First Edition Book Cover.
Title: Halloween II
Based on: Halloween II (1981)
Author: Jack Martin (pseudonym of Dennis Etchison)
Release Date: November 1st, 1981 (2 days after theatrical release)
Plot[]
The opening of the novel has an ominously descriptive narrative of Halloween Night in Haddonfield, Illinois 1978. Dr. Loomis is still prowling the dark streets of haddonfield in search of the murderous Shape, Michael Myers, his former mental patient who escaped the night before.
Early on, a few paragraphs are dedicated to a trio of boys--Richie, Keith, and Lonnie--partaking in pranks late into the night. While Loomis is skulking in the bushes, Lonnie tries to break into the old Myers house. Loomis scared the boys away. Loomis thought about Halloween and why Michael chose this night. He knew the bloodlust addiction of Myers was that of an ancient pagan curse wreaked upon his soul epochs ago in the age of Celtic Druids and reverence for nature. Loomis is confident he can thwart 'The Lord of Samhain' because his vessel is that of a mortal human. He even quotes a Shakespearean phase: 'If you cut him does he not bleed?' -- while fingering the cold metal of his pistol.
A section then recaps the events of the original when Dr. Loomis shoots Myers, only to have him flee into the festive haloween night. Loomis searchs on even though the bustle of the town is dying down. Trick-or-Treaters roam the streets in grotesque attire--Witches, Devils, and Skeletons. Sheriif Brackett threatens to call off the search if they didn't find myers soon. News broadcasts promote the search for the escapee and now murderer, Michael Myers.
The Elrods watch the news and make sandwiches, before being attacked by Myers. The neighbor called the cops after hearing the sound. A full moon hovered in the samhain sky. Dogs and sirens rung out loudly. Michael Myers sliced the throat of the caller, gloating over its victim by cocking its head. Loomis and Brackett investigated leads that end up being toilet paper and other Halloween pranks. Brackett expressed doubt about Loomis' tale of shooting Myers six times.
Loomis and Brackett chase a figure that looks like The Shape. A police cruiser crashed into the figure, bursting the car and figure into flames. The figure's mask and flesh burns to a crisp, making no noise, no cries of agony. A patrol man reports to Sheriif Brackett about the three dead teenagers, including one of them being Annie Brackett, his daughter.
The paramedics aid a bloody, traumatized Laurie Strode at the Doyle House, loading her into the ambulance before taking her to Haddonfield Hospital. Jimmy, a paramedic who knew Laurie, comforts her, injecting her with pain killers. Laurie is nearly frightened to death when she witnesses a figure that looks like The Shape, only to identify it as a kid dressed like a pirate. Laurie is rushed inside the emergency room in a delirious state of mind. She had a stab wound and multiple contusions. The pirate boy was in the waiting room with a razor blade wedged against the roof of his mouth, supposedly by eating a trick-or-treat treat.
Laurie is examined by Doctors and administered a sleep sedative against her will. Doctors stitch up her stab wound. Jimmy witnesses the pirate boy leaving the hospital with his mom complaining and speculating who gave her son the razorblade treat.
Sheriff Brackett identifies the body of his dead daughter Annie, and becomes impassioned to punish Myers. He questions Loomis to get more info on Myers. Soon after, Brackett arranges the autopsy of the scorched body of who they believe to be Michael Myers.
The Haddonfield Murders become a sensation on the news stations. Production crews work rigorously to cover the case. Even though Sheriff Brackett barred reporters from gathering info at the hospital, the news station sends a female reporter for a special morning report. On the way, after being pulled over by the cops, she ends up getting a flat tire. A creepy hick changes the tire for her and flirts with her. She blows him off and he leaves in his truck soon after. Picking up a blanket from her trunk, The Shape emerges from the covers, slashing her death. In an instant, he was driving off in her car.
A group of hospital workers--Jimmy, Bud, and Janet-- are watching Night of The Living Dead, and discussing the Murders in town. A news bulletin interupts the movie, issuing a report on the murders on location. Janet storms out of the lounge after Bud is insensitive to the case. A nurse, Karen Bailey, hurries into her car, late for her shift at the hospital after attending a party. Her friend Darcy cavils about 'Bobbing for apples' at the halloween party and begs Karen for a ride home. Reluctantly, Karen agrees and they both leave in her car.
