Review of Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) by Kevin D — 29 Oct 2012

Uhhh I don't know what to tell you. I really don't. I'm speechless at how mediocre and disappointing this was. It just felt so uninspired. The direction is not atmospheric at all. The direction just felt so by the book. It felt like the series took a step backwards with this entry.

If you're looking for anything remotely suspenseful you've come to the wrong place. The first hour is pointless exposition of the characters. The characters are all typical horror caricatures: Jamie Lee Curtis assumes the Dr. Loomis-esque authority figure and she's surrounded by dumb police officers and security guards, and teens hungry for beer and sex. We hang out with these people for an hour and just so we don't get bored or forget that we're watching a Halloween film, we're treated to misleading daydreams involving Michael Myers. If we aren't treated to a scene of Jamie Lee thinking that she sees Michael (only to have it turn out to be her love interest every time), then we're rewarded with false jump scenes.

Everything the movie builds up to ends up self-destructing and being thrown out the window in the last 20 minutes. We aren't rewarded with interesting set pieces or great stages for big time Michael Myers murders. We just see the aftermath of Myers' victims. Sometimes we're lucky enough to actually see him kill people.

The movie just gets dumber and more predictable as it goes along. I always felt like I was five steps ahead of the film. It's just more of the same. This movie does nothing to distinguish itself from any of the other sequels in the series. In fact, this might just be the most forgettable of all the Halloween sequels. I really wanted to like this movie, but it just felt like the passion was missing. It especially felt missing from Josh Hartnett, who looked like he went to the Keanu Reeves School of Acting.

The writing was just awful. A few lines were actually funny (courtesy of some rewrites by Kevin Williamson), but most of the dialogue was awkward and unintentionally funny. This schlock was watchable, but I expected more from what is usually labeled as the best of the Halloween sequels. Even the ending to the movie (which most people love) left me feeling empty.