Halloween II (1981 film)

Halloween is a 1981 slasher film directed by Rick Rosenthal.

Plot
On October 31, 1978, Michael Myers has been shot and falls off a balcony. Taking shelter to recover from his injuries, Michael steals a kitchen knife from the home of an elderly couple, and kills a teenage girl living next door. Laurie Strode, who narrowly avoided being killed by Michael earlier in the night, is taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, while Michael's psychiatrist, Dr. Sam Loomis, continues his pursuit of his patient. Accompanied by Sheriff Leigh Brackett, Loomis mistakes a teenager Ben Tramer for Michael, when Ben gets hit by a squad car which pins him to another vehicle that bursts into flames, killing him. Upon learning his daughter Annie was killed by Michael, Sheriff Brackett goes off duty to inform his wife, leaving Deputy Gary Hunt in charge to help Loomis.

At the hospital, paramedic Jimmy begins to fall in love with Laurie. Michael discovers Laurie's location after overhearing a news broadcast and makes his way to the hospital. Upon arrival, he cuts the phone lines and disables the cars. He wanders the halls in search for Laurie, killing security guards, doctors, and nurses that get in his way. Jimmy and nurse Jill Franco search the hospital for Laurie, who is trying to evade Michael. Jimmy finds the corpse of head nurse Virginia Alves and slips in a pool of blood on the floor, hitting his head and passing out. While Laurie wanders the halls of the hospital, she has a few dreams in which she recalls learning that she was adopted and had been with a pre-teen Michael. Meanwhile, Loomis is informed that Michael had broken into the local elementary school. As he investigates, he discovers clues connecting Michael to Samhain and the occult which might explain his apparent indestructibility, but his colleague, Marion Chambers, arrives to escort him back to Smith's Grove on the governor's orders under the enforcement of a US Marshal. Along the way, Marion tells Loomis that Laurie is Michael's sister; Laurie was put up for adoption after the death of Michael's parents, with the records sealed to protect the family. With the realization that Michael is after Laurie and being told that she was taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, Loomis forces the Marshal, at gunpoint, to drive back to Haddonfield.

After killing Jill, Michael finds and pursues Laurie through the hospital hallways. She flees down to the basement where she climbs through a window and stumbles onto a box full of glass. She then crawls to an elevator when Michael appears and is about to kill her, when the door closes she then flees to the parking lot, and hides in Jimmy's car. Jimmy has awakened and he exits the hospital. He gets in his car with Laurie and attempts to drive away to the police station, but passes out again on the steering wheel horn, which alerts Michael of Laurie's location. Loomis, Marion, and the Marshal reach the hospital just in time to save Laurie, and Loomis shoots Michael six times once again. While Marion attempts to call the police, Michael awakens and kills the Marshal. ach with a scalpel. Laurie blinds Michael by shooting him in the eyes with the Marshal's gun. As Michael staggers around trying to find them, Loomis and Laurie fill the room with gas. Loomis orders Laurie to run and proceeds to ignite the gas, immolating Michael and himself in an explosion. Loomis is presumed dead. Michael, engulfed in flames, follows Laurie out of the room before collapsing. The next morning, Laurie is transferred to another hospital.

The television version includes an extended ending where Laurie finds Jimmy alive in the back of the ambulance Laurie then cries and they each hold hands.

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/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 Marshal Terrence Gummell

Anne Bruner as Alice Martin

Lucille Benson as Mrs Elrod

Catherine Bergstrom as Debra Lane

Anne-Marie Martin as Darcy Essmont

Dana Carvey as Barry McNichol

Billy Warlock as Craig Levant

Nancy Loomis as Annie Brackett (corpse cameo)

Brian Andrews as Tommy Doyle

Kyle Richards as Lindsey Wallace

Jonathan Prince as Randy Lohnner

Jack Verbois as Ben Tramer

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.

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."[citation needed] 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 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: "[The water] was cold and dirty. They were playing it off like the water was boiling, but it was absolutely freezing! Leo [Rossi] and 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 and Directing
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.

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.

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.

The opening title of Halloween II, an attempt to connect the film stylistically to Halloween, featuring the lit pumpkin as a back drop to the opening credits.

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 [the audience] get to the hospital ...  Once we're in there, I got a certain freedom: long corridors, moody dark lighting, all of that."

Halloween II departs significantly from its predecessor by incorporating more graphic violence and blood, making it far more similar to slasher films of its time. This scene depicts Michael bleeding after being shot in both eyes.

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 [Carpenter] felt like he was in a box—he 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.

Rosenthal was not pleased with Carpenter's changes. He reportedly complained that Carpenter "ruined [my] carefully 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.