Halloween II: The Producer's Cut
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Halloween IIAn alternate version of Halloween II was aired on television in the early 1980s in which most of the graphic violence and gore had been edited out and several minor additional scenes had been added. This version is sometimes referred to as the "Rick Rosenthal Version" or "Television Version" and occasionally resurfaces on the AMC network. It has been suggested that the redacted film represents director Rick Rosenthal's original vision of the movie before John Carpenter's edits.
Rick Rosenthal's original version vs. the theatrical version
Rick Rosenthal's original version, which is cut differently, offered less gore, more character development, and a swifter pace (even though it runs the same 92-minute length). A special edition DVD of the alternate version was planned for release in 2001, but Universal released the original theatrical version instead.[1]
Plot
A pronounced difference between the film and television versions is found in the plot. While the theatrical version has the movie ending with Michael Myers and Dr. Loomis' presumed destruction, the alternate version shows Jimmy Lloyd (with head wound) alive in the ambulance with Laurie Strode. They hold hands and Laurie says, "We made it."[1]
Background
John 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."[2] After Wallace declined, Carpenter chose Rick Rosenthal, an 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." [3][4]
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 object of a majority of the scenes.[5] 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.[6]
John Carpenter's edits
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.[7] According to the film's official website, "Carpenter came in and directed a few sequences to clean up some of Rosenthal's work."[4] 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."[8] 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.[3]
The so-called "Producer's Cut"
The so-called "producer's cut" that is sometimes shown on syndicated stations (for instance, in 2002, American Movie Classics (AMC) aired the alternate version as part of their Monsterfest Film Festival) contains the following differences from the theatrical cut:
- Many of the scenes have been time-compressed and run a lot faster than usual, and many scenes that were previously without music now have bits of soundtrack music added. The explicit violence has also been removed in all death scenes, and of course all the bad language has been re-dubbed or removed.
- The credits come at the very beginning of the film, directly after the Universal logo.
- The flashback to the first film contains additional sound effects, including a voice-over scream (supposedly from Laurie) when Loomis shoots Michael Myers.
- Dr. Loomis shoots Michael the correct total of 6 times, and he fires the shots much faster.
- The lines "I've been trick-or-treated to death tonight" and "You don't know what death is!" have been eliminated, with an awkward voice-over from the neighbor saying "Is this a Halloween prank?".
- The part with Loomis yelling to Chief Brackett, "I shot him six times..I shot him in the heart", and then getting into Brackett's police car is not shown, presumed to happen off camera.
- The theatrical cut goes straight to a scene where Myers steals a knife from a neighbor lady and kills a young woman in another house. This appears slightly later in the film and has been re-edited to suggest that Myers simply frightens the old woman. The young woman is either not killed, or that killing takes place off-screen.
- An extra close-up shot of Laurie inserted before Jimmy and Bud bring her out of the house on the stretcher.
- After Ben Tramer is killed by the policeman's car in the explosion -- which itself is edited to remove the shot of the actual impact -- the scene uses an alternate take depicting Loomis and Brackett's reactions and Hunt pulling up to tell Brackett Annie's body was discovered.
- The first view of Annie's corpse when Brackett identifies her has been deleted.
- A different take of the dialogue when Laurie arrives at the hospital. All shots of her being stuck with needles have been removed, and the scene is extended to include shots of Mrs. Alves, Dr. Mixter, and Jill leaning over her as her vision blurs. Then they begin to undress her as Mrs. Alves tells Jimmy and Bud to leave.
- The first scene that shows the young trick-or-treater with the razor blade in his mouth has been removed, with only the piece where they arrive at the ER and talk to Jill remaining.
- An extra scene where Janet talks to Jimmy about Laurie's injuries and tells him that Dr. Mixter gave her a "double bullet" sedative.
- An extra scene of Jill spraying Binaca in her mouth while talking to Bud and Mr. Garrett while they listen to reports of the murders. Mr. Garrett says drugs are the obvious problem.
- An extra bit where a shaky Dr. Mixter reviews Laurie's medical procedures with Mrs. Alves.
- A voiceover reporter speaks over the clip of "Night of the Living Dead" to inform viewers that Michael Myers is believed to have burned to death.
- Extra dialogue between Mr. Garrett and Karen as he buzzes her in. He tells Karen the murders were committed because of drugs.
- Mrs. Alves tries to call Laurie's parents while she scolds Janet for not calling them immediately. Meanwhile Jimmy sneaks in to see Laurie, while Mrs. Alves tells him she'll give him two minutes and that's all, which explains why later she says "Time's up, Jimmy, let's go."
- Karen and Jimmy discuss whether Michael Myers really burned to death in the accident, while Michael lurks in the shadows behind them.
- Different sound effects of the babies in the maternity ward as Michael lurks among them.
- Extended scene showing Jimmy bringing Laurie the Coke he promised her and opening it for her.
- When Mr. Garrett goes to check the phones, an added voice-over line where he explains he's going to check the phone box in the storage room.
- As Mr. Garrett looks in the storage lockers directly before his death scene, extra shots (some new, some taken from later scenes in the film) of Michael Myers have been inserted to make it appear as if Myers is slowly approaching, attracted by the noise Garrett makes when he knocks the boxes over.
