NOVEL DIFFERENCES

DIFFERENCES IN JACK MARTIN'S 1981 NOVEL

1. The first chapter of the book features an entirely different opening than what was presented theatrically. In it, Mrs. Elrod entertains trick or treaters at her house. She tells them she made sugar cookies, but Mr. Elrod ate them all, so she gave them coins to buy something instead.

2. The scene with Loomis scaring Lonnie and his friends is repeated as part of the bridge between the two films. After that, while Loomis and Brackett re-connect, Michael inexplicably drives right past them-- and Loomis takes off after him.

3. When the news report comes on the TV, Mrs. Elrod states, "It's that Myers boy again, I knew it!" Unbeknownst to her, Michael is right behind her and steals her knife, then exits through the back door.

4. Almost all of the scenes deleted theatrically or included in the television cut were originally in the novel. For a list of those scenes, click this link: Halloween II Television Cut.

5. A scene that didn't make the cut but remained in the novel was a conversation between Dr. Mixter and Mrs. Alves, where he asks her if Janet's tried calling Laurie's parents. Mrs. Alves tells him that she's on break, and Dr. Mixter then states that "there are no breaks tonight!" He then recalls that they were at the same party he was at, and that they're probably still there.

6. Another one that never showed up on film was a more extensive role for Debra, the television producer who was cut down to a mediocre appearance at the Wallace House when Annie's body was brought out. She has a chat with her assistant, Barry, who calls it a "hot time in Hicksville". They keep trying to wrap Robert Mundy, but he keeps going on-air. At that point, Debra decides to head to Haddonfield Memorial to interview Laurie, when she is pulled over for speeding. Then the cop, Officer Rettig, lets her off with a warning, and tells her her front tire is going flat.

7. Immediately after that, Debra takes off speeding yet again, planning her next report and singing "Mr. Sandman", when her tire suddenly goes flat. She starts changing it herself when a local pulls up in a pickup truck and starts to help her. Just as he finishes up, he gets fresh with her and grabs her leg, and she flips out on him and yells at him to leave. After he does, she opens the trunk-- and out pops Michael, who stabs her in the throat, nearly beheading her. He then steals her car and speeds off toward the hospital.

8. Later, in the town square where Michael walks in the movie, he is described as being there in Debra's car, wearing a black coat and hiding in the shadows. Meanwhile, Nurse Karen has her scene with Darcy, where she realizes she's late for work but still has to drive her home. As she speeds away, the boom box boy then walks through the square and bumps into Michael, who emerged from the car. However, instead of playing the news, his boom box was playing, you guessed it, "Mr. Sandman". Michael then walks to the hospital from there.

9. Contrary to the movie, the dentist at the coroner's office wore glasses in the novel.

10. In the novel, Budd was strangled to death with a stethoscope. It is possible that's what happened in the movie, too, but the viewer cannot see or hear when it happens.

11. Laurie has more flashbacks in the novel, including her walk home with Annie and Lynda earlier in the day. She also has a dream where she was in a car with her parents, who were arguing in the front seat. As she sits in the backseat with her doll "Mikey", she overhears her Dad saying, "He saw her!" After that, her mother turns and tells her, "I'm not your mother".

12. Janet spots Michael on the surveillance monitors, but does nothing about it. She then finds Mr. Garrett's body and runs for help, ultimately ending up in Dr. Mixter's office, where she was killed.

13. During the scene where it was down to Jimmy and Nurse Jill, she is standing by the surveillance monitors but doesn't notice Michael approaching. After that, she gets called to the empty patient room, where Jimmy scares her just like in the film version.

14. In the novel, when Laurie is hiding in the floor of one of the patient rooms, Michael walks right by the door-- and right past her! It wasn't until after that that she actually closed the door.

15. When Michael kills Jill, in the novel, he originally used his other hand for support as he picked her up by the throat. Then, as the scalpel dug deeper into her, he let go and held her up by one arm.

16. At the very end, with reporters on the scene, a couple attendants removing body bags were joking about the whole thing, saying things like "somebody had a real nice cookout last night" and "even if they find the pieces, there's no way in hell he's ever gonna get put back together again. You can count on that."

17. As the ambulance goes to drive away, the driver asks her who her parents are, and where she lives. Staring blankly, she simply says, "I don't know. I really don't".


Know any differences that I don't have here? E-mail them to us at: lairofhorror@yahoo.com and you will get credit for them.



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