Changes made to Blu-ray disc, Malek speaks
This week, the Rick Rosenthal-directed Halloween II made its Blu-ray debut. If you can find it, good luck. Every store I visited in my vicinity didn’t bother stocking it for some inexplicable reason. And yes, it does contain Terror in the Aisles.
But availability isn’t the most egregious problem with this release. The print of Halloween II no longer carries the “Moustapha Akkad Presents” title card at the beginning. Instead, the powers-that-be behind this disc replaced that card with “Universal, an MCA Company, Presents.” In orange letters and in a font that doesn’t match the rest of the picture’s opening credits.
It’s a mystery, even to Moustapha’s son, Malek Akkad, why this decision was made to remove the godfather of Michael Myers’ name from the intro.
“It’s disgusting,” Malek tells Shock. “It’s a disgrace, obviously, bias, objectively, any horror fan would find this as an insult to the man who has done so much to the series. And to come after his tragic death, he’s not even around to defend himself. It’s classless. I’m talking to Universal now and they’re ‘looking into it.'”
For now, a Facebook page was created by the fans to boycott the disc.
It’s a very peculiar change, however, Moustapha still retains his “presents” credit on the packaging.
Source: Ryan Turek, Managing Editor
