Halloween II (1981)

''Halloween II'' is a 1981 American slasher film directed by Rick Rosenthal, in his directorial debut, written and produced by John Carpenter and Debra Hill, and starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence who reprise their respective roles as Laurie Strode and Dr. Sam Loomis. It is the second installment in the ''Halloween'' film series and is a continuation sequel to '' Halloween'' (1978).
The plot picks up directly after the cliffhanger ending of the first film, with Michael Myers following survivor Laurie Strode to the local hospital, while his psychiatrist Dr. Loomis continues his pursuit of him.

Though Carpenter directed a good portion of the film and wrote the screenplay to the sequel, Carpenter realistically could not direct the entire film in time due to directing his other film in that timeframe, appointing the direction to Rosenthal. Filming took place in the spring of 1981, primarily at Morningside Hospital in Los Angeles, California, on a budget of $2.5 million. Stylistically, ''Halloween II'' reproduces certain key elements that made the original ''Halloween'' a success, such as first-person camera perspectives, and was intended (at the time) to finish the story of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode. It also introduces the plot twist of Laurie Strode being the sister of Michael Myers, an element that would form the narrative arc of the series in subsequent films after ''Halloween II''—including Rob Zombie's remake and its sequel—but was dropped from the series' canon from the 2018 film onwards.

''Halloween II'' was distributed by Universal Pictures, and premiered in the United States on October 30, 1981. The film was a huge box office success, grossing over $25 million domestically alone. It received mixed reviews from critics, with praise directed towards its performances and atmosphere.

Plot

On October 31, 1978, Michael Myers is shot by his psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis and falls off a balcony. He survives and escapes into the night. Wandering the alleys, he steals a kitchen knife from an elderly couple and kills the teenage girl next door. Meanwhile, Laurie Strode, who narrowly avoided being killed that night, is taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital while Loomis continues his pursuit of Michael, accompanied by Sheriff Leigh Brackett. Loomis mistakes costumed teenager Ben Tramer for Michael, resulting in Ben being hit by a police car and burning to death. Upon learning his daughter Annie has been killed by Michael, Sheriff Brackett blames Loomis and abandons the search, leaving Deputy Gary Hunt to take his place.

At the hospital, paramedic Jimmy develops an attraction to Laurie, but head nurse Virginia Alves limits the time he spends with her. After hearing a newsflash revealing Laurie's location, Michael makes his way to the hospital, where he cuts the phone lines and slashes all the car tires so no one can escape and go for help. Wandering the halls in search of Laurie, he kills the security guard, the doctor, and several nurses throughout the night. In her hospital room, Laurie dreams about the time she learned she was adopted, and remembers she once visited a young Michael at the sanitarium. Jimmy and nurse Jill Franco search the hospital for Laurie, who is trying to evade Michael.

Jimmy finds the body of Mrs. Alves by slipping in a pool of her blood and knocking himself unconscious, giving himself a concussion. Meanwhile, police are informed that Michael broke into the local elementary school earlier. Loomis rides with them. His colleague Marion Chambers arrives to escort him back to Smith's Grove on the governor's orders and under the enforcement of a US Marshal. On the way, she tells him that Laurie is Michael's younger sister; she was put up for adoption after the death of Michael's parents, with the records sealed to protect the family.

Realizing that Michael is after Laurie and being told she was brought to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, Loomis forces the marshal at gunpoint to drive back to Haddonfield. Jill finally finds Laurie, only to be killed by Michael, who then pursues Laurie through the hospital. She manages to escape to the parking lot and hides in a car. Jimmy soon arrives and tries to drive the car to safety, but passes out again on the horn, attracting Michael’s attention. Loomis, Marion, and the marshal reach the hospital just in time to save Laurie. Loomis shoots Michael until he falls down, seemingly dead. While Marion calls the police on the marshal’s radio, the marshal tries to check Michael's pulse as Loomis warns him to stay away, knowing he isn't dead. Michael revives and slits the marshal’s throat with a scalpel.

Loomis and Laurie run into an operating room, where he gives her the marshal's gun before being stabbed by Michael. Laurie shoots the assailant in both eyes, blinding him. As he swings around the space violently, the two fill the room with flammable gas. Loomis orders Laurie to get out before igniting the gas, immolating himself and Michael in an explosion. Laurie watches as Michael, engulfed in flames, emerges from the fire before finally collapsing. The next morning, she is transferred to another hospital, traumatized but alive.

