Halloween H20: 20 Years Later

"Halloween H20" is the most accomplished sequel of the "Halloween" series, and a film that would deserve a "10" for its potency, conviction, and intelligence if it weren't for a few non-Laurie scenes earlier in the film that feel less than what other films achieved at the time.

You can't talk about "Halloween H20" without discussing the impact the "Scream" trilogy had on this era in horror cinema. The post-modern references, thrilling and modern style, sexy stars, and heightened feminist protagonists that made the three "Scream" films so successful are borrowed by "Halloween H20" and are used to the film's triumph.

The single best aspect of "Halloween H20" is Laurie Strode's character development. Though it's a bit more heavy-handed than Sidney in "Scream," it's effective, thorough, and aided by Jamie Lee Curtis' phenomenal, unforgettable portrayal. The last 20 minutes are first-rate 1990s horror.

"Halloween H20" feels as scary and fresh today as it did in 1998.

H20 was the twentieth anniversary that features the return or I like to call it revenge of Laurie Strode.

Jamie had realized during lunch that twenty years had pass since the original film and wanted to do a follow up film. She wanted to get the whole crew back and John Carpenter to direct. He refused after divorcing himself after his anthology idea was ruined. I consider Halloween, the fog, season of the witch, Prince of darkness and the thing his true series.

Williamson wrote a script that was quite different from the finished project yet Jamie didn't want her character to be seen as a bad mother.I don't blame her. Who wants to look bad?

The supporting castes were all fresh faced and did fine. The Halloween theme and scream score mix well together.

The only problem is Donald Pleasence passed away before It was even dreamed of.

It truly was the final Halloween in my opinion.

John Carpenter's 1978 'Halloween' is wholly deserving of its status as a horror classic. To this day it's still one of the freakiest films personally seen and introduced the world to one of horror's most iconic villainous characters Michael Myers.

Which is why it is such a shame that not only are all of the sequels nowhere near as good but that the decline in quality is so drastic. Ok, the original 'Halloween' is very difficult to follow on from, but most of the sequels could at least looked like effort was made into them. The exception however is 'Halloween H20: 20 Years Later'. It's not perfect and nowhere near as great as the original, but it's the only sequel that's above average, let alone good and by far the best since the original. It does a great job breathing fresh life into a series that had gotten stale as quick as one can down a can of coke gone flat and such a welcome addition after the badness of the fifth and sixth films.

'Halloween H20: 20 Years Later' has its flaws. It is too short and at times erratically paced, sometimes rushed and then taking a bit of time to get going after the opening. There is not enough breathing room for development of characterisation, which generally is shallow apart from the central relationship and the script tends to be weak (not unexpected, though actually it's far worse in the previous sequels, at least it sounds complete).

On the other hand, 'Halloween H20: 20 Years Later' is the best-looking of the sequels, the first half in particular being close in style to the autumnal look of the original, something that none of the previous sequels did. The editing is coherent, it's not shot too darkly and there is an eeriness to the setting which can be properly appreciated as a result. The music is a welcome return to being an asset than a drawback like in the previous two sequels. While not quite a character of its own like in the original, it adds to the atmosphere and enhances it.

Luckily there's nowhere near as much unintentional camp, out of place humour or bizarre subplots or idea that muddle the story. Instead much of the film is fun and there is a tension, creepiness and suspense, even poignancy at times, that the previous sequels were sorely lacking in. The deaths are the most creative and shocking since those in the original, while the opening scene is unsettlingly tense and the ending is creepy and touching. The central relationship is handled quite well.

Although the characters are underdeveloped, none of them are annoying and they do have enough personality to stop them from being too dull. The direction is in control of the material and is at least competent and often well above that, especially in the second half when the film really does come alive. Of the sequels, 'Halloween H20: 20 Years Later' is by quite some way the best acted, Jamie Lee Curtis' wonderful performance being the film's best asset.

In summary, the best of the sequels/follow ups and worth the wait. 7/10 Bethany Cox

when i went to go see this movie at the theaters, i was scared to death. But when i first watched it on VHS a couple times, i had no clue that it ignored what happened in Halloween 3-6.

Halloween h20 picks up 20 years after the happenings of the first Halloween. Keri Tate/Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) has gone into hiding and working as a teacher at a private school in California. But it's getting close to Halloween and she is unaware that Michael has now relocated his sister. Sooner than later, Lauri fights back, not wanting to live a life a fear and preying that her brother will not find her. The ending **spoilers** was great how Lauri fights back. At the end**spoilers** it showed how Lauri would kill Michael once and for all, but that was messed up in the next Halloween movie "Halloween Resurrection".

Back before Lions Gate (now Lionsgate) held the monopoly on mainstream genre pics, Dimension Films was the go-to place for horror and suspense of the 'indie' sort. In 1998, with Wes Craven's 2 "Scream" films maintaining the public interest to great financial success, Dimension decided to put their acquisition of the "Halloween" franchise to good use (especially after the atrocious "Curse of Michael Myers") by making a sequel to end all sequels (at least until the atrocious "Halloween: Resurrection" turded up multiplexes).

In addition to being one of the most instantly-recognizable titles in all of horror, "Halloween: H20" came to screens with an added incentive: it marked the series return of original protagonist/victim Laurie Strode (played with cat-like veracity by Jamie Lee Curtis). Curtis' presence, in addition to the reliable skill of director Steve Miner (who cut his teeth on two "Friday the 13th" sequels), plus a story that wisely disregarded the incidents of all the sequels past "II," set "H20" up as the series payoff I was so eagerly awaiting. After leaving the theater, I was more than satisfied with the end result.

Years go by. Dimension becomes a notorious den of re-cuts, re-shoots, and re-castings (just ask Wes "Cursed" Craven) still trying to mine the 'Fresh-Faced-Teen' demographic that doesn't seem to exist anymore. Upon re-examination of "H20"'s box/poster art, I noticed a recurrent motif (from "Scream" to "Phantoms" to "Nightwatch" to "Rounders") in design: the proliferation of airbrushed faces looking Deeply Concerned about something, in addition to an over-reliance on bold, exclamatory blurbs from dubious sources (WWOR-TV, anyone?).

But I'm not reviewing the marketing tactics of a company whose former glories (namely Tarantino and Rodriguez) are now its only source of revenue.

"Sin City" notwithstanding, "H20" might have been the last good movie to come out of Dimension. At its core, it is a surprisingly compact (86 minutes, including credits) horror-thriller that moves so briskly we are never able to get too cozy with the characters. Miner goes for the subtle compositions that marked John Carpenter's original, and is fairly successful: the film refrains from the obligatory sex and self-referential attitude that would have been profitable at the time. From frame one, "H20" feels like a continuous, flowing set-piece...but the way it sidelines its characters leaves a hollow echo when it's all finished. Also unfortunate is that the suspense is so heavy-handed it seldom creates tension; this might be attributable to Chris Durand's overly self-conscious portrayal of the menacing Michael Myers. The relationship between Curtis, her son John (Josh Hartnett), and Myers is the film's intriguing familial triangle, but is disappointingly underdeveloped (though for the sake of the series, it wraps things up well enough).

In the end, "H20" is Curtis' show. She imbues her character with as much straight-faced commitment as she did in '78, in addition to a toughened exterior bent on preserving family values at any cost. The denouement, which contains a moment as touching as it is creepy, gives new meaning to the phrase, "tough love."