Halloween II is a 1981 American slasher film by John Carpenter and directed by Rick Rosenthal in his directorial debut, written and produced by John Carpenter and Debra Hill, starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence who reprise their respective roles as Laurie Strode and Dr. Sam Loomis. It is the second installment in the Halloween film series and is a continuation sequel to Halloween (1978). Filming took place in the spring of 1981, primarily at Morningside Hospital in Los Angeles, California, on a budget of $2.5 million. It was distributed by Universal Pictures, and premiered in the United States on October 30, 1981. The film was a huge box office success, grossing over $25 million domestically alone with praise for its performances and atmosphere.
IMDb SYNOPSIS: While Dr. Loomis hunts for Michael Myers, a traumatized Laurie is rushed to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, and The Shape is not far behind her.Though Carpenter directed a good portion of the film and wrote the screenplay to the sequel, Carpenter realistically could not direct the entire film in time due to directing his other film in that timeframe, appointing the direction to Rosenthal. Stylistically, Halloween II reproduces certain key elements that made the original Halloween a success, such as first-person camera perspectives, and the film picks up right at the end of the cliffhanger ending of the original film and was intended (at the time) to finish the story of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode. It also introduces the plot twist of Laurie Strode being the sister of Michael Myers, a feature that would form the narrative arc of the series in subsequent films after Halloween II, including Rob Zombie's remake and its sequel, but was dropped once Carpenter got involved again from the 2018-2022 film trilogy.
Carpenter composed and performed the score with Alan Howarth, who had previously been involved in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), and worked with Carpenter on several projects including Escape from New York (1981), Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), Christine (1983), and Prince of Darkness (1987). The film's score was a variation of Carpenter compositions from Halloween, particularly the main theme's familiar piano melody played in a compound 5/4 time rhythm. The score was performed on a synthesizer organ rather as well as a piano. One reviewer for the BBC described the revised score as having "a more eerie, gothic feel."
I was not a fan of this installment when I was a kid, I hated the more synth score (I preferred the real piano sounding score from the first) and I also hated that Michael Myers carried around a lame ass scalpel instead of a knife. But after watching over the years, I now prefer the synth score over the original and feel the film was a pretty good follow up to Halloween '78.
Watch a vhsrip of Halloween II on Monstervision with Joe Bob Briggs without commercials that originally aired on TNT on October 25, 1997. Uploaded to archive.org by 22shotsofmoodzandhorror.
The video below is just the Joe Bob hosting segments with the film edited out. Joe Bob talks about the ending of A New Nightmare, which was the first film featured, that was cut out of the full video above:
Halloween III: Season of the Witch is a 1982 American science fiction horror film and the third installment in the Halloween film series. It is the first film to be written and directed by Tommy Lee Wallace. John Carpenter and Debra Hill, the creators of Halloween (1978) and Halloween II (1981), return as producers. Halloween III is the only entry in the series that does not feature the series antagonist, Michael Myers who died in Part II. After the film's disappointing reception and box office performance, Michael Myers was brought back six years later in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers.
IMDb SYNOPSIS: Kids all over America want Silver Shamrock masks for Halloween. Doctor Daniel Challis seeks to uncover a plot by Silver Shamrock owner Conal Cochran.
Halloween III departs from the slasher genre, which the rest of the installments were a part of, and instead features a "witchcraft" theme with science fiction aspects with suspense and tension being key themes. John Carpenter and Debra Hill believed that the Halloween series could have been an anthology series of films that centered around Halloween night, with each sequel containing its own characters, setting, and storyline. Director Wallace stated there were many ideas for Halloween-themed films, some of which could have potentially created any number of their own sequels, and that Season of the Witch was meant to be the first.
Halloween III was the last Halloween film distributed by Universal Pictures until 36 years later with The Strode Trilogy which include films Halloween (2018), Halloween Kills (2021) and Halloween Ends (2022). On a budget of $2.5 million, Halloween III made a profit by grossing $14.4 million at the box office in the US, but it was also the poorest performing film in the Halloween series at the time. Most critics gave it negative reviews. Despite the reception, re-evaluation in later years has given the film new legions of fans and has established its own reputation as a stand-alone cult film.
The soundtrack was once again composed by John Carpenter and Alan Howarth, who worked together on the score for Halloween II and several other films listed above. Music remained an important element in establishing the atmosphere of Halloween III. Just as in Halloween and Halloween II, there was no symphonic score and the Halloween III score differed greatly from the familiar main theme of the original and sequel. Carpenter replaced the familiar 10/8 piano melody with an electronic theme (9/16 against a steady 4/4) played on a synthesizer with beeping tonalities. Carpenter also composed the jingle from the Silver Shamrock Halloween mask commercial, set to the tune of "London Bridge Is Falling Down", with Tommy Lee Wallace as the announcer's voice.
I hated this film too because NO MICHAEL MYERS but now as an adult it's my favorite installment in the franchise and my second favorite Halloween horror movie ever right after Trick 'r Treat (2007).
Watch the full broadcast of Halloween III on Monstervision with Joe Bob Briggs with original commercials that aired on TNT on October 26, 1996. First is The End of Summer's VHSrip.
OR watch a poorer quality vhsrip of the same broadcast uploaded by TheVHSDude:
Just the hosting segments:
The hosting segments from a different broadcast of Halloween III (the end was cut off). Joe Bob just repeats what he says in the previous videos:
A comparison of two different Halloween III Joe Bob Briggs intros from Monstervision:
I created all 3 VHS covers at the top, middle and bottom of the post:
Decided this was how I was going to watch Halloween II this year, so thanks for posting the links!
ReplyDeleteIt's a fun watch, I think.
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