Check out my updated review here! https://thevagrantrises.blogspot.com/2018/10/updated-review-23-halloween-h20-20.html
Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: Laurie has tried to make a new life for herself, but she finds herself being hunted by Michael Myers once again.
Review: First let me say I have no idea why this terrible installment gets so much praise. Sure, it's better than part six and most of the crap that will follow after this entry, but it was nowhere near on the level of part four or even as good as five in my opinion. The movie starts to go wrong almost immediately as it ignores the events of part 4-6. While I don't blame them for ditching that ridiculous plotline, at least try to connect the story; this lazy and easy way out annoys me to no end. This film loosely implies the storyline goes part 1, 2, and H20 yet creates its own continuity errors in this ignoring process. Up until this point, Michael's whereabouts were always explained in between Halloweens yet this film never addresses how the fuck a big guy in a mask can run around and live life for 20 damn years! Also, even part four explained Michael was severly burned after part two yet couldn't explain the bullets to the eye...well this film doesn't address either of these issues! Hell, it's been 20 years so that should be enough time to make your horrible burn scars disappear and your eyes to grow back, right? And even if the sequels had Michael's motives ambiguously stupid, they at least tried to give some method to the madness. H20 believes Michael would take a 20 year vacation and then out of nowhere obsessively stalk and try and kill Laurie again. I never knew he was so sentimental...hmm it's always the quiet ones. Jamie Lee Curtis returns as Laurie and she now has a loser son, John, played annoyingly by Josh Hartnett. Laurie has changed her identity and life to get away from Michael, but is spazzing out now. How convenient that she is losing her mind the same Halloween Michael decides to show up and say hello. I think one of the main reasons I hate this film is because it's told almost completely through the perspective of Laurie, John, or some pointless background character rather than through Michael as with the other films. There's no Michael in the shadows or mystery to him at all anymore. It doesn't even feel like Michael Myers which may be explained by the fact that this film was made during the "Scream" era of teen slashers being revitalized. It is odd to note that this film actually had the lowest body count of any of the movies and was really short. I did kind of appreciate the short running time because this movie is weak, but it only emphasizes how little content is in this film. Not having Loomis severely hurt the overall appeal for me as he always helped balance out things with the hero and Michael. To this film's credit though, the ending would have made for a satisfying conclusion to the franchise, despite the moronic build up, but even the final showdown with Michael felt weird to me. The original heart of this franchise was never meant to be about Laurie vs Michael, but was meant to be about the creepy aspect of a masked killer lurking in the shadows who has no motive or reason except to kill; that is what freaked out audiences in '78 not a cheesy wannabe "Scream." In the end, this isn't a bad film, but not a good "Halloween" continuation. There are some cool moments and a few things work well like the "Psycho" nods. But other than that, this is just a mediocre "Scream" ripoff that was common during the late 90s.
Notable Moment: The opening credit sequence. This scene is done so excellently that I had such high hopes for this film that I was angrily disappointed.
Final Rating: 5.5/10
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