Throwback Thursday: ‘Halloween II’ (1981)

After pulling in $47 million in domestic box office from a $325,000 budget, it was inevitable that a sequel to John Carpenter’s ‘Halloween’ would be in the works sooner rather than later.  Not only was ‘Halloween’ a financial success, and not only was it a critical success, it sparked something in the world of horror filmmaking.  As of 1978, the slasher film was born, and, after 1980’s ‘Friday the 13th,’ the people behind a ‘Halloween’ sequel knew the masses wouldn’t be satisfied with the tension-filled air Carpenter’s first film projected.  They knew they had to up the body count and give audiences exactly what they wanted.  What resulted in ‘Halloween II,’ is a horror fans grab bag, a mixture of both suspense, atmosphere and enough blood to go around.

Picking up mere seconds after Carpenter’s film ends, ‘Halloween II,’ continues the “night he came home.”  Laurie Strode, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, has been taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital.  Dr. Loomis, played by Donald Pleasence, is still searching the small town for his escaped patient, a creature who he now believes is nowhere near human.  Michael Myers still stalks Haddonfield, searching for the teenage girl who escaped him and who, as the film reveals, has more ties to Laurie Strode than previously revealed.

The incredible thing about ‘Halloween II’ above most, other horror sequels is how well it stands up on its own.  Even though the film is essentially the second half of a much larger film, it is easy to jump right into any scene and enjoy it for the fun that it is.  Much of this is due in large part to Carpenter and Debra Hill, who, like the ’78 original, co-wrote the screenplay for ‘Halloween II.’  The idea of setting it in a near-abandoned hospital is at once completely logical given the events of the previous film and wholly atmospheric.  Like the ocean in ‘Jaws,’ ‘Halloween II’ takes a seemingly innocent and safe place and throws any illusions of sanctuary back into the viewer’s face.

Rick Rosenthal served as director, and, though he makes every attempt at recreating much of what filled the original with a sense of dread, he just doesn’t have the confidence as a filmmaker Carpenter expressed.  Fun and suspenseful as it may be, Rosenthal seemed to have very little sense of subtlety. This is seen in the many shots he practically lifts from Carpenter’s original.  Michael’s white mask slowly appearing out of dark corner behind someone is just one of many acts of thievery Rosenthal utilizes in his film’s direction.  Even such, aside from a few moments here and there where Myers appears in shadows or off in the background, there is very little in the way of true scares. Of course, even these moments could be attributed to Carpenter himself.  The horror master came on board late in the game to shoot additional scenes.  While there is no true layout of who shot what, and while Rosenthal claims Carpenter came on board to add gore and nudity to his film, there is definitely a feeling of disconnection from one shot to the next.  Rosenthal has claimed in interviews that he set out to make more of a thriller than a slasher film.  If this is, indeed, the case, it would appear it was Carpenter’s decision to include some of the gorier moments in the film.  There certainly are plenty of those with ‘Halloween II’ boasting a body count twice as large and death scenes three times as in-your-face than is seen in the original.

But higher body count aside, there is still plenty left over from Carpenter’s original ‘Halloween’ for fans to latch onto in the sequel.  The film’s score came as a collaboration by Carpenter and Alan Howarth.   It has the same synthesized simplicity as the original, but, much like the rest of the film, it seems to have a studio polish about it.   This is particularly noticeable in the secondary themes such as Laurie’s Theme and The Shape Stalks.   Of course, you cannot talk about the film’s soundtrack without mentioning the key usage of “Mr. Sandman” performed by The Chordettes.   The song, lyrics and all, is a perfect fit for the entire franchise.   It is an interesting contrast between the song and the visuals over the opening scene, but it clinches its incongruous brilliance as it plays out the film’s final moments.

‘Halloween II’ also boasts an A+ cast with Pleasence and Curtis fitting back into their respective roles like old gloves.   Curtis had begun wearing her hair shorter in the years since Carpenter’s original film.   As such, she was forced to wear a wig for this film, something that is notably off about her character.   Other than that, though, she does an amazing job of running the gamut between victim and fighter.   You absolutely buy the final transition into the attacker 16 years later with ‘Halloween H20,’ and much of that comes from her character’s growth throughout ‘Halloween II.’

Great actors like Lance Guest, Charles Cyphers, Leo Rossi, Pamela Susan Shoop, Hunter Von Leer round out the cast.   Guest is most recognizable to mass audiences as Alex Rogan in ‘The Last Starfighter.’   He isn’t given just a whole lot to do, playing the would-be hero to Laurie’s damsel in distress.   However, he falls out of the picture fairly early, and his ultimate resolution varies between the theatrical and the TV version of the film, but we’ll get into that shortly.   Cyphers and Von Leer turn in commendable performances as members of the Haddonfield Police Department.   Cyphers reprises his role as Sheriff Leigh Brackett, and, though his character disappears early in the film, he gives an emotional performance as the father of one of Myers’ victims from the first film.   Von Leer plays Deputy Hunt, and it’s not a very fleshed out role.   Nonetheless, the sincerity Von Leer gives the performance makes you wonder if there is something deeper going on with the character.   He seems to be fully tied to the town, and it ends up being one of the more interesting secondary character in the franchise.

As a side note about the cast, watch for a tracking shot that passes right by a young Dana Carvey in his first on-screen performance.

When ‘Halloween II’ began airing on TV, it was Rosenthal’s original cut of the film that was being showed.  This had most of the gore and graphic violence and all of the nudity stricken from it.  It also switched around a few scenes and brought Lance Guest’s Jimmy back in the final moments.  All in all, the TV version is a mess of a film, throwing in random shots here and progressing through the story in a completely nonsensical manner.  This is typically the version shown when the film runs on AMC.  This version, however, has never been released on VHS or DVD.  Talk of a completely new special edition of the film has come about, and it looks like Lionsgate and Universal Home Video will be releasing it sometime in 2010.  This would include all of Rosenthal’s cuts including a few scenes that have never been seen by the public before.

In 1982, a man named Richard Delmer Boyer murdered an elderly couple in Fullerton, California.  In what would eventually be called the “Halloween II Murders,” Boyer stabbed the couple a total of 43 times.  He claimed he had had hallucinations brought on by watching ‘Halloween II’ while on PCP, marijuana, and alcohol.  During the trial, the film was shown to the jury.  A psychopharmacologist pointed out various similarities between what was being depicted in the film and what played out in the elderly couple’s home.  Boyer was sentenced to death for the murders.

‘Halloween II’ is a horror sequel many fans of the genre can enjoy, not just fans of the ‘Halloween’ franchise.  While it does fall into the sequelitis trap of throwing in more scares and a higher body count, it still provides a suspenseful and intriguing story rarely seen in horror sequels.  It pulls off so much more than just being ‘Halloween’s cash-in follow-up.  Had it had a director as gifted in the genre as Carpenter, it very well could have been on an equal playing field as the 1978 original.  As it is, it still stands as one of the best horror sequels ever made, particular in the slasher sub-genre