HALLOWEEN II & III DVDS

I came across a listing for the Anchor Bay UK set of the HALLOWEEN films and it mentions that II and III have audio commentaries (though not the director one announced for the anamorphic US DVD that didn't turn up). Does anyone have any links to reviews that mention the quality of the transfers and of the commentaries? Are the two available separately?

There are some reviews for HALLOWEEN II on the Amazon.co.uk site that mentioned the commentary from Stephen Jones And Kim Newman is insightful and pretty entertaining.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Halloween-II-Jamie...tals/B00006IXB8

I have the Halloween 3 disc. I picked this one up for the commentary, even though it's in the UK 1.77:1 ratio, rather than the 2.35:1 that the US disc is in. I think it may be a slightly edited version as well. Still, apart from the AR, the transfer quality is fine and the commentary is fun and informative (with no real dead air), but not by Carpenter or any of the cast/crew. Rather it's by two critics, Kim Newman and Stephen Jones.
They are available seperately (as I only have part 3).

It looks like the original discs with commentary from Sanctuary Visual Entertainment are OOP. Does anyone know if AB-UK plans to put them out separately? By any chance, would they have done a 2.35:1 transfer for part III for their version or did they just port the two Sanctuary discs?

According to DVDCompare, the UK disc of HALLOWEEN III has been cut (though from what I remember of the film, it appears they cut one of the more unpleasant sequences) in addition to being cropped. I'd still like to hear the commentaries, though.

This post has been edited by Eric Cotenas on Oct 11 2007, 05:31 AM

Incidentally, which transfer of the first film made it to BluRay, the so-so Divimax one or the previous (and superior, in my opinion, though slightly less sharp) THX edition?

What's the news on the discovery of the original negative and additional footage?

I watched the new HALLOWEEN II Blu-ray tonight. It looks great and I like the film, though it's a bit pokey in spots and gives Jamie Lee Curtis next to nothing to do (my guess: she didn't want to do the film and agreed to only work a limited number of days).

I'm curious to know which scenes Carpenter directed. Anyone know for sure? I believe the Pamela Susan Shoop/Anne-Marie Martin scene and parts of the Shoop hot tub kill are Carpenter's. Who knows for sure?

Carpenter directed the entire first sequence after the opening credits where Myers kills the teenage girl with the old lady’s kitchen knife; the hot tub face burning; the closeups of the needles going into Curtis’ arm; and the scene where the nurse discovers the dead doctor and gets the needle in the eye. Carpenter’s reshoots were done during the same week that he shot the added scenes for the TV version of the first HALLOWEEN.

Curtis did not want to do HALLOWEEN II, but she felt she owed it to Carpenter and Hill (plus she got a hefty paycheck). The script and schedule was not altered to accommodate Curtis. She was actually disappointed that the script gave her so little to do.

I’ll add more info tonight when I go through my files at home.

According to Shoop in this book, Carpenter did direct the scene with Anne-Marie Martin (I don't know why this scene is in the movie) and "a few of the hospital scenes," but she's only referring to her own scenes.

I understand why they wanted Jamie Lee in the movie, but I don't understand why they gave her nothing to do. And I mean she does nothing until the last ten minutes.

This post has been edited by Marty McKee on Oct 20 2011, 10:34 AM

Carpenter also directed the scene where Myers bumps into the kid with the boom-box and the scenes with the kid with the razor stuck in his mouth.

The kid was played by Lance Warlock, the real-life son of the guy playing Myers, Dick Warlock.

Halloween III UK DVD cuts

Here's a link outlining the cuts to the UK DVD. Not BBFC sanctioned, but a result of an incomplete master. The commentary is very good, with some interesting info on the original Kneale approach to the material and a somewhat irreverent (but repectful) chat by Newman and Jones.

Carpenter also directed the security guard's death.

More trivia: The first premise conceived by Carpenter and Hill for HALLOWEEN II was set several years later and had Laurie Strode stalked by Myers in her high rise apartment. It was to be shot in 3D. Curtis was paid $8,000 for the original but collected $100,000 for the sequel. Pleasence got $45,000 for the sequel. (They shared "staggered but equal" top-billing.) Curtis had her teeth capped between the two films.

Carpenter and Dino De Laurentiis, who financed the film, were disappointed in the rough cut. Several test screenings were held for young people, including one at UCLA. The kids wanted more gore and dead teenage girls. Hence the reshoots.

HALLOWEEN II opened on October 30, 1981--the same night that the original premiered on network TV. Curtis' TV movie DEATH OF A CENTERFOLD premiered a few days earlier. HALLOWEEN II grossed $25.5 million in the U.S. and was the highest-grossing horror film of the year. FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2 was second with $21.7 million.

Fascinating info, Paul. The initial sequel idea sounds a lot like Carpenter's SOMEONE'S WATCHING ME! (aka HIGH RISE) TV movie that premiered the same year as HALLOWEEN (1978). I'm glad they went with the minutes later sequel instead.

I wrote a little about Scream Factory's new HALLOWEEN III Blu-ray in this Mobius thread.