Halloween H20


Halloween H20.  Halloween: 20 years later.  Not Halloween water.  Do not call it Halloween water.  Please don’t.  That’s downright annoying and, in my honest opinion, dumb.  I’m getting that out of the way so that I can move right on into this, my second favourite film in the original Halloween series, and perhaps the entire franchise.

Halloween H20 takes place twenty years after the first film.  Laurie Strode has faked her death and taken on the name Karen Tate, I believe.  She is headmistress of a private school in California.  Her seventeen year old son is one of the students.  When the majority of the students go to Yosemite on a trip, Michael shows up to hunt down his family once again, as well as anyone who stands in the way.

The thing most surprising about this instalment of the Halloween franchise is the people involved.  Of course you have Jamie Lee Curtis reprising her role of Laurie Strode.  Joining her are Josh Hartnett as her son, Michelle Williams as his girlfriend, Janet Leigh as the school secretary, and LL Cool J as the gate keeper.  Also in a small role, Joseph Gordon-Levitt shows up in the opening scene.  Seems to me like this is a good cast for a slasher flick.

After watching Halloween 4-6, this instalment is definitely a step up.  The acting is better, the writing is better, and I dare say the direction is much better.  Quality wise, the seventh Halloween is leagues above Halloween 4, Halloween 5, and Halloween 6.  If I had to choose a Halloween film to take to a desert island and it wasn’t going to be the first, it would easily be this one.  This whole paragraph is me basically getting nasty with how much I like this movie.

The biggest issue I have with this movie, and it doesn’t bother me that much, is what happens with LL Cool J’s character.  Without spoiling anything I’m going to simply put it like this.  With how much he can take without consequences, he should have been put one on one against Michael Myers.

Big change in topic again.  Jamie Lee Curtis is kind of a badass in this movie.  I would put her on par with Sigourney Weaver in Aliens.  She protects her son, faces off against Michael Myers by herself, runs a school, and the final five minutes are crazy badass.  I can’t get in depth because I don’t like spoiling the ending of movies.  I love it.  Love it.  Love it.

I know that at some point Kevin Williamson was involved.  Does anyone out there know how much of what he wrote actually made it into the movie?  I’m kind of curious because a few of the scenes had dialogue that sounded very similar to Scream, without all of the meta aspects that come with that movie.  I’m really curious to know.

And on a completely different note...to all of you Canadians out there, I bid thee a merry Thanksgiving and hope you fill your stomachs to your stomach’s desires.  To all of you Americans out there, have a great Colombus Day night even though you only have the holiday because “Well, Canadians get the day off, so why not us too?”

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