Halloween II is a 2009 American horror film written, directed, and produced by Rob Zombie. The film is a sequel to Zombie's 2007 remake of Halloween (1978), and the second film in the rebooted Halloween film series and the tenth Halloween film overall. Picking up where the 2007 remake ended, and then jumping ahead one year, Halloween II follows Laurie Strode as she deals with the aftermath of the previous film's events, Dr. Loomis who is trying to capitalize on those events by publishing a new book that chronicles everything that happened, and Michael Myers as he continues his search for Laurie so that he can reunite with his sister. The film sees the return of lead cast members Malcolm McDowell, Scout Taylor-Compton, and Tyler Mane, who portray Dr. Loomis, Laurie Strode, and Michael Myers in the 2007 film, respectively.

For Halloween II, Zombie decided to focus more on the connection between Laurie and Michael, and the idea they share similar psychological problems. Zombie wanted the sequel to be more realistic and violent than its 2007 predecessor. For the characters of Halloween II, it is about change. Zombie wanted to look at how the events of the first film affected the characters. Zombie also wanted to show the connection between Laurie and Michael, and provide a glimpse into each character's psyche. Filming primarily took place in Georgia, which provided Zombie with a tax incentive as well as the visual look the director was going for with the film. When it came time to provide a musical score, Zombie had trouble finding a place to include John Carpenter's original Halloween theme music. Although Carpenter's theme was used throughout Zombie's 2007 film, the theme was only included in the final shot of this film.

Halloween II was officially released on August 28, 2009 in North America, and was met with a negative reception from critics. On October 30, 2009 it was re-released in North America to coincide with the Halloween holiday weekend. The original opening of the film grossed less than the 2007 remake, with approximately $7 million. The film would go on to earn $33,392,973 in North America, and $5,925,616 in foreign countries giving Halloween II a worldwide total of $39,318,589. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray, with a theatrical version and director's cut of the film offered.

Plot[link]

In a short flashback, Deborah Myers (Sheri Moon Zombie) visits her son, a young Michael Myers (Chase Wright Vanek), at Smith's Grove Sanitarium. Deborah gives Michael a white horse statuette as a gift. Michael says that the horse reminds him of a dream he had of Deborah's ghost, all dressed in white and leading a horse down the sanitarium halls toward Michael, telling him she was going to bring him home. Moving ahead fifteen years, after having shot an adult Michael (Tyler Mane), Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton) is found wandering around in a state of shock, and covered in blood, by Sheriff Brackett (Brad Dourif). Brackett takes Laurie to the emergency room. Meanwhile, the paramedics pick up the Sheriff's daughter Annie (Danielle Harris) and Michael's psychiatrist Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell), who are still alive after having been attacked by Michael, and take them to the hospital. Presumed dead, Michael's lifeless body is loaded into a separate ambulance. When the driver has a traffic accident, Michael awakens and escapes the ambulance, walking toward a vision of Deborah dressed in white and leading a white horse.

Michael appears at the hospital, and begins murdering everyone he comes across on his way to Laurie. Trapped in a security outpost at the gate, Laurie watches as Michael tears through the walls with an axe, but just as he tries to kill her, Laurie wakes up from the dream. It is actually one year later and Laurie is now living with the Bracketts. Michael's body has been missing since last Halloween—still presumed dead—and Laurie has been having recurring nightmares about the event. While Laurie deals with her trauma through therapy, Loomis has chosen to turn the event into an opportunity to write another book. Meanwhile, Michael has been having visions of Deborah's ghost and a younger version of himself, who instructs him that with Halloween approaching it is time to bring Laurie home; so he sets off for Haddonfield.

As Michael travels to Haddonfield, Laurie begins having hallucinations that mirror Michael's, which involve a ghostly image of Deborah and a young Michael in a clown costume. In addition, her hallucinations also begin to include her acting out Michael's murders, like envisioning herself taping Annie to a chair and slitting her throat while dressed in a clown outfit—similar to how a young Michael murdered Ronnie White. While Laurie struggles with her dreams, Loomis has been going on tour to promote his new book, only to be greeted with criticism from people who blame him for Michael's actions and for exploiting the deaths of Michael's victims. When his book is finally released, Laurie discovers the truth: that she is really Angel Myers, Michael's long lost sister. With the truth out, she decides to go partying with Mya (Brea Grant) and Harley (Angela Trimbur) to escape how she is feeling. Michael appears at the party and kills Harley, then makes his way over to the Brackett house and stabs Annie repeatedly. When Laurie and Mya arrive they find Annie bloodied and dying. Michael kills Mya and then comes after Laurie, who manages to escape the house. While Laurie manages to flag down a passing motorist, Sheriff Brackett arrives home and finds his daughter dead. Laurie gets into the motorist's car, but before they can escape Michael kills the driver and flips the car over with Laurie still in it. Michael takes the unconscious Laurie to an abandoned shed he has been camping out in. Laurie awakens to a vision of Deborah, and a young Michael, ordering her to say "I love you, mommy".

