Alternate versions

12 seconds of footage of a violent nature were cut when the film was originally released in Ontario, Canada.

The gruesome shot where a nurse gets a syringe in her temple was toned down in the German version. This however didn't stop the censors from banning the film. Only in January of 2024 was the banishment and overall censorship lifted. One month later, the FSK granted the uncut version a "not under 16" rating.

The Spanish version is said to feature the alternate ending and several outtakes, including more conversations between the nurse and Laurie, the boy and Laurie, and many scary shots, such as the electricity going out, etc.

Although the UK theatrical version was unedited, the video and initial DVD release were cut by 17 seconds by the BBFC to edit the scene of a woman being dunked in a boiling hydrotherapy pool. All the cuts were waived for the 2002 DVD issue.

A scene that was scripted and shot but not included in either the theatrical or TV version of the film had Robert Mundey and the WWAR crew traveling to Haddonfield Memorial to try to interview Laurie on the events of the night. They are met, however, by a stern Mrs. Alves, who warns them to leave before she calls security while Janet, Jill, and Jimmy watch on.

The alternate television cut that is sometimes shown on syndicated stations (sometimes erroneously called the "Rick Rosenthal Cut" or the "Producer's Cut") contains the following differences from the theatrical cut:

• Many of the scenes are time-compressed and run a lot faster than usual, and many scenes that were previously without music now have bits of soundtrack music added. The explicit violence is removed in all death scenes, and, of course, all the profanity has been re-dubbed or removed.
• The credits come at the very beginning of the film, directly after the Universal logo.
• The flashback to the first film contains additional sound effects, including a voice-over scream (supposedly from Laurie) when Loomis shoots Michael Myers.
• A different shot is used of Loomis emerging from the house to find Myers's missing body.
• The lines "I've been trick-or-treated to death tonight" and "You don't know what death is!" have been eliminated with an awkward voice-over from the neighbor saying "Is this a Halloween prank?" instead.
• The scene where Myers steals a knife from a neighbor is out of place, appearing slightly later in the film, and is re-edited to suggest that Myers kills the old woman instead of the young girl that gets killed in the theatrical cut.
• The voice-over announcements of the male TV reporter run slightly differently, depending on when they appear over the extra scenes.
• An extra close-up shot of Laurie is inserted before Jimmy and Bud bring her out of the house on the stretcher.
• A few extra lines of dialogue with the female reporter near the beginning of the film were changed.
• After Ben Tramer is killed by the policeman's car in the explosion, the scene uses an alternate take that depicts Loomis and Brackett's reactions, and also when Hunt pulls up to tell Brackett that Annie's body was discovered.
• The first view of Annie's corpse when Brackett identifies her is deleted.
• A different take of the dialogue is used when Laurie arrives at the hospital. All shots of her being stuck with needles are removed, and the scene is extended to include shots of Mrs. Alves, Dr. Mixter, and Jill leaning over her as her vision blurs. Then they begin to undress her as Mrs. Alves tells Jimmy and Bud to leave.
• The first scene that shows the kid with the razor blade in his mouth is removed, with only the section where he and his mother arrive at the ER and talk to Jill remaining.
• An extra scene is added where Janet talks to Jimmy about Laurie's injuries and tells him that Dr. Mixter gave her a double-bullet sedative.
• An extra scene of Jill talking to Bud and Mr. Garrett is added while they listen to reports of the murders. Mr. Garrett says drugs are the obvious problem. (This scene is missing from the TV Cut of the Halloween II (1981) DVD found in the Halloween box sets for unknown reasons)
• An extra scene is added where a shaky Dr. Mixter reviews Laurie's medical procedures with Mrs. Alves.
• A voice-over reporter speaking over the clip of "Night of the Living Dead" to inform viewers that Michael Myers is believed to have burned to death was added.
• Extra dialogue is added between Mr. Garrett and Karen as he buzzes her in. He tells Karen the murders were committed because of drugs.
• Mrs. Alves tries to call Laurie's parents while she scolds Janet for not calling them immediately. Meanwhile, Jimmy sneaks in to see Laurie, and Mrs. Alves tells him she'll give him two minutes and that's all, which explains why later she says, "Time's up, Jimmy. Let's go."
• Karen and Jimmy discuss whether Michael Myers really burned to death in the accident, while Michael lurks in the shadows behind them.
• Different sound effects are heard of the babies in the maternity ward as Michael lurks among them.
• An extended scene is added that depicts Jimmy bringing Laurie the Coke he promised her before he tells her it was Michael Myers stalking her.
• When Mr. Garrett goes to check the phones, an added voice-over line where he explains he's going to check the phone box in the storage room is heard.
