Halloween II (1 Viewer)

[Matt Stone]

I thought the commentary ended up getting cut on the DVD...but I'm probably wrong. I bought it when it came out, but haven't given it a spin. I suppose I should check it out for the Scary Movie Challenge

I'll take a gander later tonight and see if Rosenthal is on a commentary.

 

[WillG]

It's on there. I remember listening to it. I'm not sure why, though.

 

[Matt Stone]

Yep. I'm listening to it right now. It's not horrible, but it's pretty bland. Nothing too interesting.

 

Rumors of a restored directors cut would have a comentary but it is a rumor

 

[TravisR]

They mentioned rumors of a special edition DVD in Fangoria a few months back. It sounded a little more solid than most rumors though because it was mentioned in a Halloween II retrospective where they interviewed director Rick Rosenthal.

 

I hope there will be a SE. Maybe we will for a blu-ray release

 

[cineMANIAC]

A Halloween II special edition, while enticing, will remain a pipe dream unless a third party somehow acquires the rights away from Universal, who seems intent to hang onto the part of the franchise that they own but doesn't seem interested in producing bonus materials for. I won't accept anything less than a director's cut edition with the appropriate extras on blu-ray.

 

[WillG]

A Halloween II special edition, while enticing, will remain a pipe dream unless a third party somehow acquires the rights away from Universal, who seems intent to hang onto the part of the franchise that they own but doesn't seem interested in producing bonus materials for.

I've read rumors (and they could probably be easilly verified/disproved) that sometime this year that Univeral's distribution rights expire and that Lionsgate picks them up. I believe that it was rumored partly from that fangoria article that Rosenthal was preparing an all new director's cut of the film, supposedly including footage that has not been seen anywhere. Rosenthal neither confirmed nor denied.

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by WillG

Rosenthal neither confirmed nor denined.

And it seems really unlikely that he wouldn't say "I've got no idea what you're talking about" if there wasn't at least some talk of a special edition.

 

[cineMANIAC]

Lionsgate? Good heavens - please say you're joking. We can't even get decent versions of stuff they own. And if they pick up the rights they're just going to make awful sequels every year. I'm Halloween-ed out.

 

[WillG]

And if they pick up the rights they're just going to make awful sequels every year. I'm Halloween-ed out

I believe it just applies to this title and not the franchise itself. But I don't even know if the Lionsgate thing is even true.

 

[WaveCrest]

It's strange about the possibility of Lionsgate buying the rights to Universal's catalogue, because when Halloween II has been shown on BBC1 (and possibly BBC2 as well) the Lionsgate logo has been shown before the Universal logo.

 

Universal did not make the movie they only had the RELEASE RIGHTS. Those release rights have or (will be soon) expired.

 

[cineMANIAC]

Originally Posted by Stan Heck

Universal did not make the movie they only had the RELEASE RIGHTS. Those release rights have or (will be soon) expired.

So Compass International, the producers of the original, made the followup and Universal only distributed? That would explain their total lack of interest in delivering anything resembling a special edition. Who do you suppose will handle future releases of this (and hopefully III, which ranks among one of the most underrated movies of all time)? Most importantly, how radically different would a Halloween II Director's Cut look like?

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Luisito34

Most importantly, how radically different would a Halloween II Director's Cut look like?

My guess is if there is a director's cut, it'll be pretty close to the regular version but they'll add the TV scenes back in and a few unseen scenes. I'd love to see the TV scenes on their own but the bulk of them don't add anything and, in some cases, would slow the movie down which is why they were dropped in the first place.

Frankly, I'll be really surprised if this rumored release is anything more than a special edition. Of course, now that there's rumors of a director's cut, that's become gospel and horror fans will endlessly bitch (as usual) if a director's cut doesn't actually happen.

 

[WillG]

Most importantly, how radically different would a Halloween II Director's Cut look like?

Supposedly Rick Rosenthal's vision of Halloween II was much closer to the original, relying more on suspense than gore. Carpenter reshot some death scenes to add more gore, supposedly out of fear that Halloween II would appear tame when compared to the recent hit "Friday the 13th" And the TV cut of Halloween II, which again, supposedly is closer to Rosenthal's vision of the movie, is radically different that the theatrical cut in many respects. And also if the "never before seen footage" is true, then who knows?

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by WillG

Supposedly Rick Rosenthal's vision of Halloween II was much closer to the original, relying more on suspense than gore. Carpenter reshot some death scenes to add more gore, supposedly out of fear that Halloween II would appear tame when compared to the recent hit "Friday the 13th"

I don't think they'll edit out of the reshoot stuff though. If that happened, some fans would take to the streets with pitchforks and torches whether it was Rosenthal's original vision or not.

 

Well if HALLOWEEN II comes out with Rick's original directors cut then chances are they re-shoots will not be in the picture. The re-shoots were done by John Carpenter. . Now what part of the film is part of the John Carpenter re-shoots is any body's guess. You can ask 100 people what did Carpenter shoot and chances are we get 100 answers.

However what did John Carpenter shoot? Was it new scenes added to the film, or did he just re-shoot the some scenes. Did he film just insert shots or just re-edited the film. Was it all of the above? Chances are we will never know.

 

Originally Posted by Luisito34





So Compass International, the producers of the original, made the followup and Universal only distributed? That would explain their total lack of interest in delivering anything resembling a special edition. Who do you suppose will handle future releases of this (and hopefully III, which ranks among one of the most underrated movies of all time)? Most importantly, how radically different would a Halloween II Director's Cut look like?

Dino DeLaurentiis' company actually produced HALLOWEEN II and III. They own the copyrights on those installments, and Universal released them in most (but not all) territories.

 

[WillG]

They own the copyrights on those installments, and Universal released them in most (but not all) territories.

GoodTimes Home Video had the R1 Distribution rights to HII and HIII in the earlier days of the DVD format (VHS as well)

Also Amazon now shows that the Universal Double Feature disc of HII and HIII is OOP (although they still show stock for the individual DVDs)