Cast

*Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode
**Nichole Drucker as Young Laurie Strode
*Donald Pleasence as Dr. Sam Loomis
*Charles Cyphers as Sheriff Leigh Brackett
*Lance Guest as Jimmy
*Pamela Susan Shoop as Nurse Karen Bailey
*Hunter von Leer as Deputy Gary Hunt
*Tawny Moyer as Nurse Jill Franco
* Ana Alicia as Nurse Janet Marshall
*Nancy Stephens as Marion Chambers
* Dick Warlock as Michael Myers / The Shape / Patrolman #3
**Adam Gunn as Young Michael Myers
**Nick Castle and Tony Moran as Michael Myers
*Gloria Gifford as Nurse Virginia Alves
*Leo Rossi as Budd Scarlotti
*Ford Rainey as Dr. Frederick Mixter
* Jeffrey Kramer as Graham
*Cliff Emmich as Bernard Garrett
*John Zenda as Marshall Terrence Gummell
*Anne Bruner as Alice Martin
*Lucille Benson as Mrs Elrod
*Catherine Bergstrom as Debra Lane
* Anne-Marie Martin as Darcy
*Dana Carvey as Barry McNichol
*Billy Warlock as Craig Levant
*Alan Haufrect as Reporter (Robert Mundy)
* Nancy Loomis as Annie Brackett
*Kyle Richards as Lindsey Wallace
* Brian Andrews as Tommy Doyle
*Jonathan Prince as Randy Lohnner
*Jack Verbois as Ben Tramer

Production

Development

Carpenter and Hill, the writers of the first ''Halloween'', had originally considered setting the sequel a few years after the events of ''Halloween''. They planned to have Myers track Laurie Strode to her new home in a high-rise apartment building. However, the setting was later changed to Haddonfield Hospital in script meetings. Tommy Lee Wallace, who served on the crew of the original film, stated that "no one thought of sequels" over the prospect of a sequel, but producer Irwin Yablans was eager to make a second film. When Yablans approached him about the project, Carpenter was in the midst of developing ''The Fog'' (1980). According to Yablans, he had planned to produce ''The Fog'' for Carpenter, but that Robert Rehme intervened and acquired production rights with his company, Embassy Pictures. A lawsuit between Yablans and Rehme ensued, after which it was determined that Embassy would retain rights to ''The Fog'', while Yablans's Compass International Pictures would be guaranteed production rights for ''Halloween II''.

The sequel was intended to conclude the story of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode. The third film, '' Halloween III: Season of the Witch'', released a year later, contained a plot that deviated wholly from that of the first two films. Wallace, who went on to direct ''Halloween III'', stated, "It is our intention to create an anthology out of the series, sort of along the lines of ''Night Gallery'', or ''The Twilight Zone'', only on a much larger scale, of course." When asked, in a 1982 interview, what happened to Myers and Loomis, Carpenter flatly answered, "The Shape is dead. Pleasence's character is dead, too, unfortunately."Carpenter, interview with ''Twilight Zone Magazine'', November 1982, available her

last accessed April 19, 2006. This would later be retconned and both Michael and Loomis would return for multiple later installments.

Writing

The screenplay of ''Halloween II'' was written by Carpenter and Hill. Carpenter described that his writing of the screenplay "mainly dealt with a lot of beer, sitting in front of a typewriter saying 'What the fuck am I doing? I don't know.'" In a 1981 interview with '' Fangoria'' magazine, Hill mentions the finished film differs somewhat from initial drafts of the screenplay. Upon receiving the script, Yablans was disappointed as he felt it was "pedestrian and predictable." The plot twist of Laurie being Michael's sister was initially never planned by Carpenter or Hill, but was conceived, according to Carpenter, "purely as a function of having decided to become involved in the sequel to the movie where I didn't think there was really much of a story left." He would later refer to this plotline as "silly" and "foolish," though it would go on to shape the narrative arc of the series in the subsequent films. It was retconned in '' Halloween'', the 2018 rebooted sequel of the franchise, when Laurie's granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) dismisses the idea that Laurie and Michael are siblings as "just something people made up." Screenwriter Danny McBride felt that Michael Myers would be scarier if he had no motive for killing people.

