Halloween H20: 20 Years Later

Unquestionably the best of the Halloween followups, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later follows Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode – now living under an alias with her 17-year-old son, John (Josh Hartnett) – as she once again finds herself face-to-face with her demented brother (Chris Durand’s Michael Myers). Like its immediate predecessor, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later opens with a fantastic stand-alone sequence that instantly establishes an atmosphere of unexpected tension and dread – with the engrossing vibe subsequently perpetuated by the inclusion of several impressively conceived and executed suspense-oriented moments (ie a young mother and her daughter encounter Myers at an isolated rest stop). There’s little doubt, however, that the film does suffer from a second act that occasionally feels just a little too uneventful for its own good, with the continuing emphasis on John and his friends’ exploits, undoubtedly triggered by the success of Scream a few years earlier, exacerbating the less-than-engrossing nature of the movie’s midsection. Such complaints become moot once Michael Myers arrives on the scene, however, as filmmaker Steve Miner does as strong a job with Myers’ pursuit of Laurie as one might’ve hoped – with the pair’s initial encounter especially well done and triggering a briskly-paced final half hour that’s almost as strong as anything within John Carpenter’s 1978 original. The note-perfect conclusion cements Halloween H20: 20 Years Later‘s place as a superior sequel, and it’s certainly not difficult to see why the movie has become a fan favorite over the years.

*** out of ****