The police discover Michael's location and surround the shed. Loomis arrives and goes into the shed to try to reason Michael into letting Laurie go. Inside, he has to inform Laurie, who believes that the younger Michael is holding her down, that no one is restraining her and that she must maintain her sanity. Just then, Deborah instructs the older Michael that it is time to go home, and Michael grabs Loomis and kills him by slashing his face and stabbing him in the chest. Stepping in front of a window while holding Loomis's body, Michael is shot twice by Sheriff Brackett and falls into the spikes of some farming equipment. Apparently released of the visions, Laurie walks over and tells Michael she loves him, then she stabs him repeatedly in the chest and finally in the face. The shed door opens and Laurie walks out, wearing Michael's mask. As she pulls the mask off, the scene transitions to Laurie in isolation in a psychiatric ward, grinning as a vision of Deborah dressed in white stands with a white horse at the end of her room.

Production[link]

Development[link]

In 2008, at the 30 Years of Terror Convention, Halloween producer Malek Akkad confirmed that a sequel to Rob Zombie's 2007 film was in the works. French filmmakers Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo were in negotiations to direct the sequel in November 2008,^[2] but on December 15, 2008 Variety reported that Rob Zombie had officially signed on to write and direct the Halloween sequel.^[3] In an interview, Zombie expressed how the exhaustion of creating the first Halloween made him not want to come back for a sequel, but after a year of cooling down he was more open to the idea.^[4] The writer/director explained that with the sequel he was no longer bound by a sense of needing to retain any "John Carpenter-ness", as he "felt free to do whatever".^[5] Producer Malek Akkad said the original intention, when they believed Zombie was not returning, was to create a "normal sequel".^[1] Akkad and his Trancus producing company hired various writers to come up with drafts for a new film, but none worked. Akkad and the Weinstein brothers then turned to Bustillo and Muary, whose film Inside had recently been bought for distribution by the Weinstein Company. According to Akkad, the producers really wanted Zombie to return, as Akkad felt that there was something "lost in the translation" when the French filmmakers took over the project.^[1] After his work on the 2007 remake, Zombie had earned the trust of Akkad, who told him to ignore any rules they had set for him on the previous film. Akkad said that he wanted Zombie to move the franchise away from some of its established rules.^[1]

Characters[link]

For the sequel, Tyler Mane, Malcolm McDowell, Scout Taylor-Compton, Danielle Harris, Sheri Moon Zombie, and Brad Dourif returned to the roles of Michael Myers, Dr. Loomis, Laurie Strode, Annie Brackett, Deborah Myers, and Sheriff Brackett, respectively. Daeg Faerch, who portrayed a young Michael Myers in the 2007 remake, was set to reprise his role for Halloween II. By the time production was getting started for the sequel Faerch had grown too big for the part. Zombie had to recast the role, much to his own dismay, because Faerch's physical maturity did not fit what was in the script. Although Faerch is not in the sequel, the first trailer for Halloween II contained images of Faerch. Zombie pointed out that those images were test shots done and were not intended to be in either the trailer or the film.^[6]

Taylor-Compton described her character as having "these bipolar moments",^[8] where her emotions are spontaneously changing from points of happiness to agitation. The actress stated that Zombie wanted to see Laurie Strode travel into "these really dark places".^[8] Taylor-Compton clarified that when the film starts Laurie is still not aware that Michael is her older brother, and as the film progresses more and more pieces of information are given to her and she does not know how to deal with them. The actress explained that the darkness brewing inside Laurie is manifested externally, generally through her physical appearance and the clothes she chooses to wear—Zombie characterized the look as "grungy".^[8]

Zombie further described Laurie as a "wreck", who continually sinks lower as the film moves forward.^[9] Even Sheriff Brackett goes through changes. Brackett, who receives more screen time in this film, allows Laurie to move in with him and his daughter after the events of the first film. Zombie explained, "He's old, he's worn out, he's just this beat-down guy with these two girls he can't deal with."^[10] Zombie characterized Loomis in the sequel as more of a "sellout",^[11] who exploits the memories of those who were killed by Michael in the 2007 film. Zombie explained that he tried to channel Vincent Bugliosi, a lawyer who prosecuted Charles Manson and then wrote a book about it, into Loomis's character for the sequel; noting that he wanted Loomis to seem more "ridiculous" this time.^[11] As for Michael Myers, the character is given almost an entirely new look for the film, which is being used, according to Taylor-Compton, to illustrate a new emotion for the character as he spends much of his time trying to hide himself.^[8] Zombie said that of all of the characters that return in the sequel, Michael is the only one that does not change: "All the other characters are very different. Laurie; Loomis; they're having all kinds of problems in their life, but Michael just moves along. Michael is no different; he's exactly the same as he was ten years old and he killed everybody [...] He has no concept of the world around him, so he can never be affected by it."^[12]

Filming[link]

