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| Release: 1981, Pages: 256 |
The air is starting to get crisp, the leaves are changing and the screams of babysitters are ringing in the air. Uhhh, Halloween is coming and what better way to celebrate, than by diving into the novelization of Halloween II.
Short nitty-gritty plot description from the back cover is as follows: It is Halloween night
in Haddonfield, Illinois. Six gunshots pierce the silence of this
normally quiet town. Neighborhood kids trick-or-treating on the street
stare as a man plunges off a balcony. A doctor form the county mental
hospital rushes from the house. He has followed his patient, who escaped
from the institution, back to Haddonfield, where fifteen years earlier
he brutally murdered his own sister. The demented young man has already
killed three teenagers this evening. Tonight’s massacre has only begun!
Halloween II goes about telling pretty much the same story as the movie, but author Jack Martin (real name, Dennis Etchison), went out of his way to allow us the reader, to enter the minds of key players, such as Dr. Loomis and Laurie Strode. This intimate knowledge of how they are feeling at the time, with Loomis feeling especially saddened, hearth broken and angry about what happened that Halloween night, gives us the opportunity to experience the story in a different light. Also, the book adds in a few extra scenes that didn’t make in the movie, such as how Michael Myers managed to get from the Doyle house, all the way to the hospital in such a short amount of time. It involves a woman, a flat tire and a surprise visit; it was a tense chapter to say the least.
The nice thing about the Halloween II novelization, is that it fixes a few problems with the movie, such as why the hospital is so damn dark and empty (although, even the book doesn’t really explain why more people are not there, considering multiple murders just happened) and Jack Martin has a way with words. He describes in the detail how the darkness of Haddonfield, personified by Michael Myers, creeps through the town and into the halls of the hospital, seeking out its victims. It’s an interesting way to describe Myers and really makes him come off as the pure evil he is.
Halloween II reads as a perfect novelization, one of the better ones of it’s kind. It provides more back story, extra scenes and gets you inside the main characters heads. It pretty much does everything right. I’m thinking any fans of novelizations and the Halloween series, will come out loving this book. I personally thought it strengthened the movie and I will definitely watch it in a whole new light. A definite treat, on a cold October night.
Rating: 5/5 (+5 for being a perfect example of a great novelization, giving you the opportunity to experience the story in a different light.)