In Halloween H20, we pick back up with Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) twenty years after the events of Halloween and Halloween 2. Still living in fear of her older brother, Laurie has changed her name and become the headmistress of a posh, gated, secluded prep school (she has essentially holed herself up there). Her son, John, lives there with her and attends the school. As Laurie struggles to overcome her growing paranoia (which always gets worse on Halloween), Michael returns one final time in an attempt to finish the job he started twenty years ago. Get ready for the final battle.
Jamie Lee Curtis is back in peak form (even getting to show she is still a Grade A scream queen in her opening scene). Curtis steps back into her iconic role with ease and finesse. Her role is meaty one, with plenty of internal conflict and psychosis she must battle (along with her brother, of course). Josh Hartnett is at his most likable here as her teenaged son, who only wants to go outside of the walls of the school. Laurie, naturally, strictly forbids this. Chris Durand steps effortlessly into the shoes of one of the most iconic slashers in film. His mask is kind of bad, but he is completely believable as Michael here. This is the return of Michael as we saw him in the first two Halloween films. Michael in this film is smart, fast, incredibly strong, and pretty cool. It just feels great to see the return of THE Michael Meyers. I've missed him dearly.
It's pretty awesome that they managed to rope Nancy Chambers back into the franchise. She reprises her role from the first Halloween, Marion Chambers (The nurse from the beginning that's first attacked by Michael, but survives. She wears the same outfit as she did in the original film. This a visual que to the audience as to who she is). It's also a nice surprise to see Joseph Gordon-Levitt pop up as Jimmy, a next door neighbor of Marion's. Both of these actors get very minimal screen time, but it feels good to have them here.
The beginning and ending of Halloween H20 are the strongest parts of this film, unfortunately the middle lags a good deal as we spend a decent amount of time focused on the prep school students. The characters are likable enough, but just aren't interesting. It also hurts that there aren't many Michael antics until the last 30 minutes or so of the film. That said, all the waiting pays off as the last battle is thrilling, epic, and pretty awesome.
Halloween H20 is not a perfect film, it often feels more like your typical 90's teen slasher than a Halloween film. Luckily, the characters of Michael and Laurie are perfect, and the film is filled with cool nods to the original (one example: Janet Leigh appears for one brief scene as Norma. Not only is this a nod to Psycho, which inspired the original Halloween a good deal, but in real life Leigh is Jamie Lee's mother). Halloween H20 sends the Halloween franchise off on the perfect note. Thank God they didn't make another awful, insulting sequel after this one.
3.5 STARS
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