When any film franchise is able to boast as many installments as Halloween has had, it’s inevitable that each be enjoyed to varying degrees. Personally, though I do like a fair amount of them on some level, it’s the first two flicks, H20 and (most) of Rob Zombie’s effort from 2007 that resonate with me most. And in case you’re curious, I’ll openly state that I loathe The Curse of Michael Myers, Resurrection and Zombie’s Halloween II from 2009.
In fact, we’re here to discuss a Halloween II of a different sort, that being the one which saw theatrical release back in 1981. To succinctly sum up that picture’s developmental history, series creator John Carpenter came back to write and produce the sequel – not direct – and ultimately ended up shooting new material and recutting the thing so that the story moved faster. Well, there was also the need for more connective tissue, hence the reshoots.
Though people can certainly have drastically different conversations about the same topic as years pass, it’s always quite intriguing to hear what they may have said decades ago. In the case of Carpenter, his appearance on Cinema Showcase in 1984 is once again making its rounds, in which he discusses Halloween II to a degree. You can check out the lengthy video below, but there was a quote that stood out as relevant to this subject.
To be more specific, the living legend said the followup to his 1978 classic was an “abomination”:
“I thought Halloween III was excellent. I really like that film because it’s different. It has a real nice feel to it. I think he’s a talented director. On the other hand, I think Halloween II is an abomination and a horrible movie. I was really disappointed in it. The director has gone on and done some other films and I think his career is launched now. But I don’t think he had a feel for the material. I think that’s the problem, he didn’t have a feeling for what was going on.”
As I stated earlier, I love Halloween II, but that affinity’s probably largely owed to Carpenter and his efforts in cleaning it up. Rick Rosenthal did come back years later to helm Resurrection, wherein it was obvious he still, as Carpenter once put it, didn’t have “a feel for the material.”
In my view, the 2002 movie was more “pop” than any other entry into the series, and I felt Michael Myers was more of a punchline than a credible threat. One has to wonder if people would’ve said the same thing had Halloween II‘s original cut gone unchecked, but at least we can breathe easier knowing history played out differently.