In hindsight, 1978's "Halloween" was always destined to have a sequel. Co-writer/director John Carpenter and co-writer/producer Debra Hill even included a particularly prophetic line of dialogue in their tale of a supernaturally-charged maniac, Michael Myers, terrorizing his hometown on Halloween night: "You can't kill the bogeyman." Thanks to the film's massive success critically, commercially, and culturally, "Halloween II" was practically a given.

While "Halloween" concludes with the assertion that Myers has indeed not yet been killed, a trickier question for Carpenter and Hill concerned what to do with the other surviving supporting characters. Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance) was established as the Van Helsing to Myers' Dracula, so his return was fairly natural. A bigger issue revolved around bringing back star Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, the babysitter who unfortunately crosses Myers' path and becomes the focus of his All Hallows' Eve rampage. Not wanting to kill...