Halloween II

The film opens on the last minutes of the first Halloween. It is October 31, 1978, in Haddonfield, Illinois. Laurie Strode sends Tommy Doyle and Lindsey Wallace out of the Doyle house. Michael Myers attacks her again, and Dr. Sam Loomis shoots him, knocking him through the upstairs window onto the lawn. When Loomis looks down, the body is gone.

Michael wanders through the nearby alleys, steals a kitchen knife from the home of an elderly couple, the Elrods, and kills Alice, the teenage girl next door. Paramedics Jimmy and Budd take Laurie to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, where Dr. Mixter, who is probably drunk, gives her a shot to put her to sleep even though she begs him not to. Loomis and Sheriff Leigh Brackett spot a young man in a mask just like Michael's. Before Loomis can fire, a patrol car hits the man and slams him into a van, and the wreck burns. Then an officer tells Brackett that three teenagers have been found dead, and one is his daughter Annie. When Brackett sees her body carried out of the Wallace house, he blames Loomis for letting Michael loose and leaves Deputy Gary Hunt in charge.

Karen, a nurse late for her shift, hurries into the hospital, and Michael walks in behind her. The night staff is tiny: head nurse Mrs. Alves, nurses Karen and Jill, student nurse Janet, security guard Mr. Garrett, Dr. Mixter, and the two paramedics. Jimmy, who likes Laurie, keeps sneaking into her room and tells her Michael escaped from a mental hospital. Laurie cannot understand why he is after her. The phones go dead. Mr. Garrett finds a storeroom with a broken padlock, and Michael kills him with a claw hammer.

At the morgue, a dentist looks at the burned body and says the victim was 17 or 18. Michael is 21, so he must still be alive. At the Myers house with Hunt, Loomis tells the story of Judith's murder. Two teenagers tell them their drunk friend Bennett Tramer left a party wearing a mask, and they realize Tramer was the burned body. At the broken-into elementary school, Loomis finds Samhain written in blood on a chalkboard and explains it is Celtic for Lord of the Dead. Marion Chambers from Smith's Grove arrives with a marshal to take Loomis back to the sanitarium.

Laurie has drugged dreams of her mother telling her she is not her mother, and of visiting young Michael as he stares out a window. Budd and Karen sneak off to the therapy room's hot tub. Michael turns up the heat, strangles Budd, and pushes Karen's head into the tub, where she is scalded and drowned. Janet finds Dr. Mixter dead with a syringe in his eye, and Michael kills her with a syringe of air to the temple. Michael stabs Laurie's empty bed, but she has already limped away to hide. Jimmy finds Mrs. Alves strapped to a gurney with her blood drained through a tube, slips in the blood and knocks himself out. Jill finds every tire in the parking lot flat. Back inside, Laurie watches Michael step behind Jill and stab her.

Laurie limps down to the basement, backs into Mr. Garrett's body and screams. She pulls herself out a small window while Michael hacks at her feet with a knife, gets away in the elevator and hides on the floor of a car outside. In the marshal's car, Marion tells Loomis about a file that was just unsealed. Michael is Laurie's brother. Laurie was two when Michael was committed, her parents died two years later, and the Strodes adopted her. The file was sealed to protect the family. Loomis realizes Michael has come for his sister and makes the marshal drive to the hospital.

Loomis, Marion and the marshal reach the hospital as Michael chases Laurie across the lot. Loomis pulls her inside a glass door, and Michael crashes through it. Loomis shoots him five times and he drops, but while Marion runs to radio for help, Michael sits up and slits the marshal's throat. Loomis and Laurie hide in a minor surgery room, and Loomis gives her a gun. Michael breaks in and stabs Loomis, and Laurie shoots Michael twice in the face, blinding him. Loomis and Laurie open the ether and oxygen, Loomis tells her to run and raises his lighter, and the room explodes. Michael walks out of the fire fully aflame and drops. At dawn Laurie is wheeled to an ambulance while police estimate ten people are dead.

Story notes

• Picking up immediately after the 1978 film, Laurie Strode is taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital while Michael Myers survives Loomis's gunshots and continues his pursuit through the nearly empty hospital.

Release facts

• Worldwide: $25,533,818 (no international gross reported)
• Studio: Dino De Laurentiis Corporation; Moustapha Akkad presents a John Carpenter and Debra Hill production

Universal opened Halloween II on October 30, 1981. The theater count was 1,211 according to Variety or 1,217 according to the Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter said it took $7,676,836 in its first three days, and Box Office Mojo lists an opening weekend of $7,446,508. It was the number one film, and Variety called it the biggest weekend for any film since the summer. The day after opening, Donald Pleasence hosted Saturday Night Live on October 31, 1981.

