Halloween II/Fun Facts

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< Halloween II
Revision as of 22:45, 16 November 2019 by Pete (talk | contribs)
  • This is one of the only two films in the series released by Universal Studios. After the massive success of the first film, Universal picked up the sequel. When Halloween III: Season Of The Witch didn't fare so well, Universal gave the rights to Trancas International, an affiliate of Universal's, who produced the films until 1989. In 1996, the rights were sold to Dimension.
  • The mask Michael wears is the exact same mask (a repainted and modified Captain Kirk mask) worn in the original film. It looks different in the sequel because the paint had faded due to a few reasons, first because Nick Castle, the original Michael, kept it in his back pocket during shoots. Also, Debra Hill kept the mask under her bed for several years until the filming of Halloween II, causing it to collect dust and yellow because Hill was a heavy smoker. Also, the mask appears wider because Dick Warlock is shorter and stockier than Nick Castle, so the mask fit his head differently. As the producers thought it would be the final sequel in the series, they let Warlock keep the mask, scalpel, boots, jumpsuit, and knife used in filming. When they decided to revive Michael in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, the producers realized they had made a mistake and never again gave props out to the cast and crew, therefore subsequent sequels used different masks that looked rather different.
  • Dana Carvey made his movie debut in this movie playing an assistant. He can be seen receiving instructions from a blond reporter in front of the Wallace house.
  • The film is set immediately after the first Halloween. Since Jamie Lee Curtis had begun to wear a much shorter hairstyle in the 1980s, she had to wear a wig that matched her original hairstyle for the film.
  • Halloween II was originally written to take place in a high rise apartment building. Later in script meetings, however, the setting was changed to Haddonfield Hospital.
  • This is the only Halloween film to show the morning after the 31st, every other movie ends on Halloween night.
  • John Carpenter turned down an offer to direct, but remained involved with the production by writing the screenplay.
  • Pamela Susan Shoop (Karen) got an ear infection during filming of her death scene as the water in the hot tub was apparently "none too clean".
  • Believing Rick Rosenthal's version of the film to be too tame, John Carpenter shot a few gory scenes that were added into the film despite Rosenthal's objections.
  • The scene where the Boom Box Boy, played by Lance Warlock, runs into Michael in Haddonfield town square was shot on one of three nights of re-shoots done by original Halloween director John Carpenter.
  • The voice of Alice's friend (heard over a telephone) is the voice of Nancy Kyes, who played Annie in Halloween, and appears in Halloween II as the corpse of Annie.
  • The 17-year-old who was hit by the police car and burnt alive, at first believed to be Michael Myers, was supposed to be Ben Tramer, the boy Laurie confesses to have a crush on in the original Halloween.
  • Ben Tramer, who gets killed, is a reference to John Carpenter's friend Bennett Tramer. They went to USC (University of Southern California) as Tramer wrote episodes for '"Saved By the Bell" (1989)'.
  • Dick Warlock is the shortest Michael Myers in the entire series. In fact, he wore lifts in order to appear taller.
  • The film that the security guard and the Elrods are watching is Night of the Living Dead.
  • In the scene where Michael tries to attack Laurie as she's climbing through the window the scalpel that he's holding was actually just an eraser on a stick.
  • As revealed by the Sheriff's Deputie's patch, Haddonfield supposedly exists in Warren County, Illinois. Warren County is actually in Nothwest Illinois. Warren County more likely refers to the county in Kentucky which contains the city of Bowling Green where John Carpenter grew up.
  • Alice's friend Sally (the girl on the phone in the beginning of the movie) tells her the murders happened on Orange Grove. This is the actual name of the street where this film and Halloween were filmed. The houses that portray the Wallace and Doyle houses are on Orange Grove just north of Sunset Blvd in Hollywood, California
  • John Carpenter spent time growing up in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and there are several references to Bowling Green and the surrounding area: Smiths Grove and Russelville are towns nearby; Bowling Green is in Warren County, where Haddonfield is set; and Elrod, Chestnut, (31W) Bypass, and Scottsville are all names of local streets in Bowling Green. Additionally, someone in the film makes a reference to the Lost River Drive-In, which was a real drive-in theater in Bowling Green.
  • Was filmed at Morningside Hospital, 8711 South Harvard, Los Angeles which had recently closed and has since been torn down.
  • Anne-Marie Martin came into production as a favor when additional footage was being shot. John Carpenter shot the scene that involved Martin and supporting cast member Pamela Susan Shoop.
  • To get the role of Michael Myers, Dick Warlock revealed that as he passed by a room, the Michael Myers mask was on a table. He put the mask on and walked into Rick Rosenthal's office and stood there. After Rosenthal continuously asked him who he was and he didn't reply, he took off the mask and asked if he could play Michael Myers.
  • In addition to his role as The Shape (Michael Myers), Dick Warlock also appears as the policeman who accidentally hits Ben Tramer with his patrol car and crashes it into a van. Warlock not only drove the car himself during the crash scene, but also did all his own stunts as Michael Myers.
  • Interestingly, several of the scenes and lines in this film were taken by John Carpenter from the novelization of the first Halloween, which was written by Curtis Richards and published in 1979. The most obvious references are the neighbor appearing from a house near the Doyle residence and speaking to Loomis (their exchange is almost identical, and includes the "You don't know what death is!" line from Loomis), and Loomis going outside after shooting Michael to view his body (although Laurie accompanies him). Loomis also says that his gun "heightens my sense of security", a line said to Deputy Hunt in this movie.
