#H20 twenty years later

[james-stark-the-writer]

just started Halloween H20 - 20 Years Later and this franchise keeps surprising me with the actors that it has, how the fuck did i not know Joseph Gordon-Levitt was in one of these, he looks like a fucking baby, he better survive this movie i swear to god, i'll kill Michael myself if he hurts him.

[immaculateprince]

Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode

John Carpenter's Halloween (1978)

Halloween II (1981)

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)

Halloween: Resurrection (2002)

Halloween (2018)

Halloween Kills (2021)

Halloween Ends (2022)

[reallivewire]

Halloween H20 classroom scene with Molly seeing Michael out the window except Laurie abruptly stops reading out loud to furiously storm over to the window and yell "FUCK OFF MICHAEL I KNOW YOU'RE THERE YOU PIECE OF SHIT I CAN HEAR YOUR GODDAMN LEITMOTIF" and Molly and John and all the other kids all crowd around in speechless shock to see Michael sulking skulking away with his head down seething

[adamwatchesmovies]

Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later (1998)

Whenever you make your way through a franchise, you’ve got to rank them from best to worst. Having reached Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, I’d put it third on the list after the original and the first sequel. That sounds promising. Actually, it’s more of a testimony to the weakness of the follow-ups. This horror film has one of the greatest titles ever because it’s so clunky it perfectly summarizes its ambitions to do more than just produce another generic instalment while also never quite succeeding.

Set after “Halloween II” and ignoring all subsequent chapters, it’s October 29th, 1998. Michael Myers (Chris Durand) has acquired Laurie Strode’s address from Dr. Loomis’ files. Meanwhile, in Summer Glen, California, Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) has faked her death and lives under the name “Keri Tate” while raising her son, John (Josh Hartnett). She has no idea Myers is once again on his sister’s trail with murder on his mind.

In some ways, this is a “good” sequel to Halloween II in that it maintains the continuity established. This Michael Myers was described as “pure evil” by the late Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance having passed away in 1995) but really, he’s a deranged “normal” person who is after the members of his family. Nothing supernatural going on. It’s not the way I like my Halloween but your mileage may vary. Other positive aspects include the portrayal of Laurie Strode and the film’s conclusion. Having been through an extended ordeal with her brother, Laurie isn’t like the characters we usually see in slasher movies. She knows that knocking Myers down isn’t enough so she grabs an axe; she knows the killer is after her and uses it as a way to protect her son from harm. Without giving away the conclusion completely, it doesn’t get much more definitive than this. It would be impossible for there to be another confrontation between Strode and Myers. I have to applaud the filmmakers for not trying to milk the series any further.

I said “good” earlier because this film makes some major mistakes all the way through. Firstly, this Michael Myers isn’t frightening at all. His mask looks cheap and trashy. You’d think the people in charge would’ve taken the time and effort to make it 1) look like the original 2) appropriately weathered considering it’s been 20 years, and 3) intimidating. They didn’t. Throughout, you can clearly see Myers’ eyes all the time. This makes him look human and therefore vulnerable. You don’t believe for a second that a series of gunshots wouldn’t take him down, even though they didn’t 20 years ago.

H20 is at its best when Strode is once again pitted against Myers. Either in person or psychologically when she “sees” him in reflections or in the distance. Everything else is generic and a waste of time. John and his friends are only there to give us a body count and they play no part in the film’s conclusion. We get one decent kill that involves a service elevator. The rest lean towards the unintentionally funny. Some of this humorous tone is deliberate. LL Cool J’s portrayal of a security guard is played for laughs all the way through but this is less of an attempt to bring new life to the franchise and more of it trying to ape the success of Scream, released 2 years earlier. In that film, the protagonists being able to knock the killer over with conventional weapons didn’t take away the tension because their identity was a mystery. Here? It means there isn't a single scary or tense scene.