• As Mr. Garrett looks in the storage lockers directly before his death scene, extra shots of Michael Myers are inserted to make it appear as if Myers is slowly approaching, attracted by the noise Garrett makes when he knocks the boxes over.
• A scene where Jill is on the phone (AFTER the phones are supposedly taken out!) is added, and Jimmy sneaks by her to go into Laurie's room to tell her that Michael Myers is dead. Instead of being relieved, Laurie panics and says that she has to get out of there, and Mrs. Alves, Jill, and Janet all come in to help sedate her. While they are working on Laurie, the lights in the hospital go out, and the emergency generator kicks on, which explains why the hospital is so dim for the rest of the film.
• A different take is used of the scene where Loomis examines the charred remains of the man they think may have been Michael Myers. The scene also extends to include a scene of Loomis and Hunt walking outside the morgue to get in an elevator, where Loomis explains that he believes the wounded Myers might try and go home to nurse his injuries.
• An extra voice-over is added in the scene where neighborhood kids throw rocks at the Myers house. Graham is heard telling the mob, "Michael Myers isn't here; we've checked the entire house!"
• An extra scene shows Loomis and Hunt approaching the house while Hunt yells at people to go home.
• A scene is added where Janet talks to Karen and tells her how creepy it is that the lights went out and how Laurie was screaming about Michael Myers coming to get her.
• Extra dialogue is added in the scene where Bud tries to convince Karen to have sex with him in the therapy room.
• The dialogue between Bud and Karen cuts immediately to a shot of Karen entering the therapy room, where Bud is already naked in the therapy tub. The scene also includes extra shots of the temperature gage slowly rising and Michael Myers' hand turning it up. There is an alternate take of Karen talking to whom she thinks is Bud standing behind her, turning around to see that it's Michael Myers. The scene concludes with just one shot of her being shoved into the scalding water.
• The scenes where Marion arrives are directly connected to when she leaves with Dr. Loomis in the Marshall's car.
• When Jimmy discovers Laurie lying there in shock, there is extra dialogue as Jimmy and Jill wait for Dr. Mixter to respond to their call. In the theatrical version, this is where Janet runs to get Mixter and discovers his body, and is killed. That entire sequence was removed and Jimmy finally gets restless and says he's going to find Mrs. Alves.
• There is an added scene of Jimmy looking for Mrs. Alves and finding the ladies lounge empty.
• Laurie's dream is placed differently and features a new voice-over of a little-girl voice saying, "Please don't hurt me, Michael! I'm your sister!"
• When Michael goes into Laurie's hospital room, he doesn't have a scalpel in his hand, and there is an extra scene of him closing the door behind himself as he leaves.
• When Laurie crawls into the empty hospital room and grabs the phone, she tries to speak and cries into the phone, "Mama, he won't die! He won't go away!"
• Extra dialogue is added between Jimmy and Jill where they wonder why the hospital is now empty, and Jill asks if someone could be in there with them.
• Extra shots of Jimmy exploring the hospital, looking for other people.
• Jill's death scene is softened. The shot of Michael stabbing her in the back with the scalpel was removed, and now it appears as if he simply grabs Jill and drops her. Additional sound effects of Jill groaning as she is dropped suggest that she survives.
• An extra shot of Loomis and Marion in the back of the Marshall's car and extra shots of the car driving through Haddonfield are inserted.
• All evidence of Jimmy being in the parked car with Laurie is cut out because he's supposed to be looking for others during the entire climax of the film.
• Loomis only shoots Michael twice when he bursts through the glass door.
• The Marshall's death scene is less gruesome, with Michael jumping up and pulling the Marshall with him, apparently stabbing him from behind. But, right before the marshal falls to the floor, you can see a smoking hole with blood in his chest. Supposedly Dr. Loomis accidentally shot him, trying to shoot Michael and that's how he died. But, it was cut in the TV version because it was too violent, resulting in what looked like him being stabbed from behind.
• Different angles in the operating room are added as the blinded Michael slashes out with his scalpel.
• The television editing makes it appear as if Jimmy's fall is caused by the explosion.
• Graham's dialogue is altered in the final scenes where Hunt asks him the body count; he gives no exact estimate.
• When Laurie is placed in the ambulance at the end, someone is in there with her. There is a final scare as the figure sits up, covered by a sheet, and the sheet falls away, revealing Jimmy with a bandage on his head. Laurie cries in relief and says, "We made it!" They hold hands and "Mr. Sandman" begins to play over an exterior scene of the ambulance pulling out of the hospital's parking lot.