It finished with $25,533,818 domestic, about 9.2 million tickets. That was less than half the first film's attendance, but it beat 1981's Graduation Day, Friday the 13th Part 2, Omen III and The Howling. Only An American Werewolf in London made more among that year's horror films. The Hollywood Reporter listed it among 1981 films with more than $10 million in rentals.

Overseas it played in Europe, Canada, Australia, the Philippines and Japan. West Germany banned it from December 1990 to January 2024, and Iceland banned it too. A 1986 video release was banned in Norway.

Critics were mostly negative and focused on the extra violence. Roger Ebert called it a fall from greatness that tries to top the imitators. Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times objected to what he called its reprehensible content. Roman Cooney of the Calgary Herald called some kills tasteless. Janet Maslin of The New York Times was kinder, calling it a class act by the standards of recent horror. David Pirie in Time Out praised how closely Rosenthal copied the original's look. Historian Jim Harper later wrote that time has been kinder to it. Rotten Tomatoes lists 27 percent from 102 reviews, and Metacritic scores it 40.

At the 1982 Saturn Awards it was nominated for Best Horror Film and Pleasence for Best Actor. They lost to An American Werewolf in London and Harrison Ford.

On December 7, 1982, Richard Delmer Boyer stabbed Francis and Eileen Harbitz, an elderly couple in Fullerton, California, 43 times. At his 1984 trial, he claimed PCP, marijuana and alcohol gave him flashbacks to watching Halloween II. The defense showed the film to the jury, which may have been the first time a feature film was screened in a murder trial. In September 1984 the jury recommended the death penalty, and he was sentenced to death. The case became known as the Halloween II murders.

Press and marketing

• Theatrical key-art / poster campaign reference: IMP Awards — Halloween II (1981) poster archive.

Cast

Crew

Production

The sequel came out of a fight. In March 1980 the Hollywood Reporter said Irwin Yablans believed he had a verbal deal with Carpenter and Hill to make The Fog. They took it to Avco Embassy instead, saying they had not been paid their share of Halloween's profits. Yablans filed a $4 million lawsuit, but he still wanted them back for Halloween II. In May 1980 his company Compass International pre-sold the sequel at Cannes. Carpenter and Hill signed on to write and produce, and nearly the entire original crew came back. Dino De Laurentiis's company paid for the film.

An early idea set the sequel years later, with Michael tracking Laurie to a high-rise apartment building. Carpenter's script picks up the same night instead. Carpenter later said he wrote it over a lot of beer without much story left to tell. He said the twist that Laurie is Michael's sister came from not having much story left, and later called it silly and foolish. Yablans thought the script was pedestrian. Hill told Fangoria in 1981 that they looked into shooting in 3-D but dropped it as far too expensive and a poor fit for night scenes.

Carpenter did not want to direct the same film twice. Wallace was offered the job and turned it down. Hill had interest in directing but did not want to look like Carpenter's protege. The job went to Rick Rosenthal after Hill, Carpenter and Carpenter's agent David Gersh saw his 1979 AFI short The Toyer. It was a psycho-killer story based on a Gardner McKay piece, and it used dialogue and pacing instead of blood. It was Rosenthal's first feature.

Unlike the first film, this was a union shoot. Hill told Variety a non-union version might have cost under $1 million, and that $2.5 million was about the lowest possible union budget. Filming ran six weeks, from April 6 to May 18, 1981, around Los Angeles. Dean Cundey came back as director of photography. He turned down Poltergeist out of loyalty to Carpenter and Hill. During the same period, Carpenter and Hill spent three extra days shooting new scenes with Curtis and Pleasence for NBC's broadcast of the first film.

Jamie Lee Curtis had cut her hair short and wore a wig to match her 1978 look. Rosenthal filled several small parts with actors from his class at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. Nick Castle liked Lance Guest's work and later cast him as the lead in The Last Starfighter. Dick Warlock was hired as stunt coordinator. He had not seen the first film when he interviewed for the job and watched it afterward. Warlock based his Michael on the closet scene, where the Shape sits up behind Laurie, and on the head tilt.

Distribution changed late. Variety reported the film was set to go through Filmways, but trouble at that company moved it to Universal. Compass International, which had released the first film, had shut down by November 1981.

Carpenter saw the rough cut and felt it was not scary, comparing it to the TV show Quincy. He and editor Skip Schoolnik spent a weekend cutting about 14 minutes. Carpenter then shot extra material, adding gore to keep up with the slasher films that followed the original. He shot the boy with the radio to explain how Michael learns where Laurie is. Dick Warlock's son Lance says Carpenter also shot Alice's murder and the close-ups of Michael burning. Rosenthal complained that Carpenter had ruined the pacing of his film.

The official franchise archive notes that Jamie Lee Curtis wore a wig because she had cut her hair after the first film.

An early concept placed the sequel years later in a high-rise setting before the story became an immediate continuation.

A 3-D presentation was considered during development but abandoned.