With a $15,000,000 budget,^[13] production began on February 23, 2009 in Atlanta, Georgia.^[14] Zombie acknowledged that filming in Georgia provided certain tax breaks for the company, but the real reason he chose that location was because the other locations he was planning to use were still experiencing snowy weather. For him, Georgia's landscapes and locations provided the look that he wanted for his film.^[6] During production, Zombie described the sequel as being "Ultra gritty, ultra intense and very real"^[15] and said that he was trying to create almost the exact opposite of what people would expect.^[16] Known for filming multiple sequences during production of his films, Zombie filmed an alternate ending to Halloween II. In the alternate ending, Loomis and Michael crash through the shed the police have surrounded, and out into the open air. As Loomis grasps at Michael's mask, and pleads for him to stop, Michael stabs him in the stomach, telling him to "Die!".^[17]

Music[link]

For the sequel, Zombie only used John Carpenter's original theme music in the final scene of the film, though the director admits that he and music composer Tyler Bates tried to find other places to include it. According to Zombie, Carpenter's music did not fit with what was happening in the film; whenever he or Bates would insert it into a scene it "just wouldn't feel right" to the director.^[12] Zombie also used popular culture songs throughout the film, with "Nights in White Satin" appearing the most prominently. Zombie chose songs that he liked, and that would enhance a given scene within the film.^[12] An official soundtrack for the film was released on August 25, 2009.^[18] In addition, an album featuring the music of psychobilly band Captain Clegg and the Night Creatures was released in conjunction with Halloween II on August 28, 2009. Captain Clegg and the Night Creatures is a fictional band that appears in Halloween II.^[19][20] Nan Vernon, who recorded a new version of the song "Mr. Sandman" for the end credits of the 2007 remake, recorded a cover of "Love Hurts".^[21]

Release[link]

Dimension Films released Halloween II in North America on August 28, 2009 to 3,025 theaters.^[22] Following that, the film was released in the United Kingdom on October 9, 2009.^[23] Dimension re-released Halloween II in North America on October 30, 2009 to coincide with the Halloween holiday,^[24] across 1,083 theaters.^[25] The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on January 12, 2010; the theatrical cut and an unrated director's cut, which Zombie says is "very different from the theatrical version," are available.^{[26][27][28][29]}

Box office[link]

On its opening day, the film grossed an estimated $7,640,000,^[30] which is less than the $10,896,610 Zombie's 2007 remake pulled in during the same weekend of August.^[31] By the end of its opening weekend, Halloween II had grossed $16,349,565.^[32] That weekend earned more than the entire box office performances of Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers ($11,642,254), Halloween III: Season of the Witch ($14,400,000), and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers ($15,116,634), in unadjusted dollars.^[33] The film dropped 64.9% in its second weekend, only grossing $5,745,206 and slipping from third to sixth place. Grossing just $2,114,486 in its third weekend, Halloween II dropped out of the box office top ten to fourteenth place.^[34] The re-release of the film was intended to take advantage of the Halloween holiday, but the film only brought in approximately $475,000.^[25] By the end of his theatrical run, Halloween II grossed a total of $33,392,973 in North America, and an additional $5,925,616 overseas for a worldwide total of $39,318,589.^[32] Compared to the other Halloween films, the 2009 sequel sits in fourth place, just behind the original Halloween.^[33]

Critical reception[link]

Based on 69 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, Halloween II has an overall 20% approval rating from critics, with an average score of 3.7 out of 10.^[35] By comparison, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 46, based on 15 reviews.^[36] Rob Nelson, of Variety, felt the use of Deborah and the white horse was nothing more than "silly", and he disagreed with Zombie's choice to film Halloween II in 16mm film, as opposed to wider format of 35mm that he used on his 2007 remake. Nelson also stated that the hospital scene was nothing more than a "butcher"-version of Carpenter's 1981 sequel, with the rest of the film feeling like it was rushed and "slapped together" at the last minute.^[37] In contrast, Time Out believed the hospital scene at the start of the film "[bested the 1981 sequel] in just about every respect". Time Out stated that Compton's portrayal of Laurie Strode showed an "intense, nontrivializing dedication to the role" that kept interest, while the storyline of Dr. Loomis's egocentricity hinders the overall storyline. Time Out also said that Zombie hurt the film by trying to show how "violence lingers with, and perverts, all who are touched by it", but then undercutting himself with "carnivalesque" violence.^[38] Although the New York Post's Kyle Smith did not believe the character of Laurie Strode was a balance for Michael Myers or Dr. Loomis, he agreed the ghostly images of Deborah Myers were a "relief from the blood-streaked brutality" of Michael's murders.^[39]

The Boston Globe's Tom Russo had varied reactions to the film. Russo pointed out that Zombie attempted to be more inventive with Halloween II, but only achieved mixed results for his efforts. Russo referred to the dream sequences of Deborah Myers and the white horse as "pretentiously silly", but agreed that the scenes did help to break up the standard genre violence and even went so far as to compare the sensation created by those scenes to "Tim Burton doing straight horror". In the end, Russo claimed that "only the most hardcore fans" would want the film series to continue.^[40] Joe Neumaier, of the Daily News, stated that Zombie has found himself with Halloween II. Neumaier describes the film as a successful "'character-based' monster-flick". Zombie's use of music from the 1970s, like The Moody Blues' "Nights in White Satin" and 10cc's "The Things We Do For Love", is "terrifically odd" throughout the film. Neumaier also said that the imagery of Deborah Myers and the "ethereal white horse" were a "nice visual relief" from Michael's violent attacks.^[41]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Halloween II at AllRovi
• Halloween II at Box Office Mojo
• Halloween II at the Internet Movie Database
• Halloween II at Metacritic
• Halloween II at Rotten Tomatoes

