Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)

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Here's another interesting case in the 'Halloween' franchise altogether. Story-wise, we have to hit rewind on the timelines, return to 'Halloween 2', and carry this film over. Regarding the seventh 'Halloween' film, chapters 4-6 no longer exist, and Jamie Lloyd never did either. This film then opens the rest of the "First Laurie Strode" timeline, which was altogether despised by most fans, and to some degree, I can see why. But I must admit, I do have a soft spot for 'Halloween Water' - er, um, 'Halloween H20'.

This came along in 1998 and relied on several teen horror tropes at the time, thanks to films like 'Scream' and 'I Know What You Did Last Summer.' For this, I tend to give it a little slack because it did okay regarding teen horror. I see it as just trying to fit in for the time, and there actually is a touch of nostalgia to this for me, as I can still pick out scenes I remember from the trailer. It essentially pinpoints one item of film that made me wish to explore the horror genre I missed out on growing up. I have several things to thank for that, but this was definitely one of them.

Taking place in more or less real-time, this picks up twenty years after the events of 'Halloween 2', when, in the end, the explosion at the hospital was presumed to take out both Dr. Loomis (who will sadly never be seen again, rest in peace, Donald Pleasence) and Michael, whose body was never recovered. Michael (Chris Durand) swiftly makes a return, however, via the opening scene, in which he has a face-to-face with Marion Wittington (Nancy Stephens), who was the nurse from the first film who accompanied Loomis to Smith's Grove in the opening of the film. It's just one of several interesting cameos throughout the film. Anyway, Mikey's back!

Meanwhile, over in the town of Summer Glen, CA, Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) lives with her student son, John (Josh Hartnett in his debut film role), having faked her death and taken on a new identity as headmistress of Hillcrest Academy, "Keri Tate." Despite having a new life, she has been tormented by nightmares and visions of Michael since that fateful night in 1978. As a result, she gets pretty irritating throughout the first half of this film as the far too overprotective mother who is altogether convinced that even after all this time, Michael is out there and will come back for her.

Then, when John,  his girlfriend, Molly (Michelle Williams, not quite famous yet), and friends Charlie Deveraux (Adam Hann-Byrd) and Sarah Wainthrope (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe) forego a camping trip to Yosemite to stay on campus and throw a Halloween party in one of the now abandoned campus buildings, it turns out Laurie's fears were warranted after all. Michael, still keeping it all in the family (without the "Thorn" explanation now), is after John, having just turned 17 - the same age Laurie was on Halloween of 1978. So the idea isn't THAT far from what happened in 'Halloween 4', but replace Jamie with John and change things just enough to be different.

It's my understanding that so much of the criticism for this movie comes from various things that I have come to terms with. I still consider it an underrated chapter in the series, but some of the "bad" has finally been realized for me, and it's not quite as awesome as I remember. The mask changes all look pretty corny with the lighting, and Michael somehow doesn't feel as threatening. It takes us a little while to warm up to Laurie again. But for me, the biggest gripe is probably too many off-screen kills and zero creativity behind them at that. Then there's more that I understand but might disagree with, such as the somewhat anti-climactic ending, which I find fits in a particular way, but that's also a long story.

Beyond that, I could classify this as one of the more fun ones to watch with cameo roles like LL Cool J as a security guard who's just trying to write a romance novel, the one and only Janet Leigh of Psycho fame, and Jamie Lee Curtis' mother, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt who is just kinda fun to go back and see before he got famous for more serious roles. The film is an odd balance for me, and I like it just as much as I dislike it. For me, it might fit alongside 'Halloween 5' as far as overall quality, and something I can see as a guilty pleasure at this point. I still, however, find it leagues above 'Curse' and will never understand why so many seem to dislike this one more. But hey, c'est la vie! To each their own.


3/5

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