Alan Howarth built the sequel's electronic score around John Carpenter's original themes.

Filming locations

• Morningside Hospital, Inglewood, California: Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, filmed in a closed wing
• Pasadena Community Hospital, Pasadena, California: Additional hospital scenes. Rosenthal recalled that planes from a nearby airport often stopped filming.
• Orange Grove Avenue, West Hollywood, California: The Wallace and Doyle houses from the first film. The official site says the street name heard in the dialogue is the real location.
• West Hollywood, California: Laurie's Haddonfield home and neighborhood
• Shopping plaza also used in Halloween III: The official site says a plaza seen in a Michael Myers scene here also appears in Halloween III
• Much of the sequel was photographed in a wing of Morningside Hospital in Inglewood, California, with additional hospital material at Pasadena Community Hospital, preserving the first film's Southern California Haddonfield geography while shifting the action indoors.

Effects and makeup

The kills are much bloodier than in the first film because Carpenter added gore after seeing the rough cut. Critics like Roger Ebert and Kevin Thomas singled out the violence. In Universal's production notes, Hill had said the first film showed next to no blood and that chopping off limbs was disgusting, not scary. Ebert wrote that the film had the first close-up he could remember of a needle going into an eyeball.

For the shot of blood running from Michael's eyes, Dick Warlock wore tubes inside the mask that ran up the back of his head and ended above his eyes. He held a rubber bulb full of blood mix and squeezed it on cue. They got it in one take.

The operating room explosion was a big practical fire effect. Warlock did the full-body burn twice because of technical problems, and his arms got burned. He has said a fire stunt depends on a good effects team and dependable safety people, including his son Billy. He timed putting on the fire suit carefully, because sweat inside turns to steam and burns the skin.

Karen's scalding death looks like boiling water on screen, but Pamela Susan Shoop said the water was cold and dirty, and she got an ear infection from the scene.

Michael Germain did the makeup, with John F. Chambers credited as makeup technician. Larry Cavanaugh supervised special effects, with Frank Munoz.

Ana Alicia hit her head during a rehearsal of Janet's death. Warlock apologized and said it is hard to protect the actors while staying in character under the mask. He also breathed rhythmically under the mask to match the breathing on the first film's soundtrack.

The climactic operating-room explosion was a large practical fire effect that required extensive preparation and was filmed twice after the first burn failed to give the director the result he wanted.

For the blood-running-from-the-eyes gag, Dick Warlock wore tubing hidden inside the mask that ended above his eyes; he triggered the blood with a hand-held rubber bulb on cue.

Props and costumes

Warlock wore the same modified Captain Kirk mask Nick Castle wore in the first film. Debra Hill confirmed it.

The official site says Warlock is the shortest actor to play Michael and wore lifts in his shoes.

Curtis wore a wig to match Laurie's 1978 hair.

Don Post is credited for the masks.

Michael writes Samhain in blood on the elementary school chalkboard.

The original theatrical poster shows a jack-o'-lantern shaped into a skull, with the tagline More of the Night He Came Home. A Feref archive transparency of the UK campaign art by Frank Hillary, with a one-of-one proof print, sold through Propstore.

Michael's hero mask was the same modified Captain Kirk mask used in the 1978 film, now fitting Dick Warlock's shorter, stockier head differently; the production therefore preserves a direct physical prop link to the original rather than a recreated mask.

Jamie Lee Curtis wore a wig to restore Laurie's 1978 hairstyle after cutting her hair between films.

Production artifacts

Scripts and documents

The killers

Deaths

Alice Martin

Played by

Anne Bruner

How

Stabbed with the knife taken from the Elrods' kitchen

Where

Her house next door to the Elrods

By

Michael Myers

Bennett Tramer

Played by

Jack Verbois

How

Hit by a patrol car and slammed into a van; the wreck burns his body

Where

A Haddonfield street

By

Accident; the police thought he was Michael

Bernard Garrett

Played by

Cliff Emmich

How

Claw hammer to the head

Where

Hospital storeroom; Laurie later backs into his body in a basement utility room

By

Michael Myers

Budd Scarlotti

Played by

Leo Rossi

How

Strangled after Michael turns up the heat on the hot tub

Where

Hospital physical therapy room

By

Michael Myers

Karen Bailey

Played by

Pamela Susan Shoop

How

Head pushed into the overheated hot tub, scalded and drowned

Where

Hospital physical therapy room

By

Michael Myers

Dr. Frederick Mixter

Played by

Ford Rainey

How

Syringe in the eye; Janet finds the body

Where

Haddonfield Memorial Hospital

By

Michael Myers

Janet Marshall

Played by

Ana Alicia

How

Syringe of air to the temple

Where

Haddonfield Memorial Hospital

By

Michael Myers

Virginia Alves

Played by

Gloria Gifford

How

Blood drained through a tube in her arm while strapped to a gurney

Where

Haddonfield Memorial Hospital

By

Michael Myers

Jill Franco

Played by

Tawny Moyer

How

Stabbed from behind

Where

Hospital hallway

By

Michael Myers

Marshal Terrence Gummell

Played by

John Zenda

How

Throat slit with a scalpel. In the TV version he is stabbed from behind instead.