Halloween II is a 1981 Horror film directed by Rick Rosenthal, and written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill. It is the second installment in the Halloween series and is a direct sequel to Halloween set on the same night of October 31, 1978 as the seemingly unkillable Michael Myers continues to follow his intended victim Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) to a nearby hospital while Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) is still in pursuit of his patient.

Stylistically, Halloween II reproduces certain key elements that made the original Halloween a success, such as first-person camera perspectives and unexceptional settings. The sequel was a box office success, grossing over $25.5 million in the United States.

Originally, Halloween II was intended to be the last chapter of the Halloween series to revolve around Michael Myers and Haddonfield,^[2] but after the lacklustre reaction to Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), the Michael Myers character was brought back seven years later in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988).

Plot[link]

On October 31, 1978, Laurie Strode (Jaime Lee Curtis) is sent to the hospital due to the injuries inflicted by Michael Myers while Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) attempts to track him down after he had gone missing after being shot six times and falling from a second story window. Meanwhile, Michael is still in the area and kills a girl named Ellen in a nearby house as he seeks shelter to recover from his injuries; He later learns of Laurie's location from a radio broadcast and makes his way to the hospital. Laurie begins having flashbacks of being adopted by the Strodes and visiting a young boy in a mental institution; her sedation leaving her in a semi-consicous state most of the time, and her friend Jimmy (Lance Guest) begins to worry about her, developing romantic feelings for her despite the chagrin of the head nurse who is trying to keep her resting comfortably. Dr. Loomis and Sherrif Brakett continue to search for Michael accidentally killing a man named Ben Tramer, who was dressed like Michael, in the process.

Michael kills the security guard, Mr. Garret with a claw hammer and moves on into the hospital after the business hours come to a close, he begins killing off the hospital staff by whatever means come available, strangling one of the ambulance attendants named Budd and killing his nurse companion Karen by scalding her face in a hot tub. He cuts off the phone lines, cutting off all communications with the outside world which rouses Laurie's suspicions when she discovers the phones aren't working. He kills the head physician Dr. Mixter and a nurse named Janet by injecting air into their eye sockets via needles, and Laurie attempts to flee before Michael can find her.

Meanwhile, Loomis follows clues connecting Michael to Samhain and the occult which might explain his seeming indestructibility, but he is interrupted by a nurse from the mental institution who says she had been ordered to take him back under the enforcement of a US Marshal. Enroute, she tells Loomis that Laurie Strode is Michael Myers' younger sister and Loomis realizes that she is his target before forcibly ordering the trooper to turn around. Jimmy discovers the head nurse, Mrs. Alves, drained of her blood before slipping, falling, and injuring himself badly.

Meanwhile nurse Jill finds a sedated Laurie walking around and is killed when Michael stabs her in the back with a scalpel. Laurie manages to escape Michael though barely by going through the boiler room and up to the parking lot outside, discovering dead bodies along the way. She is unable to start any cars (due to Michael Myers deflating the tires of all the cars in the hospital parking lot) however and hides in one. Jimmy arrives and falls unconscious or dead from a massive concussion (which one is never explained). Loomis, the nurse and trooper arrive and just barely save Laurie from being killed by Michael. The trooper's throat is slashed and the two flee into the operating rooms. Laurie shoots out both Michael's eyes, causing him to blindly swing at them, Loomis fills the room with hydrogen gas using the distraction to allow Laurie to escape and he then ignites it, blowing up a good bit of the hospital in the process and evidently immolating them both in the fire.

At daybreak, Laurie is loaded onto an ambulance, having visions of the fire that destroyed the last of her family as she is driven off to safety. In the alternate ending, she sees a familiar shape sit up on the stretcher beside her in the ambulance but it turns out to be Jimmy.

Cast[link]

• Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode
• Donald Pleasence as Dr. Sam Loomis
• Lance Guest as Jimmy
• Pamela Susan Shoop as Karen Bailey
• Tawny Moyer as Jill Franco
• Ana Alicia as Janet Marshall
• Ford Rainey as Frederick Mixter
• Gloria Gifford as Virginia Alves
• Leo Rossi as Budd Scarlotti
• Hunter von Leer as Gary Hunt
• Cliff Emmich as Berand Garrett
• Nancy Stephens as Marion Chambers
• Charles Cyphers as Leigh Brackett
• Nancy Loomis as Annie Brackett
• Catherine Bergstrom as Debra Lane
• Anne Bruner as Alice Martin
• Dick Warlock as Michael Myers

Production[link]

Development[link]

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.^[2] However, the setting was later changed to Haddonfield Hospital in script meetings.

