Laurie Strode, now the dean of a Northern California private school with an assumed name, must battle the Shape one last time as the life of her son hangs in the balance.
I remember being very excited when “Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later” was released in theaters in August 1998. Up until that point, the most recent Halloween films, “Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers” and “Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers,” weren’t just bad movies; they were horrendous, especially “The Curse of Michael Myers.” Talk about running a franchise into the ground. Whoever greenlit that film deserves to be booted out of the movie industry for life. With no ideas left in the series anymore, the film told us that Michael Myers was part of a Druid-like cult led by the mysterious Man in Black, who could put an ancient Druid curse on a person that would make them kill their family on Halloween. Yes, really.
After that film bombed at the box office, even the most hardened “Halloween” fans were done with the series. Until the trailers for “Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later” dropped, showing original “Halloween” star, Jamie Lee Curtis, reprising her role as Laurie Strode one last time. Or so we thought. The film, thankfully, also ignored the previous three entries in the franchise; “Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers,” “Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers,” and “Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers,” continuing instead from the ending of “Halloween II.”
Now living under an assumed name, Keri Tate, in Summer Glen, California, Laurie is now the headmistress of Hillcrest Academy, a private boarding school where her son John (Josh Hartnett) lives with her. After faking her death, she has managed to create a normal life for herself and John, but the nightmares of what happened all those years ago in Haddonfield still haunt her, especially now, at Halloween. When two student friends of John’s turn up dead, Laurie fears the worst, that Michael Myers has returned, and she is right. Trapped inside the school, Laurie must use her wits to outsmart Michael and end the nightmare that has plagued her for most of her adult life.
“Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later” ended perfectly, with (spoiler alert) Laurie beheading Michael, and instead of leaving the possibility of him somehow returning, the film cuts to black, and it is over. Yes! It’s finally finished. The heroine does what many failed to do and can now move on with her life. That was until 2002 rolled around, much like Michael’s head in the movie’s finale, and “Halloween: Resurrection” was released, taking H20’s seamless conclusion and flushing it down the toilet with an absolutely nonsensical recap of what really happened. Why Jamie Lee Curtis even made a brief appearance is beyond me, but this film was the final nail in the “Halloween” coffin. Until Rob Zombie said, “Hold my beer!”
“H20” is nowhere near as good as the original, or even “Halloween II,” which I thought was a terrific follow-up, but it was a great way to bring Laurie back and give her the peace she so desperately needed. Curtis is firing on all cylinders, and it’s great to see her inhabit the role of a strong, determined woman who wants to take back control of her life. Initially, she runs from Michael but quickly realizes that to reclaim her life, she must take him on face-to-face, which is precisely what she does. I pretend the abomination that is “Halloween: Resurrection” was just one of Laurie’s nightmares.
The entire series should have ended with “H20,” even the most recent “Halloween” movies, directed by David Gordon Green, did a massive disservice to the franchise by eliminating the events of every film that happened after the original. I always felt that “Halloween II” should have remained intact. The new movies are so ineffective and haphazard they proved just how incompetent Green is while trying to make a successful horror film. Yet, now he is working on the new “Exorcist” trilogy and “Hellraiser” after that. God help us all; he can’t stop trashing the classic horror franchises.
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