sophiadesantis

I've heard the stories, the experience of seeing Psycho, or Jaws, or The Exorcist in theaters at the time. Just nothing like it up til then, truly visceral. Now, H20 is no Psycho, but it was my first introduction to Michael Myers and probably the gateway drug to all things horror for me. I remember being really scared. On the one hand it's entertaining - there's the stacked 90s cast, very on-brand / of-the-times script by Kevin Williamson (of Scream fame), and plenty of homages to the original. On the other hand, there are some truly frightening murders - it does not skimp on the gore - and the famous Halloween theme adapted into a haunting orchestral score is just uncanny. I'll admit I have my thumb on the scale rating H20 an 8 because it is near and dear to my heart, but it deserves to be higher than it is. Jaime Lee Curtis & Janet Lee's endearingly layered conversation in the parking lot about midway through is a sterling example of why.

Intellectual overload that doesn't always come together, but don't think more than it's asking you to (and it does, a lot) and you won't be disappointed. There are a few indelible scenes even now make my blood run cold. I do wonder what kind of movie it would have been had it been cast with no-name actors though, without the sort of psychological short-cut that undermines a character when it's played by a movie star. That being said, I really do like this movie because of, in descending order: Liev Schreiber ("It's bigger than Copernicus!"), Sharon Stone ("Once in a while, sometimes I might take, like...a piece of Xanax or something if I'm nervous. Something like that. Not...much."), Samuel L. Jackson ("Follow the yellow-brick road"), Queen Latifah (you'll see), and Dustin Hoffman ("What happens if Jerry gets mad?").