Halloween 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) even though Carpenter refused to direct. Most of the film was shot at Morningside Hospital in Los Angeles, California, and Pasadena Community Hospital in Pasadena, California.^[3] 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."^[3]

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.^[2] Tommy Lee Wallace, the director of 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."^[4] 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."^[5] Neither Carpenter nor Hill were involved in the later sequels that featured Michael Myers again.

Writing[link]

The screenplay of Halloween II was written by Carpenter and Hill. In a 1981 interview with Fangoria magazine, Hill mentions the finished film differs somewhat from initial drafts of the screenplay.^[2] The plot twist of Laurie being Michael's sister required a retcon of the timeline between Judith's murder and the events depicted in the first Halloween; while Michael Myers is said to have committed the crime fifteen years ago and to be twenty-one.

Film critic Roger Ebert, who was a big admirer of 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."^[6] Characters were described 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."^[7]

Historian Nicholas Rogers suggests that a portion of the film seems to have drawn inspiration from the "contemporary controversies surrounding the holiday itself."^[8] 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.^[9] 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."^[8]

Casting[link]

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 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, 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. Charles Cyphers reprised the role of Sheriff Leigh Brackett, but his character disappears from the film when the corpse of his daughter Annie (Nancy Kyes) is discovered. 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."

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.^[10] 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,

[I watched the scenes] where Laurie is huddled in the closet. Michael breaks through. She grabs a hanger and thrusts it up and into his eyes. Michael falls down and Laurie walks to the bedroom doorway and sits down. In the background we see Michael sit up and turn towards her to the beat of the music. ... Anyway, that and the head tilt were the things I carried with me into Halloween II. I didn't really see that much more to hang my hat on in the first film.^[11]

Warlock also claims that the mask he wore was the same one as used by Nick Castle in the first film. Hill confirmed this in an interview.^[3]

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 TV 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 a boy confused with Myers. Rainey was an actor well known for his supporting roles on television shows such as Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and The Bionic Woman. He was chosen to play Haddonfield Memorial Hospital's drunk resident doctor, Frederick Mixter.^[12] 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."^[13] These included Leo Rossi, Pamela Susan Shoop, Ana Alicia, and Gloria Gifford. Rossi played the part of Budd Scarlotti, a hypersexual EMS driver who mocks Jimmy as a "college boy." Rossi would go on to have minor roles in television series such as Hill Street Blues and Falcone and several direct-to-video releases.^[14][15]

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 in an interview: "Now that was hard! The water was freezing cold, and poor Leo Rossi and I could barely keep our teeth from chattering! The water was also pretty dirty and I ended up with an ear infection."^[16] Before working with Rosenthal, she had made several cameo appearances on television shows such as Wonder Woman, B.J. and the Bear, and later made appearances on Knight Rider and Murder, She Wrote.^[17] Gifford and Alicia played minor supporting roles as head nurse Mrs. Virginia Alves and orderly Janet Marshall. Ana Alicia went on to star for 8 seasons on the highly successful CBS serial, Falcon Crest. Actor Lance Guest played an EMS driver, Jimmy Lloyd. In much the same way as the original Halloween had launched the career of Curtis, after Halloween II, Guest went on to star in such films as The Last Starfighter (1984) and Jaws: The Revenge (1987) and the television series Life Goes On.^[18] 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."^[19]

Directing[link]

Carpenter refused to direct the sequel 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."^[20] 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). In an interview with Twilight Zone Magazine, Carpenter explains that Rosenthal was chosen because "he did a terrific short called Toyer. It was full of suspense and tension and terrific performances."^[5][21]

Stylistically, Rosenthal attempted to recreate the elements and themes of the original film. The opening title features a jack-o'-lantern that splits in half to reveal a human skull. In the original, the camera zoomed in on the jack-o'-lantern's left eye. 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. In an interview with Luke Ford, Rosenthal explains,

The first movie I ever did [Halloween 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.^[13]

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.^[22] According to the film's official website, "Carpenter came in and directed a few sequences to clean up some of Rosenthal's work."^[21] 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."^[23] When asked about his role in the directing process, Carpenter told an interviewer:

That's a long, long story. That was a project I got involved in as a result of several different kinds of pressure. I had no influence over the direction of the film. I had an influence in the post-production. I saw a rough cut of Halloween II, and it wasn't scary. It was about as scary as Quincy. So we had to do some post-production work to bring it at least up to par with the competition.^[5]

Rosenthal was not pleased with Carpenter's changes. He reportedly complained that Carpenter "ruined [my] carefully paced film."^[24] 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."^[6] The film is often categorized as a splatter film rather than a slasher film due to the elevated level of gore. Film critic John McCarty writes of splatter films: "[They] 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 ...."^[25] Rosenthal later directed the eighth film in the Halloween series, Halloween: Resurrection (2002).

