We’re hunting down the lost footage from Halloween II.
And we’re probably not going to find it but still try anyway..
We’ve reached out to Trancas International Films and the Akkad family, and we’re thinking about who else we could possibly reach out to in an attempt to solve a little Halloween II mystery that’s been sitting around for more than four decades.
And before we go any further, there’s an important distinction here.
We’re not talking about the deleted Halloween II scenes that are already out there. We know those exist. We’re talking about footage that was apparently shot but, as far as we can determine, has never actually surfaced publicly.
Over the last couple of years we’ve seen plenty of supposedly “lost” Halloween images floating around online that turned out to be AI generated. But there are legitimate production stills from Halloween II showing material that isn’t in the finished movie, and one particular missing sequence has fascinated us.
The made for TV movie version may have excluded the boob-shot but it definitely had in other scenes that made more sense when considering… In theatrical cut we didn’t get why Laurie was seemingly drugged and the hospital was dark.. it was the made for TV scenes that explained she was drugged by the doc and the power was cut by Mike..
These scenes, if included, would have made our favorite Halloween movie even better..
The children’s ward scene is what we’d really love to see..
In the deleted scene, Michael wandered through rooms of sleeping children before accidentally activating a cymbal-playing toy monkey. Nurse Karen heard the noise and investigated while Michael hid nearby, nearly being discovered before she walked away.
The sequence was ultimately cut as the film was tightened in editing, along with several other scenes. The children’s-ward footage has never officially resurfaced
But the photo from Warlock’s collection proves there was at least one more scene we never saw–presumably more than that..
In the behind the scenes photo, Warlock as Mike making a kid laugh, is surprisingly wholesome..
Director Rick Rosenthal has actually discussed it.
On material associated with Halloween: 25 Years of Terror, Rosenthal described a deleted sequence involving Michael Myers hiding in a closet in the hospital nursery. A nurse comes into the room and nearly opens the closet where Michael is hiding. The suspense builds because you expect her to find him but ultimately she doesn’t open it.
The scene was cut.
As far as we can determine, the actual footage has never surfaced publicly.
There’s also a sequence involving reporter Robert Mundy and a television news crew arriving at Haddonfield Memorial Hospital that was reportedly scripted and filmed. Production stills survive from that material, but again, the actual moving footage appears to have disappeared.
So where is it?
We all know the complicated history of Halloween II. John Carpenter didn’t particularly want to make another Halloween and has certainly never hidden his feelings about the sequel. The second movie also became considerably more violent and gory than the original .. although compared with today’s standards, it’s really not very gory at all.
Then television came calling.
When Halloween II was prepared for TV, some of the nudity and gore couldn’t exactly make the trip to network television, so material had to be removed and other footage was used to fill out the running time.
That’s where things sometimes get confusing when people talk about “deleted scenes” from Halloween II, because some deleted footage absolutely does exist and has been released.
There are additional hospital scenes, Michael cutting the power and, most memorably, the alternate ending.
Laurie is being taken away in the ambulance when suddenly somebody under a sheet behind her starts moving.
One last scare!
Except it’s just good old Jimmy.
So calling all Carpenters and Akkads.. we are searching and want the nursery scene.. and that television crew arriving a the hospital.. Maybe there is another Dana Carvey hidden gem somewhere in the pile of deletions..
Is there a reel sitting on some film rack somewhere or an unmarked box in a studio archive that nobody has opened since Ronald Reagan was president?
Is something sitting in a basement or storage facility belonging to the Akkad family?
Did Donald Pleasence take the film to the grave?
We’re not claiming that these reels still exist. We’re not claiming that somebody secretly has them. We’re just acknowledging something that makes this mystery worth pursuing: there is evidence and testimony that scenes were filmed that, more than 40 years later, apparently nobody in the general public has ever seen.
And that’s fascinating.
This goes in phases.. right now this is in an active phase again with fans talking about this deleted scene on social media..
We’ve sent out some messages, including reaching out to Trancas International Films, and we’re thinking about who else might be worth contacting. If we get responses, we’ll let everyone know what we find — even if the eventual answer is simply, “Sorry, that footage is gone.” We anticipate no responses.. but if there was some miracle, maybe someone out there will get lucky.
But we’d also love to hear from everyone out there in Internet Land.
Has anyone else ever gone hunting for this footage?
Did anyone contact people involved with Halloween II years ago and get an answer?
Has anyone ever claimed to actually see the nursery footage?
Was something shown at a convention decades ago? Did somebody have an old workprint? Is there an obscure interview, photograph, VHS tape or story from someone involved with the production that we’ve somehow missed?
Maybe they’re resting in that strange final resting place of lost cinema.. existing only in production stills, scripts and the increasingly distant memories of the people who were actually there.
Because now we’re left with a very Halloween version of an old philosophical question:
If Michael Myers hid in the children’s ward at Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, but the scene was cut and nobody ever saw it… did Michael Myers actually hide there at all?