The Shape stalks the streets in a crowd of kids, just outside the hospital. Karen arrives in the parking lot fifteen minutes later in a red mustang. Michael myers watches her rush inside before looping around the back to enter. The security guard, Garrett, lets Karen inside. Back in the security office, he searches the grainy camera shots in search of the Murderer on the loose, which he blames on drugs.
Karen greets Bud and Jimmy in the lounge, then flirts with Bud. Karen ventures to her nursing duties, while Bud tutors Jimmy on how it's acceptable to date nurses but not to date patients. Inside Laurie Strode's room, Jimmy expounds on how Michael Myers returned to his childhood home and he was the one who murdered her friends. Mrs. Alves debars Jimmy from her room and informs Laurie that they can't get ahold of her parents, even though a Doctor saw them at a Halloween Party earlier that night. The phone lines are cut while Mrs. Alves tries to call her parents once more.
Laurie becomes frightened when she mistakes tree branches rustling against the window with the Shape. She wanders around her room, checking the phoneline. Outside of the pediatric center festooned in Halloween decorations, Mrs. Alves scolds Karen for being tardy. The Shape lurked in the shadows, undetected. Garrett searches the grounds, noticing a broken padlock on the storage room door. Garrett finds his missing clawhammer, unable to communicate with Janet over the radio.
Karen tells Jimmy that Mrs. Olvis had sedated Laurie. Karen is creeped out by decorative pumpkin, yearning to see Bud. In the hospital entrance, Mrs. Alves prevents a reporter named Mundy from penetrating the halls. He is desperate to speak to Laurie and to reconvene with Debra, the reporter who was killed by Myers on the side of the road.
Loomis attends the probe of the dentist examining the charred body. The Dentist concludes that the corpse was only seventeen or eighteen. Loomis determines that it can't be Myers, and exclaims that everyone should return to the streets in search of Michael Myers. The patrol men agreed and went out on patrol. The Dentist clashes with Loomis over his fee and Loomis brushes him off with unconcealed contempt.
In a dark room, Karen is frightened after Bud scares her by rising from a sheet. Bud convinces her to meet him in the boiler room in fifteen minutes.
At the old Myers' house, a ruckus mob of Haddonfield denizens were gathered, chanting for the apprehension of the killer. Deputy Hunt and Dr. Loomis swim their way through the crowd in search of The Shape. Lighting a cigarette, Hunt claims that Haddonfield was peaceful and crimeless before tonight. He gifts loomis with a cigarette and a yellow cricket lighter. Hunt and Loomis recall the slayings of the Myers family fifteeen years prior. Loomis cogitates about his time spent with Myers.
After two teenagers inform Deputy Hunt about the missing teenager Ben Tramer, Loomis postulates it may be the person who was killed in the fiery crash earlier. Back at the hospital, Karen and Bud canoodle in the hottub. The shape skulks about the room, turning up the heat gauge. The shape murders bud with a stethoscope, then mangles Karen in a bloody rage.
Laurie reflects on her meek life and the loss of her frineds, embracing her current sitution with courage. She has several flashbacks--Hanging out with her friends, a former date, and a classroom scene.
Loomis and Hunt scope out a break-in at Haddonfield elementary school. They find a knife impaled into a child's color portrait. On the chalkboard, they discover a inscription: SAMHAIN. They're skeptical whether Myers wrote it or not. Marion Chambers, a colleague of Loomis at the sanitarium, shows up unexpectedly at the school. In the hallway, Loomis gives her a cigarette. While she's smoking it, she informs Loomis that Smith's Grove sent her to retrieve him on higher edict from Dr. Rogers and the Governor.
At the hospital, Laurie squirms and reflects on the trauma of the wretched night she had endured. She comes to the realization that annie and linda are dead and she'll never be able to talk to them again, provoking her to have an emotional breakdown. Jimmy consoles her as best he can, noticing her pulse dropping. Nurse Jill believes she needs an adrenaline shot, but must wait for authorization.
