Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
by Cheeto
Posted on 29 October 2021
Rating -
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (also known as simply Halloween H20) is a 1998 American slasher film directed by Steve Miner, and starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Adam Arkin, Michelle Williams, and Josh Hartnett. It is the seventh installment in the Halloween franchise. Retconning the Jamie Lloyd story arc of the previous three installments, H20 is a direct sequel to the first two films and follows a post-traumatic Laurie Strode, who has faked her death in order to go into hiding from her brother, Michael Myers, who finds her working at a private boarding school in California.
H20 is the Halloween sequel it took me the longest to watch, the reason? I really dont know. Maybe because it retconned everything apart from the original. Younger me hated this because I was glad that there was so many Halloween sequels, me at the age of 21 is kind of glad because nothing even got near to the original, and like so many other horror franchises; the storylines were all over the place.
I really like the opening scenes to this film, I think they have that vintage Halloween feel to them, it’s tense, taut and strained. I think it was also a good idea to kill Marion Chambers; as an iconic part of the franchise, it’s a bit of a gut punch.
I think this cast is the best since the original, I think the casting director hit the nail on the head, hiring up and coming young actors; who’ll end up having long distinguished careers in Josh Hartnett and Michelle Williams. I think LL Cool J is really good in this movie, normally I’m not a fan of singers/rappers being in movies due to their star power; but he showcases why he is still acting even today. I think this film showcases the best Laurie Strode of the whole franchise (yes, even beating the original). She’s much more mature, and obviously, a much more experienced actress. It’s also nice to see Janet Leigh in one of her last movie roles.
I like the way in which Steve Miner shows scenes of Laurie struggling with PTSD. She has nightmares about him, has hallucinations etc. This is great because it shows that the first film has purpose, and that it shows that Laurie as a character, has layers.
I think the third act is brilliant in this film. It’s refreshing to see someone actually go out of their way to hunt for Michael. The way in which Laurie fights back against Michael, it makes for a great back and forth between our two main characters. I think the final scene SPOILERS in which we see Laurie finally kill Michael is emotional, but satisfactuary at the same time.
While this film certainly has its positives, it does have a few negatives too.
First off, I’m sorry to be that guy, but I HATE Michael’s mask in this film, at no point in time should you see Michael’s eyes, this movie just takes the piss. BTW, Michael’s mask wasn’t actually the first mask that featured in this film, there were actually multiple masks. The KNB mask was the first choice, it looks actually laughable. They filmed almost all of the film until someone pointed out that it looked shit, so they went back and chose the mask that is in this film, and had to film it all again. They also had.. a CGI mask. Yep, in one of the scenes, they forgot to reshoot from the KNB mask, so they just CGI’d one on top, this film was made in 1998, so yes, shit 90’s CGI. In the whole first scene, Michael actually wears the mask from Halloween 6 (the previous one). This mask is one of the best in the series, they changed it due to the fact they didn’t want to associate themselves with the thorn trilogy, a pretty weak argument in my opinion. The mask is that important that I would’ve gone up a half star if they would’ve kept with it.
Chris Durand is ok in this film, he does his best but the mask takes away from his performance, not his fault but he’s certainly in the lower bracket of Michael Myers’.
Overall, this film is really good, and I think they were right to retcon all of the sequels before it. It’s no wonder that John Carpenter and Debra Hill involved themselves in this film, it’s certainly flawed, but it’s a decent Halloween sequel.
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