Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)

Director:

Steve Miner

Writers (WGA):

Debra Hill (characters) and
John Carpenter (characters) ...

Release Date:

5 August 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

This summer, terror won't be taking a vacation.

Plot:

Laurie Strode, now the dean of a Northern California private school with an assumed name, must battle the Shape one last time and now the life of her own son hangs in the balance.

Plot Keywords:

Halloween | School | Michael Myers | Death | Nightmare

Awards:

9 nominations

Cast

Jamie Lee Curtis	...	Laurie Strode / Keri Tate
Josh Hartnett	...	John Tate
Adam Arkin	...	Will Brennan
Michelle Williams	...	Molly Cartwell
LL Cool J	...	Ronald 'Ronny' Jones
Jodi Lyn O'Keefe	...	Sarah Wainthrope
Adam Hann-Byrd	...	Charles 'Charlie' Deveraux
Janet Leigh	...	Norma Watson
Joseph Gordon-Levitt	...	Jimmy Howell
Nancy Stephens	...	Marion Chambers Whittington
Branden Williams	...	Tony Allegre
Beau Billingslea	...	Detective 'Fitz' Fitzsimmons
Matt Winston	...	Detective Matt Sampson
Larisa Miller	...	Claudia
Emmalee Thompson	...	Casey

Also Known As:

Halloween 7 (USA) (working title)
Halloween 7: The Revenge of Laurie Strode (USA) (working title)
Halloween: H20 (USA) (promotional title)
Halloween: H20 (20 Years Later) (USA) (promotional title)
Halloween: The Revenge of Laurie Strode (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for terror violence/gore and language.

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Alberta) | Canada:18A (British Columbia) | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:R (Manitoba) | Iceland:16 | USA:R (certificate #36140) | Brazil:18 | Spain:18 | Singapore:NC-16 (re-rating) | Singapore:PG (cut) | Italy:VM14 | Philippines:R-18 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/18 | South Korea:18 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:18

Filming Locations:

Canfield-Moreno Estate - 1923 Micheltorena Street, Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Dimension Films

Trivia:

Director Steve Miner also directed two films in another popular horror series: Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) and Friday the 13th Part III (1982).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Michael hangs from the pipe at the school, Laurie's wound is visible before he stabs her.

Quotes:

Norma Watson: Oh. Miss Tate. I didn't mean to make you jump. It's Halloween. I guess everyone's entitled to one good scare.
Laurie Strode: I've had my share.

Movie Connections:

References Carrie (1976)

Soundtrack:

HAPPY

This should have been the last true sequel to "Halloween".

When a nurse (Nancy Stephens) comes home from work but she thinks, her house is been rubbed. After finding broken glass on the front door, when she's too frighten to check inside. She asks one of her neighbors to check it out, but they don't find nothing inside. Expect her office is been trashed. When the nurse goes back to her home, she finds out the file of Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) has disappear. She slowly realized that her estranged murdering brother Michael Myers (Chris Durand) has find out, where she lives. But the nurse finds herself killed by Michael and the neighbors as well. Now Laurie is living the life as a head mistress at a private boarding school in California. But Laurie is living in the name of Keri Tate to protect her real identity. Laurie is a alcoholic, she also has an 17-year old son John (Josh Hartnett), she has an boyfriend Will (Adam Arkin) who's also working in the school but she still fears that Michael will find her one day. Since Michael's dead body disappear 20 years ago from the hospital. Now Laurie feels that the day is coming that Michael will strike again anything soon.

Directed by Steve Miner (Day of the Dead "2008", House, Lake Placid) made an enjoyable if flawed sequel to the classic "Halloween". Which "Halloween:H20" is certainly better than most of the "Halloween" sequels (Although i did enjoyed "Halloween 4:The Return of Michael Myers"). Director Miner certainly knows the rules of a slasher/horror movies. Since he directed the better "Friday the 13th" sequels (Part 2 & Part 3) and he also worked with Curtis before in "Forever Young". Curtis gives one of her best performances in her career returning to the role that made her famous (especially her old days as the "Scream Queen", she was certainly one of the originals). She originally wanted John Carpenter to directed this but he wisely walked away and let some other director handle the material. Since he was never comfortable with the sequels.

DVD has an sharp non-anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) transfer and an good Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. The Canadian DVD says it's enchanted for 16x9 televisions but it is not true, since it is the same transfer from the 1998 DVD. But it is at least, one of the better non-anamorphic transfer from that time. DVD also included an featurette, music video and an amusing trivia game (Which it should been more complicated). I would have loved to hear an running commentary track by director Miner and actress:Curtis but sadly, we didn't. There's no deleted scenes as well, since some television versions added some additional footage. The cast are good here including Michelle Williams as John's girlfriend, LL Cool J, Jodi Lyn D'Keefe and Adam Hann Byrd. There's also cameos by Janet Leigh in a good scene with Curtis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the opening sequence.

"Halloween:H20" was a surprise box office hit. Many critics enjoyed Curtis' performance, which it is one of the reasons why "Halloween:H20" is worth watching. But the screenplay by Robert Zappia and Matt Greenberg (The Prophecy 2, 1408, Reign of Fire) has some major problems. The seventh film of the series suffers a bit too much from false scares and humour (Certainly from the LL Cool J character, i liked this actor/rapper but his role as the security guard/wannabe cheesy romantic writer seems out of place with the film). Also one of the problems, i felt it was too short. The screenplay should have been more complex. But it has enough thrills, suspense and excitement to make it better than it is. Overall "Halloween:H20" is truly a good sequel that should have ended there. Although i enjoyed "Halloween:Resurrection" on a guilty pleasure level. I felt the final scene between Laurie and Michael to be oddly intriguing, especially it nearly humanized Michael. This is certainly one of the most underrated sequels of all time, this is worth re-discovering since it's been 10 years from its release. Kevin Williamson, the then hot-screenwriter of "Scream" and "I'll Know What You Did Last Summer" did some re-writes in the screenplay. Which he's only credited as one of the co-executive producers. Super 35. (****/*****).