- An added scene where Jill is on the phone (AFTER the phones are supposedly taken out!) and Jimmy sneaks by her to go into Laurie's room to tell Laurie Michael Myers is dead. Instead of being relieved, Laurie panics and says she has to get out of there, and Mrs. Alves, Jill, and Janet all come in to help sedate Laurie. While they are working on her, the lights in the hospital go out and the emergency generator kicks on, which explains why the hospital is so dim for the rest of the film.
- The scene where Loomis examines the charred remains of Ben Tramer extends to include a scene of Loomis and Hunt walking outside the morgue to get in an elevator, where Loomis explains that he believes the wounded Myers might try and go "home" to nurse his injuries.
- An extra voice-over in the scene where neighborhood mobs throw rocks at the Myers house. Graham is heard telling the mob "Michael Myers isn't here, we've checked the entire house!"
- The scene with the mob at the Myers house ends with a different shot accompanied by a stinger.
- A scene where Janet talks to Karen and tells her how creepy it is that the lights went out and how Laurie was screaming about Michael Myers coming to get her.
- Extra dialogue in the scene where Bud tries to convince Karen to have sex with him in the therapy room.
- The dialogue between Bud and Karen cuts immediately to a shot of Karen entering the therapy room, where Bud is already naked in the therapy tub. The scene also includes extra shots of the temperature gauge slowly rising and Michael Myers' hand turning it up. There is an alternate take of Karen talking to who she thinks is Bud standing behind her, turning around to see that it's Michael Myers. The scene concludes with just one shot of her being shoved down into the scalding water.
- A shot of Michael walking down a deserted hallway is added.
- The scenes where Marion arrives are directly connected to when she leaves with Dr. Loomis in the marshall's car.
- When Jimmy discovers Laurie in anaphylactic shock, there is extra dialogue as Jimmy and Jill wait for Dr. Mixter to respond to their call. At this point in the theatrical version, Janet discovers Dr. Mixter's body and is killed. That entire sequence has been deleted and is replaced by Jimmy getting restless and deciding to go find Mrs. Alves.
- There is an added scene of Jimmy looking for Mrs. Alves and finding the ladies lounge empty.
- The scene with Jimmy walking in the Major Surgery room to discover Mrs. Alves dead has been removed. Her death and his discovery takes places off-screen.
- Laurie's dream is placed differently and features a new voice-over of a "little girl" voice saying "Please don't hurt me, Michael. I'm your sister!"
- When Michael goes into Laurie's hospital room, he doesn't have a scalpel in his hand. Rather than stabbing at her bed, he simply picks up a pillow and throws it. There is also an additional shot of him closing the door as he leaves.
- When the drugged Laurie grabs the phone in the empty hospital room, she tries to speak and cries into the phone, "Mama, he won't die! He won't go away!"
- Extra dialogue between Jimmy and Jill where they wonder why the hospital is now empty and Jill asks if someone could be in there with them.
- Extra shots of Jimmy exploring the hospital looking for other people. By this point in the theatrical version, Jimmy had already slipped, and was partly unconscious after discovering Mrs. Alves dead in one of the surgery rooms.
- Jill's death scene has been softened. The shot of Michael stabbing her in the back with the scalpel has been removed and now it appears as if he simply grabs Jill and drops her in an attempt to strangle her. Additional sound effects of Jill groaning as she is dropped suggest that she survives.
- An extra shot of Loomis and Marion in the back of the marshall's car is inserted. Also, the shot of the marshall's car heading towards the hospital is edited back in, correcting the error in the theatrical version where the shot is used when the car is supposedly leaving Haddonfield.
- Jimmy's collapse in the car has been cut out since he's supposed to be looking for others during the entire climax of the film.
- Loomis only shoots Michael two times when he bursts through the glass door.
- The marshall's death scene is less gruesome, with Michael jumping up and pulling the marshall with him, apparently stabbing him from behind.
- Different angles in the operating room as the blinded Michael slashes out with his scalpel.
- The different editing makes it appear as if Jimmy's fall while discovering Mrs. Alves dead is caused by the explosion. Some versions leave the shot of Jimmy's head hitting the pool of Mrs. Alves' blood on the floor, while others edit it out.
- Graham's dialogue is altered in the final scenes where Hunt asks him the body count. Rather than giving an actual number, he states that he can't tell for certain.
- When Laurie is placed in the ambulance at the end, someone is in there with her. There is a final scare as the figure sits up, covered by a sheet, and the sheet falls away revealing Jimmy with a bandage on his head. Laurie cries in relief and says "We made it!" They hold hands and "Mr. Sandman" begins to play over an exterior scene of the ambulance pulling out of the hospital's parking lot.
See also
References
- ^ a b Distribution, Halloween II, at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006.
- ^ John Carpenter interview, Famous Monsters magazine, quoted at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006
- ^ a b John Carpenter, interview with Twilight Zone Magazine, November 1982, available here; last accessed April 19, 2006.
- ^ a b Behind the Scenes, Halloween II, at HalloweenMovies.com; last accessed April 19, 2006.
- ^ Review of Halloween II at Epinions.com; last accessed April 19, 2006.
- ^ Luke Ford, interview with Rick Rosenthal, March 12, 2002, at LukeFord.net; last accessed April 19, 2006.
- ^ Bill Chambers, review of Halloween II at FilmFreakCentral.net; last accessed April 19, 2006.
- ^ James Berardinelli, review of Halloween II at ReelViews.com; last accessed April 19, 2006.
External links