Many of the scenes have been 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 has also been removed in all death scenes, and of course all the bad language 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 of Loomis emerging from the house to find Myers' body gone.
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?".
The theatrical cut goes straight to a scene where Myers steals a knife from a neighbor lady and kills a young woman in another house. This appears slightly later in the film and has been re-edited to suggest that Myers kills the old woman instead of the young girl.
The voice-over announcements of the male TV reporter run slightly different, depending on when they appear over the extra scenes.
An extra close-up shot of Laurie 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.
After Ben Tramer is killed by the policeman's car in the explosion, the scene uses an alternate take depicting Loomis and Brackett's reactions and Hunt pulling up to tell Brackett Annie's body was discovered.
The first view of Annie's corpse when Brackett identifies her has been deleted.
A different take of the dialogue when Laurie arrives at the hospital. All shots of her being stuck with needles have been 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 Lonnie with the razor blade in his mouth has been removed, with only the piece where they arrive at the ER and talk to Jill remaining.
An extra scene 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 while they listen to reports of the murders. Mr. Garrett says drugs are the obvious problem.
An extra bit where a shaky Dr. Mixter reviews Laurie's medical procedures with Mrs. Alves.
A voiceover reporter speaks over the clip of "Night of the Living Dead" to inform viewers that Michael Myers is believed to have burned to death.
Extra dialogue 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, while 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 of the babies in the maternity ward as Michael lurks among them.
Extended scene showing Jimmy bringing Laurie the Coke he promised 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.
As Mr. Garrett looks in the storage lockers directly before his death scene, extra shots of Michael Myers have been inserted to make it appear as if Myers is slowly approaching, attracted by the noise Garrett makes when he knocks the boxes over.
An added scene where Jill is on the phone (AFTER the phones are supposedly taken out!) and Jimmy sneaks by her to go into Laurie's room to tell Laurie Michael Myers is dead. Instead of being relieved, Laurie panics and says she has to get out of there, and Mrs. Alves, Jill, and Janet all come in to help sedate Laurie. While they are working on her, 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 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 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 of Loomis and Hunt approaching the house while Hunt yells at people to go home.
A scene 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 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 gauge slowly rising and Michael Myers' hand turning it up. There is an alternate take of Karen talking to who 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 down 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 in the chemically-induced state of 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 has been 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 the drugged Laurie grabs the phone in the empty hospital room, she tries to speak and cries into the phone "Mama, he won't die! He won't go away!"
Extra dialogue 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 has been softened. The shot of Michael stabbing her in the back with the scalpel has been 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.
Jimmy's collapse in the car has been cut out since he's supposed to be looking for others during the entire climax of the film.
Loomis only shoots Michael two times 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.
Different angles in the operating room as the blinded Michael slashes out with his scalpel.
The different 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.
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.