Halloween II Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Halloween II Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson October 25, 2018

The early Eighties witnessed the growth and maturity of John Carpenter as both an editor and a composer. When Carpenter screened a rough cut of The Fog (1980), the picture he'd assembled with Tommy Lee Wallace was a "disaster." Also, the score he'd written was unsubtle and too clearly mimicked the onscreen action. Carpenter took a break and later re-cut and re-scored the film. It is the version we have today. A year later, Carpenter and frequent collaborator Debra Hill tapped Rick Rosenthal (fresh from the AFI Conservatory) to direct their script for Halloween II. Rosenthal essentially shot what they wrote and was generally pleased with the results. However, Carpenter was unimpressed with this "Director's Cut" and intervened by taking scenes out and filming new ones. Carpenter was making a creative compromise, though, since he and Hill had written the scenes that were excised from the theatrical cut. (They seemed to read better on paper.) Carpenter was also competing with a spate of slasher films that his Halloween had unintentionally spawned so he felt the need to ratchet the gore during the re-shoots. (Dick Warlock provides excellent descriptions of those scenes in Shout! Factory's reissued bonus materials.) There are also a couple of other scenes that were filmed but haven't surfaced on any of the broadcast airings or home video releases. One notable is a TV news producer's (Catherine Bergstrom) trek to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital that's stalled by a flat tire. Rosenthal plays a truck driver that stops to check on her but after he leaves, Michael is ready to get out of her truck for a sneak attack. Another is a snippet where Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) is aiming his gun at Michael in the clinic's hallway but accidentally hits the Marshall (John Zenda). In addition, there's a very early scene that appears in the novelization of Halloween II but apparently was never filmed. Author Dennis Etchison (writing under the pseudonym Jack Martin) describes trick or treaters conversing with Mrs. Elrod at her door. She calls one dressed as the Devil "Tracy Cronenberg", a jocular reference to Carpenter's fellow horror maven.

He's behind the curtain!

I'm unaware if Carpenter altered his initial conception for the score but the music he composed in association with Alan Howarth makes the film creepier and scarier. While Carpenter reused several of the secondary themes and leitmotifs (e.g., "stingers") from the first film, Howarth overdubbed his performances to Carpenter's cues, resulting in an electronically multilayered score. Howarth had the Prophet 5 & 10 keyboards at his disposal as well as a pair of ARP Avatar synths. The "Halloween Theme" also returns but with an amplified electronic organ playing on top of the 5/4 beats. The main theme for the sequel is one of my very favorites of all movie tunes. I've listened to it at least one hundred times. For "The Shape Enters Laurie's Room", Howarth adds a timpani effect from the Prophet 10 synth to accent Michael stabbing into Laurie's bed. "The Shape Stalks Again" absolutely terrified me when I first heard it. It's a similar piece to the one Carpenter plays in the first film as Michael pursues Laurie across the street to the Doyle house. In the second film, Howarth generates a high-pitched stinger that's supplemented by a wood- blocking sound as Michael chases his female prey down the stairs and across the boiler room. For the 30th Anniversary expanded score CD, Howarth also added bonus mixes presented as "suites." These contain every note written for the film presented in chronological order. A masterful score that's perfect accompaniment to the film.

Halloween II Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shout! Factory has brought Halloween II to Blu-ray for the third time in the US. This MPEG-4 transfer features a new encode, averaging a bitrate of 35000 kbps (up from SF's 2012 release of 29089 kbps). The whole disc takes up a total bitrate of 44.86 Mbps. Shout! originally advertised this as a 4K scan from the original camera negative but later corrected this on Facebook to indicate it derives from an interpositive. The print is very clean with few if any artifacts. Both the Universal and the first Shout! transfer have their pros and cons. One aspect that the Universal has over Shout! here is in the level of detail. I presume that Universal's telecine was struck from the original negative or an internegative. I have created a graphical comparison between all three transfers below. Notice on the second Shout! in Screenshot #8 how the light above Mrs. Elrod's kitchen sink is dimmer and the paneling on her cupboards is lighter. The girl on the phone in #11 is a shade brighter than the other two. Ditto for the three- shot in the clinic lounge in #20.

Screenshots 1-5, 8, 11, 14, 17, & 20 = Shout! Factory 2018 4K Scan
Screenshots 6, 9, 12, 15, & 18 = Universal 30th Anniversary Edition
Screenshots 7, 10, 13, 16, & 19 = Shout! Factory 2012 Transfer

The same number of scene selections (eighteen) are available.

Halloween II Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shout! has supplied a remixed DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround (1822 kbps, 24-bit) and the original DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo (1997 kbps, 24-bit). Since Shout! gave greater technical priority to the transfer, the average bitrate for the lossless 5.1 went from 3730 kbps to 1822 kbps. However, my ears didn't detect a serious drop-off in quality. The main theme playing over the jack-o-lantern sounds warm and dynamic, utilizing all speakers to create a central presence in the middle of my home theater. Dialogue is almost always intelligible. Sound effects are clear and distinct. When Michael whiffs with his scalpel, the swinging motion yields a sonic "Whoosh!"

Shout! rectifies some oversight in the q/c department from its last release by adding a subtitling track for this new edition. The optional English SDH are mostly complete but don't translate the lyrics of "Mr. Sandman" by The Chordettes.

Halloween II Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Shout! has retained all of its extra features, including a DVD of the TV cut. You can refer to Kenneth Brown's review from 2012 for additional details. Unfortunately, no high-def label has yet to license the commentary track with Stephen Jones and Kim Newman that appeared on Sanctuary Digital Entertainment's UK PAL DVD.

DISC ONE (Blu-ray): Theatrical Version

• Audio Commentary with Director Rick Rosenthal and Actor Leo Rossi

• Audio Commentary with Actor/Stunt Coordinator Dick Warlock

• The Nightmare Isn't Over: The Making of Halloween II (44:56, 1080p) - Featuring Interviews with Director Rick Rosenthal, Actor/Stunt Coordinator Dick Warlock, Actors Lance Guest, Leo Rossi, Nancy Stephens, Executive Producer Irwin Yablans, Director of Photography Dean Cundey, and Co-Composer Alan Howarth.

• Horror's Hallowed Grounds: The Locations of HALLOWEEN II (13:11, 1080p) - Host Sean Clark Revisits the Original Shooting Locations of the Film.

• Deleted Scenes with Optional Audio Commentary by Director Rick Rosenthal (8:07)

• Alternate Ending with Optional Audio Commentary by Director Rick Rosenthal (1:45)

• Theatrical Trailer (2:19)

• Three TV Spots (1:42)

• Six Radio Spots (3:17)

• Still Gallery (4:34, 1080p)

DISC TWO (DVD): Television Cut (with added footage not seen in the Theatrical Version)

Halloween II Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Arguably the best sequel in the series, Halloween II has held up remarkably well. Shout! Factory's restoration has yielded a pretty artifact-free transfer. Still, for grain and amount of detail, I'd lean towards the Universal. You'll also want to pick up that release for the exclusive Terror in the Aisles doc. If you owned the 2012 SF, I'd still go with this SteelBook. I noticed several small but noticeable improvements in the transfer. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.