Some may know about most of this but thought i’d share it for those of you who may not,some pretty interesting stuff.
Dana Carvey made his movie debut in this movie playing an assistant. He can be seen receiving instructions from a blond reporter in front of the Wallace house.
The film is set immediately after the first Halloween. Since Jamie Lee Curtis had begun to wear a much shorter hairstyle in the 1980s, she had to wear a wig that matched her original hairstyle for the film.
Halloween II was originally written to take place in a high rise apartment building. Later in script meetings, however, the setting was changed to Haddonfield Hospital.
This is the only Halloween film to show the morning after the 31st, every other movie ends on Halloween night.
John Carpenter turned down an offer to direct, but remained involved with the production by writing the screenplay.
Pamela Susan Shoop (Karen) got an ear infection during filming of her death scene as the water in the hot tub was apparently “none too clean”.
Believing Rick Rosenthal’s version of the film to be too tame, John Carpenter shot a few gory scenes that were added into the film despite Rosenthal’s objections.
The scene where the Boom Box Boy, played by Lance Warlock, runs into Michael in Haddonfield town square was shot on one of three nights of re-shoots done by original Halloween director John Carpenter.
The voice of Alice’s friend (heard over a telephone) is the voice of Nancy Kyes, who played Annie in Halloween, and appears in Halloween II as the corpse of Annie.
Ben Tramer, who gets killed, is a reference to John Carpenter’s friend Bennett Tramer. They went to USC (University of Southern California) as Tramer wrote episodes for '“Saved By the Bell” (1989).
‘Dick Warlock’ is the shortest Michael Myers in the entire series. In fact, he wore lifts in order to appear taller.
In the scene where Michael tries to attack Laurie as she’s climbing through the window the scalpel that he’s holding was actually just an eraser on a stick.
Was filmed at Morningside Hospital, 8711 South Harvard, Los Angeles which had recently closed and has since been torn down.
Anne-Marie Martin came into production as a favor when additional footage was being shot. John Carpenter shot the scene that involved Martin and supporting cast member Pamela Susan Shoop.
This is one of the only two films released by Universal Studios. After the massive success of the first film, Universal picked up the sequel. When Halloween III: Season of the Witch didn’t fare so well, Universal gave the rights to Trancas International, an affiliate of Universal’s, who produced the films until 1989. In 1996, the rights were sold to Dimension.
The mask Michael wears is the exact same mask (a repainted and modified Captain Kirk mask) worn in the original film. It looks different in the sequel because the paint had faded due to a few reasons, first because Nick Castle, the original Michael, kept it in his back pocket during shoots. Also, Debra Hill kept the mask under her bed for several years until the filming of Halloween II, causing it to collect dust and yellow because Hill was a heavy smoker. Also, the mask appears wider because Dick Warlock is shorter and stockier than Nick Castle, so the mask fit his head differently. As the producers thought it would be the final sequel in the series, they let Warlock keep the mask, scalpel, boots, jumpsuit, and knife used in filming. When they decided to revive Michael in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, the producers realized they had made a mistake and never again gave props out to the cast and crew, therefore subsequent sequels used different masks that looked rather different.
To get the role of Michael Myers, Dick Warlock revealed that as he passed by a room, the Michael Myers mask was on a table. He put the mask on and walked into Rick Rosenthal’s office and stood there. After Rosenthal continuously asked him who he was and he didn’t reply, he took off the mask and asked if he could play Michael Myers.
In addition to his role as The Shape (Michael Myers), Dick Warlock also appears as the policeman who accidentally hits Ben Tramer with his patrol car and crashes it into a van. Warlock not only drove the car himself during the crash scene, but also did all his own stunts as Michael Myers.
Interestingly, several of the scenes and lines in this film were taken by John Carpenter from the novelization of the first Halloween, which was written by Curtis Richards and published in 1979. The most obvious references are the neighbor appearing from a house near the Doyle residence and speaking to Loomis (their exchange is almost identical, and includes the “You don’t know what death is!” line from Loomis), and Loomis going outside after shooting Michael to view his body (although Laurie accompanies him) Loomis also says that his gun “heightens my sense of security” a line said to Deputy Hunt in this movie.
The word Samhain written in blood on the chalk board refers to the ancient Irish holiday,however Dr. Loomis refers back to it as a title,being the name of a god of worship.
Lance Guest (Jimmy) who was relatively unknown when he made this movie went on to star with Dan O’Herlihy who plays Cochran in Halloween III: Season of the Witch in the movie The Last Starfighter in 1984.
Body count: 10 (9 of which are killed by Michael).
According to Leo Rossi on a DVD commentary for the film, the water in the hot tub was freezing cold.
Lance Guest did his own stunt when he trips on the blood and falls on the floor. Moreover, this scene was done in a single take.
Donald Pleasence did his his own stunt when he falls down after Michael Myers stabs him in the hospital operating room.
Jamie Lee Curtis did her own stunt when she falls out of the car onto the parking lot asphalt.
Director Rick Rosenthal had to go to bat for the casting of Leo Rossi as Bud.
Tommy Lee Wallace was originally offered the opportunity to direct this film, but turned down said offer because he didn’t like the script.
The stunt with Ben Tramer being hit by a police car was done in a single take.
Leo Rossi sang the song “Amazing Grace” because it was in the public domain.
Though Jamie Lee Curtis has top billing, she only appears on screen for approximately 25 min. 21 sec.This applies only to the theatrical version,in the TV version she has a few extra scenes.
The scene with the kid that has the boom box has been concluded to be the only link that Michael Myers knew to go to the hospital to follow after Laurie Strode.
Ana Alicia hit a desk and cut one of her eyes open during the shooting of her death scene,She wanted Director Rick Rosenthal to keep filming, but he called Cut so she could go to the emergency room and get 12 stitches.The cafeteria scene with Janet,Bud & Jimmy was filmed later so they had to use alternate camera angles and heavy makeup to hide her stitches.
I thought the boom box kid was Warlock’s son Puckface?
