Halloween II May Have Never Happened Had John Carpenter Not Been Sued Over The Fog
In the 2012 making-of documentary "The Nightmare Isn't Over: The Making of Halloween II," producer Irwin Yablans admits it was he who pushed John Carpenter to make "Halloween II." Carpenter, as most horror nuts might be able to tell you, wasn't really interested in making a sequel to "Halloween," feeling that the story had reached an effective conclusion. In Murray Leeder's 2013 "Halloween" entry into the Devil's Advocates essay book series, Carpenter admitted that when he sat down to write "Halloween II," he had nothing but beer and a complete lack of ideas. Carpenter admits that he only decided that Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) should be the sister of the killer, Michael Myers, out of sheer desperation.
But Yablans insisted on a sequel because "Halloween" made so much money. Horror fans may know that "Halloween" was made for a tiny budget of about $300,000, but netted over $70 million at the box office. As any producer might, Yablans wanted to replicate that success right away. He was able to convince Carpenter to return to make a "Halloween II," provided Carpenter was allowed to make another film — one he was far more interested in — first.
No papers were signed on this matter, it seems. And as it so happens, one of Yablan's professional colleagues, Robert Rehme, stood in his way. Thanks to a chance encounter at Cannes, Rehme found out about Yablans' plans to make "Halloween II," and swooped in to poach a project.
Legal action ensued. Yablans recalls the incident well on camera in "The Nightmare Isn't Over."
'He had another idea'
Yablans recalled his sweet-talking of Carpenter, and how he agreed to let the filmmaker do his own project first, saying:
"I talked to John Carpenter about ['Halloween II'], but he had another idea. He wanted to do another picture as his follow-up. I guess he felt that 'Halloween 1' was a fluke or, if not that, I think he felt that he didn't want to repeat himself. And I respected him for that. He wanted to do a picture called 'The Fog.' And I said 'Sure, let's do 'Fog.' We'll do 'Fog' first, then we'll talk about 'Halloween II.” And we agreed to do that."
And so it was (allegedly) agreed. Yablans was going to make two movies with the nascent hit-maker in a classic "one for you, one for me" deal. The way Yablans tells it, however, a conversation with someone else in the industry during a plane ride lost him one of those pictures. The person was Bob Rehme, the head of AVCO and once the vice president of Roger Corman's New World Pictures. It seems Rehme had no problems making a few phone calls of his own. Yablans said:
"I had to be in Cannes for the film festival, so I left for Cannes. And during the plane ride, I happened to be sitting next to Bob Rehme, who was an old friend of mine from the Paramount days. Bob was now head of a company called AVCO Embassy. And they kind of made low-budget pictures, but a bit cut above. They spent a little bit more money. And he wanted to know more about John Carpenter. And I said, 'Yeah! We're gonna make another movie with John Carpenter! We're going to do two more movies with him. We're gonna do 'The Fog' and then we're gonna do 'Halloween II.”"
Shortly after their conversation, Rehme announced that he, not Yablans, was going to make "The Fog" with Carpenter. Naturally, Yablans wasn't happy.
The lawsuits
/Film's incredibly savvy readers might note that the above screenshots of "The Fog" are credited to AVCO Embassy, meaning Rehme seemingly got what he wanted. This was, however, after Yablans felt like he had to take his old friend, and Carpenter, to court. As Yablans put it:
"I was pretty upset. I was livid. I called Carpenter and I got nowhere with him. And I did the only thing I could at that point: I sued them both. To settle the case, we agreed to let Carpenter do 'The Fog' with Embassy and we got the commitment for 'Halloween II.'"
Yablans got his "Halloween" sequel, even if Carpenter only co-wrote it under protest. Part of the deal, as elucidated by an article on the website The Twin Geeks, was that Carpenter would write, produce, and compose the music, but not direct "Halloween II." Directing duties ultimately went to Rick Rosenthal, who made his feature directing debut.
Carpenter did indeed make "The Fog" with AVCO Embassy, a company that would oversee many notable horror films of the 1980s including "Prom Night," "Scanners," "The Howling," "Swamp Thing," "Parasite," and many, many others. Carpenter would also work with AVCO to make "Escape from New York." The company was sold to Coca-Cola (!) in 1985.
Yablans, meanwhile, would also produce "Halloween III: Season of the Witch," the horror film "Prison," and the amazing 1989 sci-fi punch'-em-up "Arena." Yablans' company, Trancas International Films, still owns the film rights to the "Halloween" film franchise.
Hard feelings? Definitely a few. Carpenter sued Yablans in 2008 for unpaid "Halloween" wages. But Yablans may get the last laugh: Trancas International Films was recently involved in a deal for a planned "Halloween" cinematic universe that's intended to span both film and television.