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later shows just enough potential for you to not want to dismiss it immediately, but this makes it more disappointing. Even if you like the path this instalment chooses, I doubt you’ll be pleased by its lack of scares. (On Blu-ray, October 29, 2021)

[henrywinteris]

tagged by @ronandreams, thank you so much chance! 💚

tagging: @carmybcrzatto, @joequinns, @ohwarnette, @glorfindelfinarfin, @lavellun, @laurensgraham, @andronicus-lives-here, @cllianmurphy, @jckeperalta, @hellshee, @keenma, @aaronstveit, @sunkillerencoder, @bruceewayne, @shipmvn, @saintirulan, @krisstenstewart, @winterhamilton, @rhaenyra-the-gracious, @wioletwitch, @userlorelai, @aemonded, @lostsolace, @bennsolos, @anathenma, @eohwyyn, @munsonseds

[likeafantasy]

31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛᴅᴏᴡɴ ᴛᴏ ʜᴀʟʟᴏᴡᴇᴇɴ — (26/31) › › › Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later (1998)

[broadcsts]

—  🎬  just  announced,  BOBBI TAYLOR has  been  cast  as  emma gilbert  in  the  upcoming  h20: just add water reboot.  the  twenty-three  year  old  is  trending  as  people  are  debating  if  the feeling of warm sand under your feet, the sound of waves brushing against the shoreline, the smell of firewood cracking on a summers night; the stillness of the water on a mild day  that  they  are  known  for  is  enough  to  make  them  as  good  as  original.  a  quick  google  search  shows  that  their  fans  call  them  cheery,  but  internet  trolls  think  they’re  more  boisterous.  i  guess  their  newest  interview  for  variety  where  they  talk  about  the time they once accidentally flashed a police officer  will  let  people  to  know  them  better. 

hi guys!!! 1000000 years late, BUT i'm here ! at least with bobbi! emiri will be coming up next! for her bio, it's pretty basic. i like to leave a lot of wiggle room for plots (even past plots) and headcanons later obviously! so those will be added under! but i hope you enjoy her as i flesh her out!

april 23rd, 2000 -- BOBBI MAE TAYLOR was born to a-list actor Lewis Taylor and d-list actress Emily Nicholson-Taylor. Lewis was born and raised in Australia while Emily had called canada home up until she was 16 and ran away to LA to follow her dreams of being an actress. they had met on the set of some popular 90s rom-com (he was 19 and she was 18) where he was playing the lead and she was just an extra. for him? love at first sight. for her? well, the public had their suspicions. when she had gotten pregnant, just a couple years into the relationship, with bobbi -- emily was called many derogatory names by the press. nonetheless, lewis was 1000% sure this was the start of his family and he went to extreme lengths to protect it.

it only came crashing down when emily was caught in the back of a car (by papz) with a new costar back in 2001. then it all came out. the suspicions people had were validated. she WAS just using lewis for his fame and she was having an affair with another d-list actor the whole time. it was the biggest scandal in hollywood at the time -- even surpassing justin and britney at one point. but like all scandals, the dust settled eventually and lewis taylor (after proving he was in fact bobbi's father) filed for full custody and moved back to Australia with bobbi mae.

(tw: drinking, alcoholism; drugs) 2002 - 2015 -- bobbi doesn't remember much about her early childhood. she had gone to an all girls academy. from foundations (at 6) to year 10. it was obvious from a young age that she was incredibly smart. she loved to learn and she was very charismatic. bobbi fit in beautifully with just about any group of kids -- but she also made sure that others felt included too. at one point she wanted to be in the talent show and came up with a dance to 'genie in a bottle' with some friends. the next day one of her teachers asked them to re-do it because they didn't get to catch it the night before and her nose started bleeding out of nowhere. that, she thought, was the end of her entertainment career. she didn't really have a relationship with her mom. not by her choice, though -- or even her father's. emily was the type of parent to call when she needed something and then when it was time for a visit, she bailed. it was hard for bobbi to watch her mom fall off and drink. it was even harder for her to find out most of her mom's issues from the tabloids. she didn't understand much of it at the time but her father just kept saying 'she's sick'.

but, slowly bobbi started to wonder about her mom's family. a lot of them lived in canada but she had a sister (aunty wren, as bobbi would call her) in west virginia that bobbi and her father had always kept in contact with. wren was a special education teacher at a local elementary school and throughout every birthday WREN was the one who would send gifts and talk for hours on the phone with her. she became the closest thing bobbi had to a mother. wren herself never had kids. she wasn't able to. but she still treated bobbi like her own. she came to visit when she could, and even tried bringing bobbi's mom at one point. but, unfortunately, bobbi's mom never made it on the plane. wren said that it was because she got nervous, but the tabloids reported her being 'too drunk to fly'. in a weird way, bobbi could always count on the papz to tell her the truth.

