audience is more likely to do more screaming at suspenseful moments than at scary ones." Maslin applauds the performance of the cast and Rosenthal and concludes, "That may not be much to ask of a horror film, but it's more than many of them offer."Janet Maslin, "Movie: 'Halloween II' for Fright Fans," New York ''Times'', 30 October 1981, p. C8. Film historian Jim Harper suggests, "Time has been a little fairer to the film" than original critics. In retrospect, "many critics have come to recognise that it's considerably better than the slew of imitation slashers that swamped the genre in the eighties."Jim Harper, ''Legacy of Blood: A Comprehensive Guide to Slasher Movies'' (Manchester, Eng.: HeadPress/Critical Vision, 2004), pp. 16-17, ISBN 1900486393.
An alternate version of ''Halloween II'' was aired on television in the early 1980s which edited out most of the graphic violence and gore and added several minor additional scenes. This version is sometimes referred to as the "Rick Rosenthal Version" or "Television Version" and occasionally resurfaces on the
AMC network. It has been suggested that this film represented director Rick Rosenthal's original vision of the film before John Carpenter's edits. The alternate version was planned for release in 2001 as a special edition DVD, but Universal released the original theatrical version instead.http://www.halloweenmovies.com/filmarchive/h2distribution.htm
One of the main differences between the two versions is found in the plot. The alternate version shows Jimmy Lloyd entering the ambulance with Laurie at the end of the film. They hold hands and Laurie says, "We made it."http://www.halloweenmovies.com/filmarchive/h2distribution.htm
Detractors of horror films have blamed the genre for the perceived decrease in the morality and increase in crime among America's youth. As moral critic Peter Peeters explains, fragile minds are being warped by "unlimited lust and sex, horror, the gruesome world of corpses and ghosts, torture, butchery and cannibalism, violence and destruction, the unsavory details all vividly depicted and accompanied by the appropriate screams and sound effects."Peter Peeters, ''The Four Phases of Society: Where Are We Going in the 21st Century?'' (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1998), p. 70, ISBN 0275961435. A tragic incident associated with the film ''Halloween II'' only heightened such attitudes.
On
December 7 ,
1982 , Richard Delmer Boyer of
El Monte, California , murdered Francis and Eileen Harbitz, an elderly couple in
Fullerton, California , leading to the trial ''People v. Boyer'' (1989). The couple was stabbed a total of 43 times by Boyer. According to the trial transcript, Boyer's
Defense was that he suffered from
Hallucinations in the Harbitz residence brought on by "the movie 'Halloween II,' which defendant had seen under the influence of
PCP ,
Marijuana , and
Alcohol ." The film was played for the jury, and a
Psychopharmacologist "pointed out various similarities between its scenes and the visions defendant described."''People v. Boyer'' (1989) 48 C3d 247, transcript available
here .
Boyer was found guilty and sentenced to death. The incident became known as the "Halloween II Murders" and was featured in a short segment on s came to the defense of horror films and rejected calls to ban them. Thomas M. Sipos, for instance, stated,
''It would be silly, after all, to ban horror films just because Boyer claims to have thought that he was reenacting ''Halloween 2'', or to ban cars because Texas Housewife Clara Harris intentionally ran down and killed her husband. Nor does it make sense to ban otherwise useful items such as drugs or guns just because some individuals misuse them.''Thomas M. Sipos, "Don't Blame the Devil This Halloween," 11 October 2005, at HollywoodInvestigator.com .
All URLs last accessed
19 April 2006 unless otherwise stated.
