An early cut of the film, often called the “Rick Rosenthal” or “Television Version” features several deleted scenes, mostly involving a few extra seconds of theatrical scenes. It’s a completely different cut then the theatrical version. It opens with the credits and then cuts to Laurie and the kids in the Doyle house. Due to network standards and practices, this version doesn’t feature hardly any blood and a few deaths scenes have been completely removed including Alice’s death at the beginning of the film, Janet and Dr. Mixture deaths and Mrs. Alves body being found by Jimmy. Even the closeup shot of the word Samhain written in blood is cut.
It also features an extended ending with Jimmy in the ambulance with Laurie. Their hands come together and Laurie mutters, “We made it”. There are a few additional scenes with interaction between the hospital staff (that add to the story) and they added footage of Michael Myers walking to Mr. Garrett in the storage area with the “Shape Stalks” theme playing to build suspense vs. Myers just appearing out of nowhere and whacking him in the head with a hammer. There was an alternative take of the Marshall’s death that was used for this release. Instead of having his throat slit, Myers stabs him from behind. This version originally aired on independent television stations, but rarely makes an appearance today. Rumors were a special edition DVD was set for 2001, but Universal instead released a bare-bones edition.
On September 18, 2012 Shout! Factory released a remastered version of Halloween II on Blu-ray. Included in that release is the Halloween II TV edit featuring the deleted scenes fans have been asking for. You can also get this release via the Limited Edition Halloween Box Set.
Halloween II – © 1981 Universal Studios