Halloween: H20 (Twenty Years Later)Halloween was a classic horror film. It was the film that started off the teen-slasher subgenre, but suddenly that genre fell apart due to clones and dull sequels. Okay, I have only seen three films in the Halloween series. The first one, of course. Halloween III which dumped Michael Myers altogether to go for the killer masks. And this one. If you are lucky enough to have missed parts 3 through 6, you are really going to enjoy this film.
This film picks up twenty years after the first one left off. However, wisely, screenwriters Robert Zappia and Matt Greenberg (Kevin Williamson, from Scream fame, is uncredited) forgo all knowledge of the films three to six. While this brings up questions of where he has been all these years, it does bring some more suspense in knowing that Michael Myers has not been butchered and nearly killed all those times. Michael Myers has lost his impact that he had when he first appeared on screen in 1978. He was a figure (in the credits, called The Shape) that drew scares just from his appearing in the foreground. Here, he has the same effect.
HALLOWEEN: H20 begins with a nurse arriving home to find her home broken into. Oh, and imagine that: it's the same house that Mike Myers was raised in. So, predictability aside, the film maintains an eerie atmosphere that harkens back to Carpenter's direction of the original. As the nurse walks into the house, she hears noises, and intelligently runs over to the neighbors. Two young teenagers call the cops and then decide to go investigate. By the end of the scene, three people are dead. Next, jump to Keri Tate (Jamie Lee Curtis) who is teaching at a private school somewhere in California. Her 17 year old son is beginning his rebellious phase, and he wants to go to a camp that all his friends are going to. However, he finds out that three of his best friends (including his girlfriend Molly) are staying behind. It would seem that staying behind is the best choice, but that's when things begin to turn deadly.
Keri Tate is busy worrying about nightmares involving Michael Myers, and also realizing that the 20th anniversary of their first fatal encounter is approaching. Could there be a psychic connection between the two, considering they are both related? Possibly, but let's not delve too deeply into this film. Keri spends most of the first half worrying about her child and flirting with Will Brennan (Adam Arkin), a fellow educator. In the second half, it's mostly a cat-and-mouse chase sequence that involves one character looking for another. In one of the more inspired moments of the film, Keri (now revealing to her colleagues that her real name is Laurie Strode) takes on the persona of a character in a book: the character has nothing to live for, so (s)he faces his opposer and fights back. During a discussion of the book, you can almost smell the foreshadowing appear before you.
Certainly, this film isn't nearly as scary or original as Scream was, but it's part of a major franchise. Originality is not a strong point. The screenplay is intelligent enough, but it also contains a slew of horror film cliches. Sometimes, the lights won't work, or doors won't open. Sometimes, those same lights will work. Horror films are not known for their logic, and this one doesn't pretend to carry some hidden agenda about trying to be as logical as possible. The first film was moderately logical which made it great. Here, it's merely just another horror film with one small twist: witty references back to prequels and other horror films. One of the most obvious moments comes when two teenagers are watching a video of Scream 2 (I bet that was Williamson's doing). Of course, they don't always hit their mark. This film had one of the greatest opportunities to spoof the Psycho shower scene. All the elements were in place: Janet Leigh was there, a crazed psycho with a knife was there, and talk of showers were abound. But unfortunately, no shower scene. I was amazingly disappointed. The setup is so obvious but nothing ever comes from it.
The director Steve Miner hasn't had a very successful career. He's mostly known for his direction of TV shows such as Dawson's Creek. But if you look back, he started off with Friday the 13th, Part 2 (arguably the best of that series). And then he hit big with House, a creepy but very funny black comedy/horror film. He's had an on-and-off career with Forever Young and then crap like Big Bully. This is the genre with which Miner shines. His style is very similar to Carpenter's, but he isn't stealing. It's more of familiarity and acknowledgment to a great film and it's director. Similar sequences occur in this film, such as Laurie opening a door and finding a closet. Michael Myers walks by and proceeds to break in the same way he did twenty years earlier. There is also are similar shots including wind blowing white curtains in. This will please most fans of the first film because we all know he's just playing with a genre that died a long time ago. Miner also finds the right pace and mood which creates an incredible amount of suspense and genuine scares. Most of the time it is a false alarm, but when it's not, expect some blood to flow.
The casting was critical and it turned out effective. Jamie Lee Curtis is one of Hollywood's smartest actresses, and seeing her here makes you appreciative of what made her the "Queen of Scream." Of course, she isn't that helpless young girl back in 1978. She's a fully-developed and attractive woman... this time with a splash of 90s feminist action. Michelle Williams (who I mostly remember as the young "Sil" in the first Species) is bright, young, and helpless. In other words, a perfect slasher-victim contender. Josh Hartnett gives a rather annoying performance as Curtis' son, but he begins to grow on you after a while. Adam Arkin is mildly successful at the love interest who discovers the deadly secret behind Curtis' past. Adam Hann-Byrd was last scene in 1997's The Ice Storm. Here, he gives a forgettable performance that won't gain him fame or interest from Hollywood. Jodi Lyn O'Keefe is better but again she doesn't have much to do (perhaps that tell you readers something about their fates?). Surprisingly, LL Cool J turns in a very effective performance that makes the film more entertaining than it probably should have been. His talks with his girlfriend are hilariously true. Janet Leigh shows up briefly for a couple appearances. In one, she humorously mentions that she doesn't want to give Curtis any maternal advice (little do many people know... Janet Leigh is Jamie Lee Curtis' mother). And, of course, Chris Durand, who turns in the most frightening performance of Michael Myers since Nick Castle of the original. Durand has most of the techniques down perfectly. I almost thought the same guy played both of them. I would like to know what type of vitamins this Myers guy takes, because it works miracles. After an incredibly tough beating involving axes, knives, and car crashes, he still manages to live. It actually gets a little comedic after a while. Thankfully, just when you begin to get annoyed by his seemingly immortal presence, the film ends. While the cast isn't as good as Scream's top-notch cast, they certainly do the job well.
Of course, how can you not mention John Carpenter's eerie music which he composed himself for the first film? The film's title sequence literally gave me chills as the "Halloween" title card appeared, accompanied by Carpenter's music blasting through the speakers. Throughout the film, the theme is played ominously in the background, or directly up front which makes you feel that the music represents Myers and how close he is to the victims. The original score is written by John Ottman but it's not nearly as good. For one, Ottman uses a full orchestra, while Carpenter used pianos and synthesizers. The production design is elaborate, but a little confusing (it was hard to tell where Myers was in the house). Many set pieces seem to be put there just to create atmosphere. But overall, it meshes well together.
HALLOWEEN: H20 is rated R for violence, language, and some horror movie gore. The film strays away from showing every single gory detail that most slasher films rely on, but tends to be more about ominous figures lurking in the background. One of the scariest images has Mike Myers standing in the background of a shot, with the frightened woman looking around. Myers hasn't been a very scary character since his debut, but here he evokes the same sort of chills and scares that he did in 1978. It's quite refreshing. One of my biggest complaints is actually the length. Clocking in at under 90 minutes, it is way too short. So much more could have been done, and it wasn't. Usually, horror films show too much. This one shows too little.