| Halloween II History: As Most of the original crew from the first Halloween film returned to aid in the production of the sequel to the smash hit. Moustapha Akkad again hired John Carpenter and Debra Hill to pen the sequel to the script they had written for one of the hit movies of 1978 and the years following. This sequel, unlike others, picked up right where the original left off. It also added more twists and story elements to the saga. The script explained that Laurie Strode, Jamie Lee Curtis' character, was actually Michael's sister. She had been adopted by the Strodes following the death of the Michael Myers parents.John Carpenter was again the main musician on the soundtrack, in association with Alan Howarth.Although the story and surviving main characters were still basically the same, this sequel was partly influenced by the new horror flicks that had started in the 1980s. Most of these included scenes of gore and graphic death makeup effects. So, some of these elements were added to Halloween II, differentiating from the very minute volume of blood glimpsed in the original. Because of the huge success of the original the franchise was now picked up by Universal Pictures.Irwin Yablans returned as Executive Producer, along with Joseph Wolf. This time, however, Carpenter would not direct. He would only get the title of producer and writer, along with Debra Hill, while the experienced Rick Rosenthal took the helm to direct a sequel that, in the end, was true to and worthy of the original, in this author's eyes, despite the critical acceptance that did not match up to the overwhelming that of the original. The story was meant basically to close the cliffhanger ending left by the original, and it eventually killed off all major characters in the story except for Laurie Strode. Michael Myers and his psychiatrist/nemesis were dead, both killed in the same explosion. The terror was over. Or was it? |
