FearTASTIC Vault O’FUN #54
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)
Director(s): Steve Miner
Writer(s): Robert Zappia and Matt Greenberg
Starring: Jaime Lee Curtis, Josh Hartnett, Michelle Williams, LL Cool J
Yes, Halloween is a groundbreaking, revolutionary force of horror nature that set the bar and tone for all slasher movies for the next 2,000 years.
Okay, we got that out of the way in case some of you creep-tastic freaks begin to question why review a movie that’s seventh in the series of a legendary horror flick. One of the goals of this FearTASTIC vault is to gush about flicks that aren’t in the normal pantheon of movie goers and I’m pretty certain most people have heard of Halloween and for GOOD reason. Like all horror series, Halloween was victim to some pretty CRAP sequels to the point where some of the direct to video stuff was far superior to some of the sequels that made its way to the movie theater (which includes the 6th flick which focused on the origin of our slasher, Michael Myers…YUCK).
As a quick reminder for those who are uninitiated, Halloween defined most of the slasher genre that can still be felt today. The story of a disturbed child, Michael Myers, who kills his own sister and sent to a mental asylum, only to escape years later to attempt to murder his other sister who is now named Laurie Strode. Michael Myers became the creepy, stabby, ghost faced (or Shatner faced if you cats know what I mean) icon in the horror world. Fast forward to a sequel, a third flick that had NOTHING to do with Michael Myers, two direct to video sequels (that weren’t all that bad to be quite honest), a TURD of an origin story sequel and finally a proper homecoming for the star of the original movie.
Even folks that don’t like horror flicks can appreciate what this movie did for the horror genre so the next question should be; why gush over a flick that’s so far into the series? Well, that’s actually a good question.
This movie will soon cease to exist in the timeline.
Yes, it’s true folks. A couple months ago while I was perusing the movie news sites, I was ecstatic to find out that another sequel to the Halloween series was on its way. I was shocked however to find out that this new flick would be taking place after the second movie which means everything else after the second flick will cease to exist in the timeline; ESPECIALLY if this new sequel ends up being halfway decent! So here I am just trying to spread the word to try to catch this flick before it ends up as “fan fiction.”
So I’ll level with you folks; this movie especially ROCKS if you appreciated the first two flicks which is centered around Michael Myer’s sister, Laurie Strode (played by the equally iconic Jaime Lee Curtis). As the title suggests, twenty years have passed since Myers terrorized his sister Laurie who is now a headmistress at a private prep school under the name Keri Tate. She has a teenage son now played by Josh Hartnett and naturally, she is over protective and paranoid due to the trauma Myers left on her psyche from past events.
What’s great about this flick is the focus on the legendary battle between Laurie Strode and Michael Myers. Jaime Lee Curtis does a fantastic job portraying someone that has been a victim in the past and seeing her old Boogeyman from the past that has done so much damage in her life causes her to flick a switch into WARRIROR mode. The best scenes of this flick is watching both Strode and Myers stalk each other to get the kill but this isn’t the Laurie that was in the first two movies, she is seasoned and years of torment have finally come to surface. Laurie knows all of Myers’ tricks at this point so at some moments it truly does feel that the hunter finally becomes the hunted and gets what they deserve. The ending of the flick was also explosive, satisfying and incredibly BAD-ASS to the point where I remember rewinding the last 10 minutes of the movie at least half a dozen times!
Please folks, I’m not sure if the upcoming sequel will be decent but just in case it does well enough to garner even MORE sequels, let’s try to remember that in the storm of the Michael Myers franchise, there was one sequel that paid homage to the characters of the original flicks and even goes as far as developing them for pure entertainment value.
Oh yeah. LL Cool J plays a security guard in the flick. He was pretty rockin’ too. Word to yo’ motha.
Life is FAR more interesting when we take interest in things that scare us.