Music[link]

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 than a piano.^[26] One reviewer for the BBC described the revised score as having "a more gothic feel." The reviewer asserted that it "doesn’t sound quite as good as the original piece", but "it still remains a classic piece of music."^[27] Carpenter performed the score with the assistance of Alan Howarth, who had previously been involved in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) and would work again with Carpenter on projects such as Escape from New York (1981), The Thing (1982) and Christine (1983).^[28]

The film featured the song "Mr. Sandman" performed by The Chordettes.Mr. Sandman" which would later be featured in the opening scenes of Halloween H20: 20 Years Later. ^[29] Reviewers commented on the decision to include this song in the film, calling the selection "interesting" and "not a song you would associate with a film like this." The song worked well to "mimic Laurie’s situation (sleeping a lot), [making] the once innocent sounding lyrics seem threatening in a horror film."^[27] Another critic saw the inclusion of the song as "inappropriate" and asked, "What was that about?"^[30]

Release[link]

To advertise Halloween II, Universal printed a poster that featured a skull superimposed onto a pumpkin. This imagery is 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. The effect of this can be seen in the distributor's promotion of the film as horror while at the same time stressing that the sequel, like its predecessor, "was more a quality suspense film than a 'slice and dice' horror film."^[31] 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.

Theatrical run[link]

Halloween II premiered on October 30, 1981.^[32] The film grossed $7,446,508 on its opening weekend.^[32] The rights were sold to Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis and the film was distributed by Universal.^[33] While the gross earnings of the sequel paled in comparison to the original's $47 million, it was a success in its own right, besting the earnings of other films of the same genre released in 1981: Friday the 13th Part 2 ($21,722,776), Omen III: The Final Conflict ($20,471,382) and The Howling ($17,985,893).^[34] 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 banned in Norway. The film was shown in Canada, Australia, the Philippines and Japan.^{[33][35][36][37]}

Novelization[link]

An adaptation of the screenplay was printed as a mass market paperback in 1981 by horror and science-fiction writer Dennis Etchison under the pseudonym Jack Martin. Etchison's novelization was distributed by Kensington Books and became a bestseller. It also features captioned black and white stills from the film at the beginning of each chapter.^[38][39]

Television[link]

An alternate version of Halloween II has been airing on AMC network television beginning in the early 1980s, with most of the graphic violence and gore edited out and many minor additional scenes added. There are many edits such as the murders of Alice, Dr. Mixter, Janet, and Mrs. Alves. Also added are scenes of Michael cutting the power (this explains why it is bright to begin with but later very dim) and a generator kicking in. Other scenes like extra dialogue between Laurie and Jimmy, Laurie and Mrs. Alves, Janet and Karen, Bud and Karen and Jill and Jimmy, etc. Another notable difference is the killing of the Marshall. In the theatrical version his throat is slit, while in the TV version he is stabbed from behind (not viewed by audience). While the theatrical version ends with the presumed deaths of Michael Myers and Dr. Loomis, the television cut features an alternative ending showing Jimmy in the ambulance with Laurie Strode. They hold hands and Laurie says, "We made it." This has been incorrectly referred to as Rick Rosenthal's version, Halloween II: The Producer's Cut.^[33]

Home video release[link]

Halloween II was first released on VHS and laserdisc in 1982 by MCA/Universal Home Video and later by Goodtimes Home Video. From 1998, DVD editions have also been released by these companies.^[33] Shout! Factory plans to re-release the film the DVD on September 18, 2012 with new special features. ^[40]

There has been speculation about a new special edition DVD from Lions Gate, which on 5/7/2010 submitted a classification to the BBFC for a new release in the UK, however it does not state if there are any special features and the current release date is October 2011. Lions Gate re-released the film on DVD in Australia in 2008 and it contains no special features.^[41]

Blu-ray release[link]

Universal Studios released the film on Blu-ray in the United States on September 13, 2011. It is packaged as a 30th Anniversary Edition and includes deleted scenes, My Scenes featurette, Pocket BLU app, an alternate ending and the 1984 documentary feature Terror in the Aisles.

The release sparked controversy upon its release due to the fact that Universal removed the credit "Moustapha Akkad Presents" and replaced it with "Universal, An MCA Company, Presents" ... in a font that does not match the rest of the opening credits. Akkad's son, Malek, called the stunt "disgusting. It's a disgrace[;] obviously, bias[.] [O]bjectively, any horror fan would find this as an insult to the man who has done so much to the series. And to come after his tragic death, he's not even around to defend himself. It's classless. I'm talking to Universal now and they're 'looking into it.'" However, Akkad was still credited on the packaging. Fans immediately called for a boycott of the disc and set up a Facebook page.^[42] On November 28, Universal started sending out emails announcing that the revised Blu-ray was now available and for owners of the previous disc to provide the studio with their "address and daytime phone number."^[43]

Shout! Factory will release the film to Blu-Ray on September 18, 2012 with new special features.^[44]

Reception[link]

Critical reception[link]