Film critic Roger Ebert, who praised the first film, notes that the plot of the sequel was rather simple: "The plot of ''Halloween II'' absolutely depends, of course, on our old friend the Idiot Plot, which requires that everyone in the movie behave at all times like an idiot. That's necessary because if anyone were to use common sense, the problem would be solved and the movie would be over." 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."

Historian Nicholas Rogers suggests that a portion of the film seems to have drawn inspiration from the "contemporary controversies surrounding the holiday itself." He points specifically to the scene in the film when a young boy in a pirate costume arrives at Haddonfield Memorial Hospital with a razor blade lodged in his mouth, a reference to the urban legend of tainted Halloween candy. According to Rogers, "The ''Halloween'' films opened in the wake of the billowing stories about Halloween sadism and clearly traded on the uncertainties surrounding trick-or-treating and the general safety of the festival."

Casting

The main cast of ''Halloween'' reprised their roles in the sequel with the exception of Nick Castle, who had played the adult Michael Myers in the original. Veteran English actor Donald Pleasence continued the role of Dr. Sam Loomis, who had been Myers' psychiatrist for the past 15 years while Myers was institutionalized at Smith's Grove Sanitarium. Curtis (then 22), again played the teenage babysitter Laurie Strode, revealed in this film as the younger sister of Myers. Curtis required a wig for the role of long-haired Laurie Strode, as she had her own hair cut shorter at the time. Charles Cyphers reprised the role of Sheriff Leigh Brackett, though his character disappears from the film when the corpse of his daughter Annie ( Nancy Loomis) is discovered. Nancy Loomis appears as Annie in a cameo role as her father, Sheriff Brackett, closes her eyes as her corpse is being taken out of the house in a stretcher. Actor Hunter von Leer heads the manhunt for Myers in the role of Deputy Gary Hunt. He admitted in an interview that he had never watched ''Halloween'' before being cast in the part. He stated, "I did not see the original first but being from a small town, I wanted the Deputy to have compassion." Nancy Stephens, who played Loomis's nurse colleague Marion Chambers in the original, also reprised the character and was given a more important role, revealing to Loomis the family connection between Laurie and Michael.

Stunt performer Dick Warlock played Michael Myers (as in ''Halloween'', listed as "The Shape" in the credits), replacing Castle who was beginning a career as a director. Warlock's previous experience in film was as a stunt double in films, such as '' The Green Berets'' (1968) and ''Jaws'' (1975), and the 1974 television series '' Kolchak: The Night Stalker''. In an interview, Warlock explained how he prepared for the role since Myers received far more screen time in the sequel than the original. Warlock said:

Warlock also claims that the mask he wore was the same one Nick Castle used in the first film. Hill confirmed this in an interview.

The supporting cast consisted of relatively unknown actors and actresses, except for Jeffrey Kramer and Ford Rainey. Most of the cast previously or later appeared in films or television series by Universal Studios (the distributor for this film). Kramer was previously cast in a supporting role as Deputy Jeff Hendricks in ''Jaws'' and ''Jaws 2'' (1978). In ''Halloween II'', Kramer played Dr. Graham, a dentist who examines the charred remains of Ben Tramer. Rainey was chosen to play Haddonfield Memorial Hospital's drunk resident doctor, Frederick Mixter. A host of character actors were cast as the hospital's staff. Many were acquaintances of director Rosenthal. He told an interviewer, "I'd been studying acting with Milton Katselas at the Beverly Hills Playhouse and I brought many people from the Playhouse into ''Halloween 2''." These included Pamela Susan Shoop, Leo Rossi, Ana Alicia and Gloria Gifford. Rossi played the part of Budd Scarlotti, a hypersexual EMS driver; Rossi as well as several others, such as Stephens, had been members of an acting class with Rosenthal.

Shoop played Nurse Karen Bailey, who is scalded to death by Myers in the hospital therapy tub. Featured in the only nude scene in the film, Shoop discussed filming the scene, and recalled getting an ear infection: "he waterwas cold and dirty. They were playing it off like the water was boiling, but it was absolutely freezing! Leo ossiand I were so cold, our teeth were chattering.!" Gifford and Alicia played minor supporting roles as head nurse Mrs. Virginia Alves and orderly Janet Marshall. Actor Lance Guest played an EMS driver, Jimmy. ''The Last Starfighter'' director Nick Castle stated in an interview, "When I was assigned to the film, Lance Guest was the first name I wrote down on my list for Alex after seeing him in ''Halloween II''." Castle adds, "He possessed all the qualities I wanted the character to express on the screen, a kind of innocence, shyness, yet determination." Future ''Saturday Night Live'' and ''Wayne's World'' star Dana Carvey also appears briefly in a non-speaking role, wearing a blue baseball cap and receiving instructions from the TV reporter. Carvey originally had a bit of a bigger role, including some speaking scenes, before his scenes ultimately got mostly cut.

