Countdown to Halloween: “Halloween II” (1981)

This year at the Dietrich Theater Spooky Fest, the theater will be showing the slasher classic “Halloween.” Since I already checked out the classic last year, this review will be focused on its 1981 sequel. I will be checking out a couple more “Halloween” sequels for the 10/29 edition!

After failing to kill survivor Laurie Strode and taking a bullet or six from Dr. Loomis, Michael Myers has followed Laurie to the Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, where she’s been admitted for Myers’ attempt on her life.

The institution proves to be particularly suited to serial killers, however, as Myers cuts, stabs and slashes his way through hospital staff to reach his favorite victim.

While the 1981 sequel isn’t nearly as memorable and suspenseful as the 1978 classic, “Halloween II” is still a worthy and effective follow up. This follow up does a decent job continuing on with the original’s story (taking place immediately after) and delivers more chilling moments featuring the iconic Michael Myers. While most of the scares in this entry are effective, it’s actually a bit more violent and slightly bloodier, compared to 1978’s “Halloween.”

A good amount of the Myers moments can be a little on the brutal side, but not nearly as brutal as some of the other installments, such as the Rob Zombie movies and the recent “Halloween” trilogy. While most of the Michael Myers moments are not nearly as memorable or iconic as the original, the operating room climax at the end really stands out. 

Spoiler warning In this climax, Michael corners Loomis and Laurie in an operating room. After Laurie shoots Myers in the eyes, blinding him, Loomis opens gas tanks which triggers an explosion, seemingly killing both Myers and Loomis. If you haven’t noticed with the numerous sequels that followed in the original timeline, they made it.

The explosion ending was initially supposed to conclude the Myers story so Carpenter can focus on an anthology “Halloween” series. After the heavily mixed response of “Season of the Witch,” the studio and a few writers brought Myers and Loomis back in “Halloween 4: Return of Michael Myers”, while Laurie Strode returned a few movies later in “Halloween H20: 20 Years Later.”

Despite the initial divided reactions, retrospective views have been kinder to “Halloween II.” Many (including myself) have come to regard it as one of the stronger sequels in the franchise.

You can currently stream “Halloween II” on the Peacock streaming service.

During the Dietrich Theater’s Spooky Fest, you can catch the 1978 original slasher classic “Halloween” at the following show dates and times: Friday October 17 (7 pm), Saturday October 25 (7 pm) and Thursday October 30 (7 pm).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzOdUKVD8Ac

• The mask Michael wears is the exact same mask (a repainted and modified Captain Kirk mask) worn in the original Halloween (1978) film. It looks different in the sequel because the paint had faded due to a few reasons, first because Nick Castle, the original Michael, kept it in his back pocket during shoots. Also, Debra Hill kept the mask under her bed for several years until the filming of Halloween II, causing it to collect dust and yellow because Hill was a heavy smoker. Also, the mask appears wider because Dick Warlock is shorter and stockier than Nick Castle, so the mask fit his head differently. As the producers thought it would be the final sequel in the series, they let Warlock keep the mask, scalpel, boots, jumpsuit, and knife used in filming. When they decided to revive Michael in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988), the producers realized they had made a mistake and never again gave props out to the cast and crew, therefore subsequent sequels used different masks that looked rather different.

• The film was bookended by the song "Mr. Sandman" sung by The Chordettes. The tune would also later be used in the later Halloween movies Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) and Halloween (2007), although the latter featured a cover version by Nan Vernon.

• The scenes at the hospital with the mother and her son (dressed as a pirate) with the bleeding mouth as a result of an injury from biting a razor blade was originally supposed to be the first look at Carpenter and Hill's anthology idea for the series, after this film.

• Producer/writer John Carpenter didn't like director Rick Rosenthal's first version of the film, believing it to be as scary as an episode of Quincy, M.E. (1976). A re-edit was done, but Carpenter still found it too tame, so he took over the editing process and sped up the action. He also shot a few gory scenes that were added into the film despite Rosenthal's objections. This annoyed Rosenthal because he had wanted the sequel to emulate the way the original avoided explicit violence and gore in favor of well-crafted suspense and terror. In fact, Carpenter had intended for "Halloween II" to do just that, but the success of the new wave of slasher films in 1979 and 1980 made him afraid that a film which was scary and R-rated but lacked bloodshed and nudity would do poorly at the box office, leading to the extra graphic material inclusions. He later said that he thought that Rosenthal didn't have a "feeling for what was going on" with the film." Rosenthal would go on to direct Halloween: Resurrection (2002).

• The sequel, though not as successful at the box office as the original Halloween (1978), still grossed more money than other 1981 horror movies such as The Howling (1981), Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981), and The Final Conflict (1981).

• John Carpenter and Debra Hill originally had no interest in making a sequel as they believed the original Halloween (1978) was a standalone movie. Carpenter also felt at the time that the studio hadn't paid him a fair amount of money for writing and directing the original movie, considering that it had been so profitable - Carpenter was allegedly never paid his salary. When the studio offered him more money to write the script for the sequel, Carpenter accepted the job as well as a producer's credit, so that he could earn back what he believed was his owed pay. However, due to lack of ideas, the script was not forming out as well as he thought, and he has personally stated that the only thing helping him through the screenplay process was a six-pack of Budweiser every day, which led to what he believes an inferior script and bad choices in the movie's story. He later called Halloween II "an abomination and a horrible movie." Carpenter received a significant back-end percentage for Halloween (1978) years later.

• The logo for the Haddonfield Memorial Hospital seen throughout this movie would later be adopted for Halloween Kills (2021).