Critical reaction to the film was negative to mixed. It has a 29% "rotten" rating at Rotten Tomatoes. While film critics had largely showered praise on Halloween, most reviews of its sequel compared it with the original and found it wanting. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that Halloween II represented "a fall from greatness" that "doesn't even attempt to do justice to the original." He also commented, "Instead, it tries to outdo all the other violent Halloween rip-offs of the last several years."^[6] Web based critic James Berardinelli offered a particularly stinging review:

The main problem is the film's underlying motivation. Halloween was a labor of love, made by people committed to creating the most suspenseful and compelling motion picture they could. Halloween II was impelled by the desire to make money. It was a postscript—and not a very good one—slapped together because a box office success was guaranteed.^[23]

He accused Carpenter and Hill of not believing "in this project the way they believed in the original, and it shows in the final product. The creepiness of the first movie has been replaced by a growing sense of repetitive boredom." Berardinelli was not impressed by the decision to give Myers so much screen time. He says, "The Shape, who was an ominous and forbidding force, has been turned into a plodding zombie. 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."^[23]

However, especially more in recent years, critics have taken a more positive stance towards the film, stating that it was far better than the slew of inferior sequels and rip-offs that followed in subsequent years. Janet Maslin of the New York Times compared the film 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 applauded the performance of the cast and Rosenthal and concluded, "That may not be much to ask of a horror film, but it's more than many of them offer."^[45] David Pirie's review in Time Out magazine gave Rosenthal's film positive marks, stating, "Rosenthal is no Carpenter, but he makes a fair job of emulating the latter's visual style in this sequel." He wrote that the Myers character had evolved since the first film to become "an agent of Absolute Evil."^[46] 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."^[47]

Like the original Halloween, this and other slasher films have come under fire from feminist critics. According to historian Nicholas Rogers, academic critics "have seen the slasher movies since Halloween as debasing women in as decisive a manner as hardcore pornography."^[8] Critics such as John Kenneth Muir point out that female characters such as Laurie Strode survive not because of "any good planning" or their own resourcefulness, but sheer luck. Although she manages to repel the killer several times, in the end, Strode is rescued in Halloween only when Dr. Loomis arrives to shoot Myers.^[48]

In 1982, the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA, nominated the film for two Saturn Awards: Best Horror Film and Best Actor for Pleasence. The film lost to An American Werewolf in London (1981) and Harrison Ford was chosen over Pleasence for his role in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).^[49]

Controversy[link]

Detractors of horror films have blamed the genre for the perceived decrease in the morality and increase in crime among America's youth. According to moral critic Peter Peeters, 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."^[50] 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 were stabbed 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."^[51]

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 TNT's Monstervision, hosted by film critic Joe Bob Briggs.^[21] Following the trial, moral critics 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 II, 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.^[52]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Halloween II

• Official website of the Halloween series.
• Halloween II at the Internet Movie Database
• Halloween II at AllRovi
• Halloween II at Rotten Tomatoes
• Halloween II at Box Office Mojo
• Halloween II at FEARnet
• Differences with the Halloween II TV Version

Danielle Harris
Harris attending Adventure Con 2008
Born	Danielle Andrea Harris (1977-06-01) June 1, 1977 (age 35) Queens, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, director
Years active	1985–present

Danielle Andrea Harris (born June 1, 1977) is an American film and television actress, best known as a scream queen for her multiple horror film roles, four of them in the Halloween series:^[1] in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers as Jamie Lloyd and in the new version of Halloween and Halloween II as Annie Brackett.

Aside from her scream queen reputation, Harris is known as a former child star whose career has grown to include various independent films as well as such mainstream hits as Marked for Death, The Last Boy Scout, Daylight and the aforementioned Halloween films. She is also noted for her voice acting, which includes the complete TV series run of The Wild Thornberrys (1998–2004, as Debbie Thornberry) and Father of the Pride (2004–05, as Sierra).

Early life[link]

Harris was born in Queens, New York, and raised by her single mother, Fran.^[2][3] Harris's family moved to Port Orange, Florida and there she attended Spruce Creek Elementary School.

Career[link]

Early beginnings[link]

Harris still lived in Florida, when winning a children's beauty contest found her in New York. Moving back there, Harris began her professional career by appearing in television commercials while maintaining an A average at PS 117 and PS 232 in Queens, New York.^{[citation needed]} Her first acting role followed in 1985, when she made her debut as little Samantha 'Sami' Garretson on ABC's One Life to Live, a part she would continue to play for three years.

[edit] Debut in the Halloween series

In 1988, at age ten, Harris auditioned and was chosen (beating out Melissa Joan Hart) for the part of Jamie Lloyd, Michael Myers's niece and intended victim, in the movie Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. This was Harris's feature film debut. Although Halloween 4 involved older teenagers in standard slasher fashion, much of it was devoted to little Jamie and her plight as she was pursued by Michael, being his last remaining relative. One year later, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers was released, with Harris reprising her role. The focus on Jamie was even greater, showing her recovery from her earlier trauma and her decision to confront her uncle.

The character of Jamie returned in 1995 for the following entry, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers but Harris did not participate due to disagreements regarding the changes to her character on the script. Also, an agreement for her requested salary could not be reached.^[4] Instead, J. C. Brandy played the older Jamie, only for the character to be killed off early in the film.