Where

Hospital entrance

By

Michael Myers

Mr. Garrett

Method

Hammer claw to head

Killer

Michael Myers

Production note

Close practical weapon/makeup effect.

Mrs. Alves

View the illustrated scene

Method

Blood drained after medical-tube setup

Killer

Michael Myers

Production note

Body/makeup/blood presentation built around the hospital environment.

Dr. Mixter

View the illustrated scene

Method

Killed in office

Killer

Michael Myers

John Carpenter and Alan Howarth did the score together. Howarth had worked on Star Trek: The Motion Picture and went on to work with Carpenter on many more films. They play Carpenter's original theme on a synthesizer organ instead of piano, which a BBC reviewer said gives it a more gothic feel. The official site says Howarth layered his work over Carpenter's original score, so the piano can still be heard.

The film was released in Dolby Stereo.

Songs: 'Mr. Sandman' by the Chordettes, later used again at the start of Halloween H20,, written by F. D. Ballard, courtesy of Barnaby Records. Footage from Night of the Living Dead, courtesy of the Laurel Group, plays on a TV.

Soundtrack: Varese Sarabande, 1981, 12 tracks, 30:54, including the Halloween Theme, Laurie's Theme and Michael's Sister. Alan Howarth Incorporated put out a 30th Anniversary Edition in 2009 with 18 tracks running 70:28, adding six extended suites.

Home Media

• 1982, VHS, CED and LaserDisc, MCA/Universal Home Video.
• 1998, DVD, GoodTimes, non-anamorphic.
• September 18, 2001, DVD and VHS, Universal, with anamorphic widescreen.
• September 13, 2011, Blu-ray, Universal 30th Anniversary Edition. Universal swapped the opening credit Moustapha Akkad Presents for Universal, An MCA Company, Presents. Malek Akkad called it disgusting and a disgrace, and fans called for a boycott. On November 28, 2011, Universal began offering corrected replacement discs.
• September 18, 2012, Blu-ray, Scream Factory two-disc Collector's Edition with the Akkad credit restored. It includes two commentaries, two behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, an alternate ending, the television cut, the trailer, TV and radio spots, and a still gallery.
• September 23, 2014, Blu-ray, Scream Factory and Anchor Bay Halloween: The Complete Collection box set. The deluxe edition adds the television cut on its own DVD.
• 2021, 4K Ultra HD plus Blu-ray plus DVD, Scream Factory Collector's Edition. The official site gives a September 28 street date, and High-Def Digest lists October 5. It has a new 4K scan of the original negative approved by Dean Cundey, in Dolby Vision and HDR10, with a new Dolby Atmos mix, the earlier DTS-HD 5.1 mix and the original two-channel mix. The 4K disc has commentaries with Rick Rosenthal (Leo Rossi joins) and Dick Warlock. The Blu-ray adds The Nightmare Isn't Over: The Making of Halloween II (44:55), Horror's Hallowed Grounds (13:11), deleted scenes with optional Rosenthal commentary (8:06), the alternate ending with optional commentary (1:44), teaser, theatrical and TV trailers, TV and radio spots, a TV promo, and still, poster and ad galleries. The DVD has the Television Cut (1:33:11) in full frame with mono audio, plus the script as a DVD-ROM file. The set comes in a black case with reversible skull-pumpkin art and a slipcover.

Home video history

• Halloween II novelization by Jack Martin, a pen name of Dennis Etchison. Kensington Books, 1981. It became a bestseller and has black-and-white stills with captions.
• Trick or Treat Studios officially licensed masks, costumes and props, starting October 2012.
• Halloween II tabletop board game from Stop the Killer and Fright-Rags, announced in 2023.
• NECA Dr. Loomis and Laurie Strode 8-inch clothed action figure 2-pack.
• Super7 Michael Myers ReAction figure and a blood-splattered version.
• Mezco Toyz Living Dead Dolls Presents Halloween II (1981) Michael Myers, and the MDS Mega Scale Halloween II Michael Myers with sound.
• Spirit Halloween adult Michael Myers costume, a deluxe bloody Michael Myers costume, and a Split Face T-shirt.
• CavityColors shirts: Horror Paperback in two styles, Scared to Death, and Instruments of Madness tie-dye.
• Fright-Rags Fright Facts Series 8 trading cards, which include a Halloween II card.

Books and publishing

Trading cards

The catalog

Trailers & clips

Gallery

Posters & Key Art

Film Stills

Behind the Scenes

Press & Promo