Janet traverses the dark recesses of the hospital in search of Mrs. Alves, but finds the gory corpse of Mr. Garrett with a hammer stuck in his head. She scrambles into Dr. Mixter office, finding his lifeless body seated in his chair, a hyperdermic needle stabbed into one eye. The Shape stabs Janet with a syringe until she perishes.
Laurie Strode dreams heavily about some random young boy and then about her mother.
After Hunt promises to find Myers and tells Loomis to keep his lighter, Loomis and Marion leave the school in a state governed car. Loomis chides Marion for not believing him about Myers. Loomis expounds on ancient Samhain rituals, including bloody sacrifices concocted by the Celtic Druids. Queitly, Marion tells Loomis about a concealed file opened by Dr. Rogers that night on Governor's order. She informs Loomis that Laurie Strode is Michael's sister, who was adopted by the Strodes after they diedin an automobile accident. The records were cealed to protect the family. In a flash, Loomis theorizes that Myers ultimate intent is to kill his other sister fifteen years to the day after the first murder.
Aggressively determined,Loomis pulls out a gun and orders the driver to head to Haddonfield Hospital.
At the hospital, The shape lurks into Laurie's room, a scalpel in his hand, but Laurie was absent. Hiding in another room, Laurie reminisces about the day her parents died; She was being babysat by the strodes while her parents went to visit Michael at the hospital. She blames Michael for doing something that day to cause them to drive off the road in a fatal crash. She remembers her dad being a terrific driver and knew michael imparted some sort of distress to them. snapping back to reality, she felt confident in herself to conquer Michael. Over the years, she had developed a tolerance to overcome her fear of him. The shape roams the corridors, looking for Laurie.
Jimmy finds the dead body of Mrs. Alves, her body drained of blood by a catheter. Jimmy tumbles down into the pool of her blood on the floor, knocking himself unconscious.
The nurse Jill runs into a frenzied Laurie in a dark corridor. The Shape appears from out of that darkness, lumbering toward the helpless women with a scalpel. He spiked Jill with it, lifting her body into the air, then dropped her dead in a pile of her own blood. Laurie bailed from the imminent carnage, slamming into walls, careening down stone steps and breathing heavily.
The Shape chased after her through the terminal maze of the hospital. The swung at her, knocking over jars of chemicals from shelves. Laurie ducked into an elevator, and spilled out the backside into the hospital parking lot. Laurie ran into an delusional Jimmy, who was slurring his words. He collapsed onto the horn of the steering wheel, wooing the attention of Myers.
Loomis, Marion, and The Marshal arrive at the emergency entrance. Loomis and The Marshal comb the dark hallways of the silent hospital. Loomis fired a shot at the shape, hitting him dead-on. Shot after shot, Loomis observed the blood spurting from Myers' body. Loomis concludes that Myers dies and is reborn countless times throughout its life, referring to him as 'The Lord of the Dead'. While Myers was on his knees, Loomis sightedstraight as an arrow and pumped off his last shot. Myers collapsed until he became motionless, though his heart still beated.
Loomis finds Laurie and apologizes for not looking after her. The Marshal examines the body, only to have Michael resurrect and stab him to death. Loomis remembers he had the marshal's gun in his pocket and gave it to Laurie as Myers pounded on the door of the room they hid in.
Myers enters and stabs Loomis with the scalpel, tossing him aside as he pulled the trigger to his empty revolver. Myers advances toward Laurie, and Laurie calls out his name. Myers hesitates and shoots her a quizzical expression. She fires off shots, making him bleed out of the slits of his mask. The bullets lodge into pipes, incurring them to burst open, spurting out chemicals and gas. Loomis intervenes, pulling out his lighter--telling Michael "it's time."
Loomis sets Michael on fire, engulfing them both in an inferno.
Epilogue: A crowd is gathered outside of the hospital--Deputy Hunt learns the body count is Ten. Loomis' body is carted out and is said to have been burnt like a french fry. Michael's body was supposedly blown into undetectable smithereens, unable to be compiled.
Laurie is taken away in an ambulance, getting a ride home. She's too catatonic to give the driver the address, staring out into the gray mist of the morning after.
Notes[]
- Total of 256 pages
- Published by ZEBRA
- Summary: 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 from 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!