Other young actress work[link]

Following her initial Halloween appearances, various other youth roles were played by Harris on film, some of them as daughter or niece to renowned action stars. Credits during this time include Marked for Death (1990) alongside Steven Seagal, Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead (1991) with Christina Applegate, The Last Boy Scout (1991) alongside Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans, Free Willy (1993), Daylight (1996) alongside Sylvester Stallone, Wish Upon a Star (1996) portraying two body-swapping characters along with Katherine Heigl, and her first horror film since her Halloween beginnings, Urban Legend (1998). During this period she also began to build upon her various television credits, with a recurring role on the sitcom Roseanne during the 1992–93 season (as Roseanne's teenage neighbor Molly), plus special appearances on Boy Meets World, Diagnosis: Murder, Charmed and ER, among others; she was a supporting player for the two-year run of CBS drama That's Life, the voice of Debbie Thornberry on the animated series The Wild Thornberrys, which ran for five seasons, and the voice of Sierra, the adolescent white lioness on the CGI-animated sitcom Father of the Pride. One of her characters originating from television, Debbie Thornberry, has otherwise featured in theatrical films: the animated The Wild Thornberrys Movie and Rugrats Go Wild.

[edit] Return to Halloween

Harris made her eventual return to the Halloween franchise to portray a different character, chosen to re-create Michael Myers's original babysitter victim Annie Brackett for Rob Zombie's Halloween, a 2007 re-imagining of John Carpenter's 1978 original. In this film, she appeared nude in a sex scene and afterwards as she faced off against Michael Myers, the first such turn in her career. She stated "[It] is something that I wanted to do because everyone's like, 'Oh, she's little Jamie. She's 14.' And it's like, no, actually, I'm 30. It's something that I've never done before."^[5] Also, whereas Annie is the first of the teenage friends to die in the earlier version, in the remake she is tortured but lives. This let Harris return to play the character in Rob Zombie's Halloween II, released in 2009. In the sequel, her part was expanded from the previous film and once again had her meeting Michael Myers in a violent encounter.

Further scream queen and independent film roles[link]

Her more recent work, next to the newer Halloween entries, includes the films Debating Robert Lee, Race You to the Bottom (an Outfest prizewinner) and the Halloween-themed Left for Dead, as well as an appearance in the music video for the song "The Bleeding", by Five Finger Death Punch. She also starred alongside Lance Henriksen, Bill Moseley, AFI's Davey Havok, and Battlestar Galactica's Nicki Clyne in the Illustrated Film series Godkiller. For Fearnet, she hosted Route 666: America's Scariest Home Haunts.

Harris has further continued to expand her horror and fantastic film credits. Her films Godkiller and Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet saw DVD release by the time Fear Clinic, a Fearnet original web series featuring Harris as well as Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, and Lisa Wilcox, made its debut the week of Halloween 2009, and her own upcoming horror resources website, horrorgal.com, was announced.^[6] She can also be seen as Felicia Freeze in the comedic superhero film Super Capers, and alongside Robert Patrick in The Black Waters of Echo's Pond.^[7] Beginning with 2010's Hatchet II, Harris has taken over the leading role of Marybeth in the Hatchet series, after Tamara Feldman declined to reprise her character.^[8][9][10] Some of Harris's subsequent genre credits include Jim Mickle's second feature film^[11] the vampire/post-apocalyptic epic Stake Land,^[12] Cyrus: Mind of a Serial Killer, Chromeskull and Michael Biehn's The Victim, in addition to providing the voice and basis for a computer-animated Barbara in Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D, director Zebediah de Soto's prequel/re-telling of George A. Romero's 1968 original.^[13] She is set to star in William Forsythe's directorial debut, the vampire film New Blood.^[14] Harris's own directorial debut is the horror comedy Among Friends, in which she also makes an appearance.^[15]

In 2010, Danielle Harris was identified as 'horror's reigning scream queen' by the NY Daily News.^[16] She has provided the cover feature for such horror/glamour publications as Girls and Corpses and Gorezone magazine,^[17][18] as well as a subject for the photo-book The Bloody Best Project.^[19]

In 2011, Harris won the Best Actress award at the Shockfest Film Festival, for her starring role in the short Nice Guys Finish Last.^[20]

Personal life[link]

Harris is Jewish.^[21] She has a sister, Ashley.^[22] Fellow actors Harris had been in a romantic relationship with include Michael Rosenbaum and Corin Nemec.^[23]

Stalking incident[link]

In 1995, Harris was stalked by an obsessed fan, Christopher Small, who wrote letters threatening to kill her. Small was later arrested after bringing a shotgun and a teddy bear to her home. On January 29, 2007, Harris appeared on an episode of The Dr. Phil Show, sharing her experience with other affected people.^[24] The stalker was obsessed with Molly, her character on the TV show Roseanne. In October 2009, Harris was granted a restraining order against Small, who began sending her messages on Twitter.^[25]

Filmography[link]

References[link]