HALLOWEEN: H20
RATING: 7.5 / 10 -->Re-watchable
Review
Date: August 5,
1998
Director:
Steve Miner
Writers:
Robert Zappia and Matt Greenberg (based on Kevin Williamson's
treatment)
Producers:
John Carpenter and Paul Freeman and Debra Hill
Actors:
Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode/Keri Tate
Josh Hartnett as John Tate
Genre:
Horror
Year of Release: 1998
Michael Myers (AKA The Shape) return as the little brother who
never dies, in this seventh installment (called H20 because it
takes place 20 years after the original story/movie took place)
of the coveted HALLOWEEN series. The original was directed by
horror-meister John Carpenter.
PLOT:
Laurie Strode (Curtis) has moved on with her life. She is now the
headmistress of a private school, of which her son is a proud
17-year old member. She's changed her name and assumed a new
identity, because she still fears that her crazy little brother,
who murdered her friends and sister twenty years ago, will return
and try to kill her again. Halloween night approaches. Michael
Myers returns. Let the killing begin.
CRITIQUE:
The horror genre is back, and so is Mr. Kevin Williamson's
wonderful touch on all things scary. This movie's packed with all
the screams, cheers, laughs and gross-outs that you could swing a
spooky stick at. It's everything you ever looked for in a scary
popcorn movie. Period. And on those fronts, this movie delivers
just like SCREAM (8/10), SCREAM 2 (7/10) and I
KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (7.5/10) did over the past couple of years. All
films signed by Kevin Williamson. Advised be those who did not
care for any of the previously mentioned films, to avoid this
teenage-bludgeoning, blood-letting, LL Cool J-costarring funfest.
In case anyone is worried about not having seen any of the
previous Halloweens-don't worry, the whole back-story is
explained pretty quickly, and frankly, the story is that this man
with the eerie mask is f-cked up real bad, and wants to kill
people, most prominently his sister. The film does start off a
little slow, and did offer up one too many "fake
scares" in my humble opinion, but once the action gets
going, it really takes off! Another cool thing about this movie
is that it's barely an hour and a half long. It doesn't get
bogged down in explanation after explanation, but does
demonstrate various ways in which a psychopath could stab people.
Speaking of which, there are at least two PSYCHO (7/10)
references in this movie, one alone, coming from Ms. Psycho
herself, Janet Leigh, who has a throwaway part in this film as
the school's secretary.
People screamed, people laughed, people screeched (Mrs. JoBlo got
the guts scared out of her), people farted...let's just say that
people had a blast! (Mind you, I saw this film on the first
showing of the first night that it came out. Real horror fans
only, please.) Oh yeah, and did I mention that John Carpenter's
"theme to Halloween" remains one of the eeriest scores
to run a movie over? Good stuff. All in all, if you're a horror
fan, and like all of the other Kevin Williamson-based films,
there's no good reason why you shouldn't truly enjoy this one
(Besides the fact, that it's not jam-packed with hip, young,
successful Hollywood stars and starlets.) And if you don't dig
horror, well, I guess there's always THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY (7/10)!
Note: Double up on the salsa for this one. Trust me, the nachos
will thank you later.
Little Known Facts:
Jamie
Lee Curtis was paid a
hefty sum of $8000 for her role in the original HALLOWEEN, and
$100,000 for the follow-up.
At one point during this movie, you could clearly see SCREAM 2
playing on a television set. At one point during the original
SCREAM film, you could see the original HALLOWEEN playing on the
television set.
Janet
Leigh is Jamie Lee
Curtis' mother in real-life. Actor Tony Curtis is her real-life father. Janet Leigh was
the lady who "got it" in the infamous shower scene from
Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO.
Other titles for this movie were "Halloween 7",
"Halloween 7: The Revenge of Laurie Strode",
"Halloween: H20 (20 Years Later)" and "Halloween:
The Revenge of Laurie Strode."
TV's "Dawson's Creek" connections: Actress Michelle Williams stars in the show. Director Steve Miner has directed episodes of the show.
And wunderkid Kevin Williamson created and produces the show.
Jamie Lee Curtis met her husband Christopher Guest after she saw a picture of him in
the Rolling Stone magazine, and cleverly made sure that his agent
got her number.
(c) 1998 Berge Garabedian
Movie Reviews by Berge Garabedian