Halloween II (also known as simply H2) is a 2009 American slasher film produced, written, and directed by Rob Zombie. It is the tenth installment in the Halloween film series and the sequel to Zombie's 2007 remake of Halloween (1978), though it is not a remake of the 1981 sequel of the same name. Starring Malcolm McDowell, Tyler Mane, Sheri Moon Zombie, Brad Dourif, Danielle Harris, and Scout Taylor-Compton, the film follows Laurie Strode as she deals with the aftermath of the Haddonfield murders and her deteriorating relationship with fellow survivor Annie Brackett, Dr. Loomis trying to capitalize on those events with a new book, and Michael Myers as he seeks to reunite with his sister on Halloween once more.
For Halloween II, Zombie decided to focus more on the connection between Strode and Myers, and the idea that they share similar psychological problems. He wanted the sequel to be more realistic and more violent than the previous film, and to portray how the events of the first film affected the characters. Zombie also wanted to provide a glimpse into each character's psyche. Principal photography took place in Covington, Georgia, which provided Zombie with the visual style he was looking for. Zombie had trouble finding a place to include John Carpenter's original Halloween theme music, and it was only included in the final shot.
Halloween II was the last film in the series made by Dimension Films before they lost the rights to the franchise in 2015. The film was released on August 28, 2009, to negative reviews from critics. On October 30, it was re-released in North America to coincide with the Halloween holiday weekend. The film did not do as well as the previous installment, grossing $40 million against its $15 million budget. Zombie declined to return to film a further sequel, Halloween 3D, which was cancelled in 2012. The next installment of the franchise was a sequel to the original film, which was released in 2018.
Plot In a flashback during his time at Smith's Grove Sanitarium, a young Michael Myers is visited by his mother Deborah who gives him a white toy horse as a gift.
Fifteen years later, Laurie Strode is wandering around the town of Haddonfield in shock after having shot Michael. Sheriff Lee Brackett finds Laurie and rushes her to the hospital. Meanwhile, paramedics pick up Annie Brackett and Michael's old psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis, who survived the attack. Michael's body is transported by another ambulance, but he mysteriously awakens and kills the paramedic after a traffic collision. Michael then appears at the hospital, murdering several nurses and a security guard in order to find Laurie, who escapes the facility. Michael chases her down and stabs her, and Laurie wakes up; the hospital sequence was a dream.
It has been a year since Michael's killing spree. Laurie is living with the Bracketts; Michael is missing and presumed dead. While Laurie deals with her trauma in therapy, Dr. Loomis has turned the event into an opportunity to profit off another book. Meanwhile, Michael, who is still alive and living as a drifter, is having visions of his mother's ghost, instructing him to reunite with Laurie. Michael arrives at a farm, killing the owners and their dog before heading to Haddonfield, as Laurie is starting to have hallucinations. Meanwhile, Loomis goes on tour to promote his new book, only to be criticized by the public, who blame him for the actions of Michael and for exploiting the deaths of the victims.
When Loomis' book is released, Laurie discovers that she is actually Angel Myers, Michael's long-lost baby sister. She goes to a Halloween party with her co-workers, Mya and Harley, to escape how she is feeling. Michael appears at the party and kills Harley, then goes to the Brackett home where he fatally wounds Annie. As Laurie and Mya return to the house, they find a bloody Annie, who dies in Laurie's arms. Michael then kills Mya and comes after Laurie, who manages to quickly escape. Sheriff Brackett arrives home and finds his daughter dead. Laurie flags down a car, but Michael kills the driver and flips the vehicle over with Laurie still inside. Michael then takes the unconscious Laurie to an abandoned shack, where she is awakened by visions of the Myers' Mother, seen by both her and Michael.
The police discover Michael's location and surround the shack. Loomis arrives and goes inside to try to reason with Michael, but when he tries to save Laurie, Michael stabs him to death before being shot through the shack window by Brackett and impaled on a rake. Apparently released from her visions, Laurie walks over to Michael and stabs him with his own knife. The shack door opens and Laurie walks out wearing Michael's torn mask. Later on, Laurie sits in isolation in a psychiatric ward and grins as her mother's ghost approaches with the white horse.
Cast
Production
Development
In 2008, at the 30 Years of Terror Convention, Halloween franchise producer Malek Akkad confirmed that a sequel to Rob Zombie's Halloween (2007), a remake of John Carpenter's 1978 film, was in the works. Despite Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo being in negotiations to direct the sequel in November 2008, Zombie reprised as both director, writer, and producer.