  • The word painted on blood on the chalk board was 'Samhein". The Celtic word refers to an ancient Irish holiday at the end of Summer on October 31, the Festival of Samhein. However Dr. Loomis refers back to it as a title, being the name of a god of worship, the "Lord of the Dead". According to Wikipedia, Samhein "is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the "darker half" of the year. Most commonly it is held on 31 October-1 November, or halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. Along with Imbolc, Beltane and Lughnasadh it makes up the four Gaelic seasonal festivals. It was observed in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. Kindred festivals were held at the same time of year in other Celtic lands; for example the Brythonic Calan Gaeaf (in Wales), Kalan Gwav (in Cornwall) and Kalan Goañv (in Brittany)".
  • Lance Guest (Jimmy), who was relatively unknown when he made this movie, went on to star with Dan O'Herlihy who plays Cochran in Halloween III: Season of the Witch in the movie The Last Starfighter in 1984.
  • Body count: 10 (9 of which are killed by Michael).
  • According to Leo Rossi on a DVD commentary for the film, the water in the hot tub was freezing cold.
  • Lance Guest did his own stunt when he trips on the blood and falls on the floor. Moreover, this scene was done in a single take.
  • Gloria Gifford and Ana Alicia were both in acting glasses with director Rick Rosenthal.
  • Dr. Mixter was named after one of Rick Rosenthal's friends.
  • Donald Pleasence did his his own stunt when he falls down after Michael Myers stabs him in the hospital operating room.
  • Jamie Lee Curtis did her own stunt when she falls out of the car onto the parking lot asphalt.
  • Director Rick Rosenthal had to go to bat for the casting of Leo Rossi as Bud.
  • Tommy Lee Wallace was originally offered the opportunity to direct this film, but turned down said offer because he didn't like the script.
  • The stunt with Ben Tramer being hit by a police car was done in a single take.
  • Leo Rossi sang the song "Amazing Grace" because it was in the public domain.
  • Though Jamie Lee Curtis has top billing, she only appears on screen for approximately 25 min. 21 sec. This applies only to the theatrical version; in the TV version she has a few extra scenes.
  • The scene with the kid that has the boom box has been concluded to be the only link that Michael Myers knew to go to the hospital to follow after Laurie Strode.
  • The name of the medical facility was the "Haddonfield Memorial Hospital". Its acronym abbreviation was HMH.
  • A number of area hospitals provided the filming locations for the Haddonfield medical facility, many of them hospital corridors. Most of these were filmed at two Californian hospitals, the Pasadena Community Hospital and the Morningside Hospital in Los Angeles.
  • Due to its nudity and violence, the movie was banned in Iceland and West Germany, and later banned on video in Norway.
  • This sequel was originally intended to be the final film to feature the Michael Myers, Dr Sam Loomis, Laurie Strode and Haddonfield storyline.
  • The real life location of the Haddonfield home was located in the center of West Hollywood.
  • One of seven pictures director John Carpenter made with actress Jamie Lee Curtis. Five of them were Halloween movies, the others being The Fog and Escape from New York.
  • The film's production notes on the DVD state that this movie had a "sequel concept that may not have been exercised since the The Bride of Frankenstein in 1935".
  • Though he did not direct, John Carpenter produced, supervised and co-scripted and even directed uncredited a few additional scenes. Carpenter's music from the first film was also used and he was involved in the film's post-production as well.
  • One of nine collaborations of actor Donald Pleasence and writer-director-producer John Carpenter. The movies include six Halloween films (though Carpenter did not work on four of them but was credited for characters and music), two of the others being Prince of Darkness and Escape from New York.
  • The alternate television version of the movie has been known to be called "The Producer's Cut".
  • Debut feature film as a director for Rick Rosenthal.
  • A novelization of the film was published in 1981. It was written by horror sci-fi writer Dennis Etchison under the pseudonym Jack Martin and became a best-seller. The start of each the chapters in the book were lined with captioned black-and-white stills from the movie.
  • In a 1981 interview in Fangoria magazine, Debra Hill told of how there was consideration of making the movie in 3D. 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 3D".
  • The movie was shot on location all around the greater Los Angeles region.
  • One of a batch of suspense / horror movies made during the late 1970s and early 1980s starring Jamie Lee Curtis who became known as the "Scream Queen". The films include Halloween, Prom Night, The Fog, Road Games, Terror Train and Halloween II.
  • Around six months after this movie was released, another horror hospital picture with a crazed killer launched, called Visiting Hours. Both films featured a skull on their main movie posters, for Halloween II, it was superimposed over a pumpkin, and for Visiting Hours, it was formed as a pattern of switched on lights within the darkened shaped building of the hospital building. Moreover, the theme music for Visiting Hours was modeled after John Carpenter's iconic Halloween music score which is also featured in Halloween II.
  • Donald Pleasence also plays a character called Loomis in the non-Halloween movie Innocent Bystanders. Playing Annie Brackett, one of the cast members in Halloween II, Nancy Kyes, was also called Loomis, her billing name in the credits being Nancy Loomis.
  • The sequel, though not as successful at the box-office as the original Halloween, still grossed more money than other 1981 horror movies such as The Howling, Friday the 13th Part 2, and Omen III: The Final Conflict.
  • The film's main movie poster tagline, "More Of The Night HE Came Home", was an extension of one of the original Halloween's main movie poster taglines which stated, "The Night he came home".
  • The film was bookended by the song "Mr. Sandman" sung by The Chordettes. The tune would also later be used in the later Halloween movie Halloween H20: 20 Years Later.
  • First of two Halloween movies directed by Rick Rosenthal who later went onto helm Halloween: Resurrection, the eighth and final film in the original cinema series.
  • For some reason, the very first Australian DVD opened with the 90's Paramount logo, even though Paramount never distributed any of the Halloween films at that point.
  • The US release prints open with "A Dino DeLaurentiis Corporations Film", while international prints open with "Moustapha Akkad Presents".
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