Review of Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) by Tom M — 08 May 2011

Without a doubt the best sequel in the series, but still not a patch on the first, iconic nerve-shredder. H20 wisely ignores movies 3-6, instead taking place 20 years after the events of the second movie. Laurie Strode has moved on, now has a son, and is the dean of an old boarding school. Yet even after 20 years, the supposedly dead Michael Myers, Laurie's own brother, makes a startling return.

H20 finally brings an end to the Michael+Laurie storyline, featuring a rather good definitive ending. The ending comes about too quickly however, as the film barely runs over 85 minutes. Sadly, only about 40 of those minutes provide something worth watching. The dull middle section of the film, whilst featuring some decent jump scares, is ultimately un-interesting and boring. Sure, we get some rather nice character development for Laurie and we are filled in on how she has been doing the past few years, but we don't really care. All we want to see is the final showdown. Thankfully the final showdown is handled very well, with some brilliant momments of suspense, and (finally) some gore.

There are quite a few good jump scares throughout the film, and unlike previous entries, suspense and tension is allowed to build up. The problem is that H20 feels more like a teen slasher than a nerve-shredder. The grand-daddy of Teen Slashers (and most Horrors in general) Scream was released the previous year, reviving horror and starting a new slasher craze. H20 takes this idea and tries to mimic it, for much of the movie we follow Laurie's son, which to be honest, is rather boring. He has no character development and I really don't like Josh Hartnett. There are also some huge similarities with Scream. The soundtrack is almost exactly the same, it try's it's hand at being witty (which only succeeds in one instance) and in one scene shows the teens watching Scream 2. Obviously Scream's influence was felt in every 90's horror movie after it's release, but here it is extremely obvious and a little repetetive.

Watch the first two Halloween's, watch H20 and then be done with the series. That way you'll have one brilliant film, one poor film and one okay film. That's what H20 is, great in places, but overall just okay.