Released to
coincide with the 20th anniversary of the original film, this entry into the series largely ignores the later
sequels, with a plot that picks up 20 years after the events of Halloween 1 & 2.
Jamie Lee Curtis returns as Laurie Strode, who has since changed her name to Keri Tate, having apparently faked her death, and is now the senior headmistress at a private school in California. Still plagued with nightmares about Michael Myers coming after her, she is secretly a nervous wreck, on permanent medication and constantly binging on alcohol.
However, the late Dr Loomis, who died a couple of years ago, had some fairly comprehensive files on her and Michael Myers and these are now in the possession of his nurse Marion Whittington (The nurse in Dr Loomis's car in the original Halloween, played once again by Nancy Stephens). Following a break in at her house, a few throat slashings and a rummage through the late Dr Loomis's files, Laurie's secret is out and Myers prepares to finally finish what he started all those years ago.
As the evening of October 31st draws in, the rest of the school departs on a camping trip, leaving just Laurie, her son John (Josh Harnet) and a few of his teenage friends at the school alone. Meanwhile, Michael gets inside the school complex and Laurie is forced to face the masked killer and confront her greatest fears one last time, in a final duel to the death.
Directed by Steve Miner, Halloween H20 contains all the frightening fun that made the original film such a landmark classic. There are obvious efforts that have been made to update the franchise and bring the series in line with the current trend of "scream-esq" style horror films, and in my opinion it's all the richer for it. It was just a pity that Donald Pleasance (who died in 1996) couldn't return to reprise his role one last time.
