Looking back at the TV version of Halloween II, I’ve noticed how much the editing gives it a different feel from the original. Some of you who’ve seen both the Romero and the Argento cut of DOTD78 would know what I’m trying to say. A little cutting and editing can give a whole different perspective and meaning to certain scenes and can make or break a film. Some say the TV version for H2 is close to what Rosenthal intended before Carpenter re-edited to what we grew to love today. I’m not sure who edited this specific version but it sure does give you a whole different view of the film. It’s obvious that Carpenter cut these scenes out from the final cut due to pacing and sometimes plain bad acting. What’s interesting is that there is more character development and you get to know the Haddonfield staff more.
I thought I would share some screen grabs with comments to those who have never seen this version or to those who live abroad.
A big BIG thanks goes to my buddy Benny/Michaelantern…You rule buddy!!
The Shape can be seen entering the Elrod’s back door. Close-ups of the bloody-hand stealing the knife is missing. Mrs. Elrod turns around and screams.
Laurie is given two shots to calm her down. A blurry view of what Laurie sees before she goes to sleep…not knowing the horror of what’s coming. Ever wonder how they get unconscious patients into their hospital gowns? Now’s your chance! Mrs. Alves tells Jimmy and Bud…OUT!
Janet comforting Jimmy and understands that he has the hots for Laurie.
Dr.Mixter all drunk, worrying if he had stitched up Laurie properly…Now I’d rather have the Shape stalking me than this doctor touching me!
Mrs. Alves, bossy as always telling Nurse Jill that they need to find Laurie’s parents.
Jill and Bud watching a news bulletin of what happened. Jill squirting breath mints to get bud’s attention.
Bud states that it’s drugs that kill teenagers.
A cut to Mr. Garret….it was drugs…
A view from the Shape’s eyes…Notice that Nurse Karen is not wearing the pink belt that appears later in the film.
Mrs. Alves scolding Janet for not contacting Laurie’s parents on time. A disgusted Janet apologizes.
Scene cuts to Jimmy trying to sneak into Laurie’s room and whispers to Janet to distract Mr.Alves…Mrs Alves shouts, You’ve got two minutes!!
Jimmy gets Laurie a Coke…bad idea for someone who’s supposed to be drugged….
Mr. Garret goes to the store room to see why the phones are down. A cut of the Shape can be seen stalking him.
Nurse Jill not paying attention as always…Hey I thought the phones were down!!
Scene cuts to Jimmy entering Laurie’s room, Jill tells him that he’ll get them in trouble.
Guess the Coke was a bad idea…Laurie gets hysterical and screams that the Shape is still out to get her. The staff hold her down and drug her for the third time.
Lights go out….
Notice that the elevator is the same one Laurie uses to escape the Shape.
An extremely paranoid Janet explaining to Karen that someone snuck into the store room and that everything is creepy. This scene is a good example of slowing the pace of the film.
No eye candy here…Instead we see Bud telling Karen to get undressed.
When the Shape places his hand on Karen’s shoulder there is a close-up of him just staring down at her.
Karen looks up to find that it’s not Bud and screams…For some reason the Shape looks the other way!?
Guess the third hit did the trick….Laurie falls in a coma. Extended scene of Nurse Jill examining her…
No bed stabbing scene. Instead we see the Shape picking up a pillow and throwing it across the room with anger….
….but he quietly shuts the door when he leaves…
Another meaningless scene which slows the pace down but has extra dialogue from our lovely Nurse Jill…
Jimmy…I can’t find anybody…
Jill…We’ve gotta find somebody!
Laurie crying on the phone…Why won’t he die mama!
Alternative version of the Marshall death scene….The shape stands up and stabs from behind. This scene is played really badly and it’s obvious that Carpenter shot this for TV.
After Loomis gets stabbed, there is an extended cut of the shape coming closer to Laurie.
Laurie is riding in the ambulance when she sees something rising from behind her…Jimmy lives.
There are two versions of this scene. One with an added stinger sound to make this a jump/scare scene, the other with no stinger.
The End
This is well-documented, thanks. I just watched the theatrical and TV versions back-to-back and noticed about 90% of what is mentioned here. My favourite odd change is the look of shame Michael seems to give when Karen turns-around and realizes it’s not Budd… he seems to look down and away from her as if he were a dog being asked “DID YOU DO THIS?! BAD MICHAEL!”.
The weird insert of his blue-hue’d mask (static shot?!) when Mrs. Elrod screams is also hilariously weird. Also love how he throws the pillow (in Laurie’s room) in anger, yet quietly closes the door behind him in a courteous fashion.
I love the fact that there are 2 versions of this film.
Now if only someone would FINALLY release the super-weird TV cut of VIDEODROME (which features a *lot* of alternate footage and even a different ending….!)