Filming

''Halloween'' executive producers Irwin Yablans and Moustapha Akkad invested heavily in the sequel, boasting a much larger budget than its predecessor: $2.5 million (compared to only $320,000 for the original). Italian film producer Dino De Laurentiis assisted in financing the production. There was discussion of filming ''Halloween II'' in 3-D; Hill said, "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." Dean Cundey, the director of photography on the first film, reprised his role as cinematographer, opting out of shooting Tobe Hooper's '' Poltergeist'' (1982) as he felt a loyalty to Carpenter and Hill.

''Halloween II'' was filmed over a six-week period starting on April 6, 1981 and ending on May 18, 1981. Most of the film was shot at Morningside Hospital in Los Angeles, California, and Pasadena Community Hospital in Pasadena. Rosenthal recalled filming at Pasadena Community Hospital as being extraordinarily difficult due to its proximity to an airport, which disrupted shooting frequently due to incoming airplanes.

Direction

Reluctant to extend his involvement in the film, Carpenter refused to direct 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." After Wallace declined, Carpenter chose Rosenthal, a relatively unknown and inexperienced director whose previous credits included episodes of the television series ''Secrets of Midland Heights'' (1980–1981). Rosenthal was chosen to direct based on a short film he had made, ''The Toyer'', while a student at the American Film Institute. Debra Hill had also considered directing at one point, but did not want to appear as "just a protégé" of Carpenter.

Stylistically, Rosenthal attempted to recreate the elements and themes of the original film, stating: "conceptually, it's not at all my film. It's a continuation of a John Carpenter and Debra Hill ...  film. But in execution, it's my vision." ''Halloween II'' opens with a title sequence zooming in on a jack-o'-lantern that splits in half to reveal a human skull, a reference to the original film's title sequence, which featured a similar zoom into the eye of a jack-o'-lantern. The first scene of the film is presented through a first-person camera format in which a voyeuristic Michael Myers enters an elderly couple's home and steals a knife from the kitchen. Rosenthal attempts to reproduce the "jump" scenes present in ''Halloween'', but does not film Myers on the periphery, which is where he appeared in many of the scenes of the original. Under Rosenthal's direction, Myers is the central feature of a majority of the scenes. Rosenthal also stated that he attempted to replicate the visual elements of the previous film "until we he audienceget to the hospital ...  Once we're in there, I got a certain freedom: long corridors, moody dark lighting, all of that." In an interview with Luke Ford, Rosenthal explains:

The decision to include more gore and nudity in the sequel was not made by Rosenthal, who contends that it was Carpenter who chose to make the film much bloodier than the original. Wallace explains: "Since the release of ''Halloween'', horror movies had changed. There was inflation involved in terms of violence and gore and what you saw onscreen, to the point that John arpenterfelt like he was in a boxhe could not do the same thing that ''Halloween'' had been doing." According to the film's official website, "Carpenter came in and directed a few sequences to clean up some of Rosenthal's work." 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." When asked about his role in the directing process, Carpenter told an interviewer:

Rosenthal was not pleased with Carpenter's changes. He reportedly complained that Carpenter "ruined ycarefully paced film." Regardless, 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." The film is often categorized as a splatter film rather than a slasher film due to the elevated level of gore.

Music

Carpenter composed and performed the score with Alan Howarth, who had previously been involved in '' Star Trek: The Motion Picture'' (1979), and worked with Carpenter on several projects including ''Escape from New York'' (1981), '' Halloween III: Season of the Witch'' (1982), ''Christine'' (1983), and '' Prince of Darkness'' (1987). The film's score was a variation of Carpenter compositions from ''Halloween'', particularly the main theme's familiar piano melody played in a compound 5/4 time rhythm. The score was performed on a synthesizer organ rather as well as a piano. One reviewer for the BBC
...