Case File 022: Michael Myers (Halloween II)

October 21, 2020 / Christopher Schrader

It's that time of year again. We're returning to Haddonfield and picking up right where the original Halloween left off to continue our investigation into Michael Myers.

By the filmmakers own admission, Halloween II is a movie that was made for financial reasons, not creative ones. John Carpenter had such a difficult time coming up with a suitable story, that he resorted to chugging a six-pack of beer every night as he banged out the script.

His lack of investment resulted in a somewhat plodding follow-up... and a bizarre twist ending that would wind up defining this franchise for the next three decades. Of course at the time, Carpenter thought he was putting a definitive end to the Michael Myers saga.

Topics include: the lucrative deal that lured Carpenter and Debra Hill to return, the original plans to set the sequel five years after the original instead of on the same night, the pros and cons of director Rick Rosenthal's slavish recreation of Carpenter's style, why a bed-ridden Laurie doesn't make for much of a protagonist, the three nights of reshoots that Carpenter took over after watching a rough cut, how giving Michael a motive shaped every subsequent sequel until the 2018 retcon, and more!

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