I've actually lost count of the sequels to John Carpenter's seminal 1979 indie-slasher flick Halloween. There was at least one with Jamie Lee, the freaky one with the Halloween masks, probably there was one in 3-D, and there may have even been one which involved a Jamaican vacation and Mario Van Peeples. Or else that was a Jaws sequel. It's tough to keep it straight.
Whatever, none of them really amounted to anything. The terrifying premise and execution of the original were lost and the Halloween franchise was basically dead by 1995. Enter Kevin Williamson and Jamie Lee Curtis. Williamson was, of course, famous for briefly rejuvenating the genre with the Scream series, while Curtis was, of course, famous for sadly rejuvenating her career with the My Girl series. So when Jamie Lee and Kevin said they were interesting in reviving the franchise, Dimension films gave the thumbs up and the filmmakers set to work actually believing that they were making something better than the five or six sequels which preceded it.
Williamson apparently turned in a 10 page plot outline and fled (Robert Zappia is credited with the script) and perhaps Curtis should have done the same. Halloween:H20 (an inane title having nothing to do with water) features higher production values, a higher profile cast, and more Jamie Lee than any film in the series since its second installment. But that sure doesn't make it any good.
In terms of tone, H20 definitely harkens back to the original. Things happen slowly and the setting is nearly as prominent as the actors. The film opens in Illinois, like the first one, but after a sitcom semi-star is killed, the scene shifts to a ritzy private school in California where Laurie Strode seems to be the head mistress. But naturally, she doesn't call herself Laurie Strode anymore and since this ritzy private school apparently has little use for background checks, her past as serial killer's victim/sister and her present as near-psychotic alcoholic have both been ignored. She has a son who wants to go to Yosemite, a boyfriend whose actual occupation is vague, and a security guard who looks a lot like LL Cool J.. Life in her poorly developed world isn't so good and if Jerry Springer ever had a show called "My younger brother killed my older sister and then broke out of the lunatic asylum wearing a painted William Shatner mask, tried to kill me and may still be at large," she would be right in the middle of things bawling her eyes out. When she isn't drinking or running a school, Laurie also teaches English, obsessing over monsters and final confrontations in Frankenstein. After listening to her whine for a bit, it's almost a relief when the school empties out and Michael Myers enters for half an hour of blood enhanced revelry.
Director Steve Miner, who must stay up late at night wondering if he'd rather be remembered as the director of the "Frozen Mel Gibson Movie-of-the-Week" Forever Young or of several episodes of Dawson's Creek, seems to have decided that Carpenter's original used Michael Myers too sparingly. And so, subtly out the window, Miner also manages so make Michael Myers seem fairly benign. What Miner doesn't realize is that Myers's blank mask isn't really scary if we keep seeing it, that having him lurk around every corner is always scarier than putting the guy in the middle of every frame. H20 isn't scary. It isn't suspenseful and despite the presence of a whole school of randy teens, it isn't even sexy. Miner paces the film well in the sense that even though it's dull, it moves every quickly.
Despite having to listen to Laurie's psychiatric problems for the first and second acts, the film is neither provocative nor original. The mutterings about final confrontations are superficially interesting, but if the payoff is so weak, why bother. The cast is attractive, but from Creek's Michelle Williams to Josh Harnett to that twerp from Little Man Tate, the kids are all wasted. They don't have parts and they don't have sex, so why even bother? It's fun watching Curtis kick ass for a while, but after watching her twitch from the first three quarters of the film, even that isn't sufficient payoff. Why bother?
H20 uses John Carpenter's original score for mood, and John Ottoman (the editor/composer of The Usual Suspects) adapts the theme into the overall score to great effect. But while H20 uses the same music, the same mood, and the same stars, it isn't smart enough, terrifying enough, or cool enough to live up to the original.
Whatever, none of them really amounted to anything. The terrifying premise and execution of the original were lost and the Halloween franchise was basically dead by 1995. Enter Kevin Williamson and Jamie Lee Curtis. Williamson was, of course, famous for briefly rejuvenating the genre with the Scream series, while Curtis was, of course, famous for sadly rejuvenating her career with the My Girl series. So when Jamie Lee and Kevin said they were interesting in reviving the franchise, Dimension films gave the thumbs up and the filmmakers set to work actually believing that they were making something better than the five or six sequels which preceded it.
Williamson apparently turned in a 10 page plot outline and fled (Robert Zappia is credited with the script) and perhaps Curtis should have done the same. Halloween:H20 (an inane title having nothing to do with water) features higher production values, a higher profile cast, and more Jamie Lee than any film in the series since its second installment. But that sure doesn't make it any good.
In terms of tone, H20 definitely harkens back to the original. Things happen slowly and the setting is nearly as prominent as the actors. The film opens in Illinois, like the first one, but after a sitcom semi-star is killed, the scene shifts to a ritzy private school in California where Laurie Strode seems to be the head mistress. But naturally, she doesn't call herself Laurie Strode anymore and since this ritzy private school apparently has little use for background checks, her past as serial killer's victim/sister and her present as near-psychotic alcoholic have both been ignored. She has a son who wants to go to Yosemite, a boyfriend whose actual occupation is vague, and a security guard who looks a lot like LL Cool J.. Life in her poorly developed world isn't so good and if Jerry Springer ever had a show called "My younger brother killed my older sister and then broke out of the lunatic asylum wearing a painted William Shatner mask, tried to kill me and may still be at large," she would be right in the middle of things bawling her eyes out. When she isn't drinking or running a school, Laurie also teaches English, obsessing over monsters and final confrontations in Frankenstein. After listening to her whine for a bit, it's almost a relief when the school empties out and Michael Myers enters for half an hour of blood enhanced revelry.
Director Steve Miner, who must stay up late at night wondering if he'd rather be remembered as the director of the "Frozen Mel Gibson Movie-of-the-Week" Forever Young or of several episodes of Dawson's Creek, seems to have decided that Carpenter's original used Michael Myers too sparingly. And so, subtly out the window, Miner also manages so make Michael Myers seem fairly benign. What Miner doesn't realize is that Myers's blank mask isn't really scary if we keep seeing it, that having him lurk around every corner is always scarier than putting the guy in the middle of every frame. H20 isn't scary. It isn't suspenseful and despite the presence of a whole school of randy teens, it isn't even sexy. Miner paces the film well in the sense that even though it's dull, it moves every quickly.
Despite having to listen to Laurie's psychiatric problems for the first and second acts, the film is neither provocative nor original. The mutterings about final confrontations are superficially interesting, but if the payoff is so weak, why bother. The cast is attractive, but from Creek's Michelle Williams to Josh Harnett to that twerp from Little Man Tate, the kids are all wasted. They don't have parts and they don't have sex, so why even bother? It's fun watching Curtis kick ass for a while, but after watching her twitch from the first three quarters of the film, even that isn't sufficient payoff. Why bother?
H20 uses John Carpenter's original score for mood, and John Ottoman (the editor/composer of The Usual Suspects) adapts the theme into the overall score to great effect. But while H20 uses the same music, the same mood, and the same stars, it isn't smart enough, terrifying enough, or cool enough to live up to the original.