Halloween Retrospective: Halloween H20: 20 Years Later

Halloween Retrospective | #7 | Halloween H20: 20 Years Later

After Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers concluded the “Thorn Trilogy” story arc, Halloween 7 was quickly put into pre-production by series executive Moustapha Akkad. The concept went through numerous iterations before finally entering production in the form of a reunion with original star Jamie Lee Curtis in a story that ultimately disregards the continuity of Halloween 4-6 and acts as a direct sequel to the first two films, taking place, as the title would suggest, 20 years later. John Carpenter was originally supposed to direct, but eventually stepped down due to production issues and was replaced by Friday the 13th alumni Steve Miner.

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later is among the best sequels to the original Halloween. Especially after the utter slogs that were Halloween 5 and 6, it feels fresh and energetic in a way that the series hadn’t felt in years. Its release in 1998 was during a very, very different era than the one the franchise was started in, and because of that, the over the top stylistic flourishes, such as Steve Miner’s fast and energetic direction and the rapid and aggressive nature of Michael’s kills feel less like a betrayal of the original’s style and more like an update for the contemporary horror stylings of the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. The story of the film is perhaps the most straightforward since the 1978 original; Laurie Strode, now middle-aged and running a prestigious boarding school while battling inner demons, seeks to bring balance to her life while Michael Myers stalks the shadows, emerging for the first time in 20 years to hunt her once again. No magic, no curses, no convoluted family mythology, just a simple but effective slasher story about a former final girl facing down the trauma that the original film dealt to her.

Jamie Lee Curtis’s mature and charismatic performance as an older Laurie Strode whose success in life is undercut by her crippling paranoia and PTSD is a series highlight in terms of acting. It’s the heart and soul of this film, and gives it a genuine sense of weight that the series hasn’t truly had since… well, the original. I don’t want to spoil too much, but her arc goes to some satisfying places, and the way she eventually turns the table on Michael Myers in the end is satisfying entirely because of the pent up fury Curtis is able to unleash.

And honestly, this film is just fun. It takes a while for the kills to start up, but honestly, that was the case in the original too, and though the build up is composed of over half the run time, I actually had a moment where I paused to use the bathroom figuring 25-30 minutes had past and discvoered it had actually been 50. When the tension reaches a boiling point, the setpieces are explosive and energetic in their violence; not brutal necessarily but hard-hitting due to the creative and frenetic camerawork and fast-paced editing. The characters are mostly likeable even when they’re underdeveloped, and the secondary emotional through-line of Strode’s relationship with her 17 year old son is also genuinely engaging.

It’s worth noting that Halloween H20 is very much a product of its time. The late 90’s and early 2000’s are a period of horror that most fans of the genre don’t look too fondly on, and it’s really not hard to see why. Everything about it was incredibly obnoxious and overly-stylistic in a way that was destined to be incredibly dated even within a couple of years. Picture the thrill ride-esque Dimension Films logo and bad nu-metal or alt rock blaring in the first scene. H20 was released on the early wave of that, and while it’s far, far from the worst, I think the presence of these trappings alone will turn some people off. It has plenty of annoying fake jump scares, jokes that try too hard to be funny and cool, and an over-reliance on stylized editing. It even ends with a Creed song in the credits. This isn’t really something that bothers me, though; that style is dated as hell, but it’s something I grew up with, and it’s something that’s pleasantly familiar to me as a reminder of much simpler times gone by, and overall it’s still done pretty sparingly compared to later slashers of the era.

It’s reported that Jamie Lee Curtis wanted this to be the last Halloween film, and this movie was crafted in a way that brings closure to the story without leaving any open ends. It’s a genuinely satisfying ending to the Laurie Strode and Michael Myers story, and had the series ended here, it would have probably been for the best. Capitalism is what it is, though, and even at the time the seeds were sown for an eventual sequel. Still, it’s a breath of fresh air that this film exists at all; it reminds us that even 7 films and multiple retcons in, a franchise can still deliver a fresh and engaging perspective and have an interesting and satisfying conclusion.

I’m not saying that Halloween H20 is my favorite of the Halloween sequels (though it’s a strong contender), and it’s certainly not as good as the original. It’s possible that my opinion on this is colored by the absolute dreck that I sat through before this one. But I genuinely had a great time with Halloween H20, and it reinvigorated both my interest in this project and my enjoyment of Michael Myers and Halloween as a whole.