In an interview, Zombie expressed how the exhaustion of creating the predecessor made him not want to come back for a sequel, but after a year of cooling down he was more open to the idea. He explained that with the sequel he was no longer bound by a sense of needing to retain any "John Carpenter-ness", as he "felt free to do whatever". Akkad said the original intention, when they believed Zombie was not returning, was to create a "normal sequel". Akkad and his Trancas International Films producing company hired various writers to come up with drafts for a new film, but none worked. Akkad, and Harvey and Bob Weinstein then turned to Bustillo and Muary, whose film Inside (2007) had been bought for distribution by the Weinstein Company. According to Akkad, the producers really wanted Zombie to return, as Akkad felt that there was something "lost in the translation" when the duo took over the project. After his work on the 2007 remake, Zombie had earned the trust of Akkad, who told him to ignore any rules they had set for him on the previous film. Akkad said that he wanted Zombie to move the franchise away from some of its established rules.
Characters For the sequel, Tyler Mane, Malcolm McDowell, Scout Taylor-Compton, Danielle Harris, Sheri Moon Zombie, and Brad Dourif returned to the roles of Michael Myers, Samuel Loomis, Laurie Strode, Annie Brackett, Deborah Myers, and Sheriff Brackett, respectively. Although Daeg Faerch, who portrayed a young Michael Myers in the 2007 remake, was initially signed on to reprise his role for Halloween II (then known as H2), after filming briefly in Georgia as young Michael, he was later recast because he had grown taller. He was replaced by Chase Wright Vanek. Zombie had to recast the role, much to his own dismay, because Faerch's physical maturity did not fit what was in the script. Although Faerch is not in the sequel, the first trailer for Halloween II contained images of Faerch. Zombie pointed out that those images were test shots done and were not intended to be in either the trailer or the film.
Taylor-Compton described her character as having "these bipolar moments", where her emotions are spontaneously changing from points of happiness to agitation. The actress stated that Zombie wanted to see Laurie Strode travel into "these really dark places". Taylor-Compton clarified that when the film starts Laurie is still not aware that Michael is her older brother, and as the film progresses more and more pieces of information are given to her and she does not know how to deal with them. The actress explained that the darkness brewing inside Laurie is manifested externally, generally through her physical appearance and the clothes she chooses to wear—Zombie characterized the look as "grungy".
Instead of focusing on Michael, Zombie chose to look more at the psychological consequences on Laurie after the events of the remake. As Zombie explains, after Michael murdered her friends and family, Laurie became a "wreck", who continually sinks lower as the film moves forward. Even Sheriff Brackett goes through changes. Brackett, who receives more screen time in this film, allows Laurie to move in with him and his daughter after the events of the first film. Zombie explained, "He's old, he's worn out, he's just this beat-down guy with these two girls he can't deal with." Zombie characterized Loomis in the sequel as more of a "sellout", who exploits the memories of those who were killed by Michael in the 2007 film. Zombie explained that he tried to channel Vincent Bugliosi, a lawyer who prosecuted Charles Manson and then wrote a book about it, into Loomis's character for the sequel, noting that he wanted Loomis to seem more "ridiculous" this time. As for Michael Myers, the character is given almost an entirely new look for the film, which is being used, according to Taylor-Compton, to illustrate a new emotion for the character as he spends much of his time trying to hide himself. Zombie said that of all of the characters that return in the sequel, Michael is the only one that does not change: "All the other characters are very different. Laurie; Loomis; they're having all kinds of problems in their life, but Michael just moves along. Michael is no different; he's exactly the same as he was ten years old and he killed everybody [...] He has no concept of the world around him, so he can never be affected by it."
Filming With a $15 million budget, production began on February 23, 2009, in Atlanta, Georgia. Zombie acknowledged that filming in Georgia provided certain tax breaks for the company, but the real reason he chose that location was because the other locations he was planning to use were still experiencing snowy weather. For him, Georgia's landscapes and locations provided the look that he wanted for his film. During production, Zombie described the sequel as being "Ultra gritty, ultra intense and very real" and said that he was trying to create almost the exact opposite of what people would expect. Known for filming multiple sequences during production of his films, Zombie filmed an alternate ending to Halloween II. In the alternate ending, Loomis and Michael crash through the shed the police have surrounded, and out into the open air. As Loomis grasps at Michael's mask, and pleads for him to stop, Michael stabs him in the stomach, telling him to "Die!". With Loomis injured and unconscious (it is not revealed whether he lived or died), the police open fire on Michael, killing him. Laurie, now completely insane, leaves the shack, picks up Michael's knife and walks over to Loomis' unconscious body. Against Brackett's orders, the police open fire on Laurie, apparently killing her too.
Music