2016 - now -- when bobbi turned 14, they had moved to america. with the only stipulation being that wren could move closer to where they needed to be for lewis' new show. with teaching in her background, wren was able to home-school bobbi until she graduated and even helped her apply to a few American colleges. that was the plan. but as bobbi started to join her father on set more and more throughout high school -- she realized her love for acting. she saw the appeal both of her birth parents had for it. and after being cast as an extra a couple of times in things her dad did -- her path took a sharp turn and she was willing to be all in.

once bobbi had graduated at 17, her father really let her delve into acting. having a famous dad and a sort of infamous mom kind of jumpstarted what is currently a pretty great career. CURRENTLY, bobbi has been announced to play emma gilbert in the remake of H20: just add water!

[azzric]

Azzric's 2023 Halloween Movie Marathon Day 12: Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later

[ggwendolyn]

︎ ︎︎ ︎︎𝕺𝖈𝖙𝖔𝖇𝖊𝖗 — 𝔗𝔬 𝔴𝔞𝔱𝔠𝔥 𝔩𝔦𝔰𝔱︎ ︎︎ ︎︎ ︎︎

October 2nd

× Over the Garden Wall

× Coraline and the Secret Door

× ParaNorman

× Monster House

October 3rd

× Frankenweenie

× Corpse Bride

× Nightmare before Christmas

× The Craft

× The Craft: Legacy

October 4th

× American Horror Story: Murder House.

× American Horror Story: Asylum.

× The Walking Dead: Chapter one.

October 5th

× American Horror Story: Coven

× American Horror Story: Freakshow

× The Walking Dead: Chapter two.

October 6th

× Nightmare on Elm Street

× Terrifier

× Terrifier 2

October 7th

× American Horror Story: Hotel

× American Horror Story: Roanoke

× The Walking Dead: Chapter 3

October 8th

× Halloween

× Halloween 2

× Halloween 3: Season of the Witch

× Carrie (1976)

× Carrie (1999)

October 9th

× American Horror Story: Cult

× American Horror Story: Apocalypse

× The Walking Dead: Chapter 4

October 10th

× Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers

× Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers

× Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers

× Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later

October 11th

× American Horror Story: 1984

× American Horror Story: Double Feature

× The Walking Dead: Chapter 5

October 12th

× American Horror Story: NYC

× American Horror Story: Delicate

× The Walking Dead: Chapter 6

October 13th

× Friday the 13th (1980)

× Friday the 13th: Part II

× Friday the 13th: Part III

× Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

× Friday the 13th V: A New Beginning

× Friday the 13th VI: Jason Lives

October 14th

× Friday the 13th VII: Jason takes Manhattan

× Jason goes to Hell: The Final Friday

× Jason X

× Freddy vs. Jason

× Friday the 13th (2009)

October 15th

× IT

× IT: Chapter Two

October 16th

× Scream (1996)

× Scream II

× Scream III

× Scream IV

October 17th

× Scream (2022)

× Scream VI

October 18th

× Jeepers Creepers

× Jeepers Creepers 2

× Jeepers Creepers 3

× Jeepers Creepers: Reborn

October 20th

× Hocus Pocus

× Hocus Pocus 2

× Gremlins

× Beetlejuice

October 21st

× X

× Pearl

October 22nd

× Spree

× Happy Death Day

× Happy Death Day 2U

× Fall

October 23rd

× Fear Street (Part I)

× Fear Street (Part II)

× Fear Street: 1666

October 24th

× Miss Peregrine and the Peculiar Child

× Edward Scissorhands

× Dark Shadows

October 25th

× Smile

× The Black Phone

October 26th

× Piggy

× Come Play

× Host

× The Menu

October 27th

× Saw

× Saw II

× Saw III

× Saw IV

× Saw V

October 28th

× Saw VI

× Saw: The Final Chapter

× Jigsaw

× Spiral: From the Book of Saw

× Saw X

October 29th

× The Nun

× Annabelle: Creation

× Annabelle

× The Conjuring

October 30th

× Annabelle comes Home

× The Curse of La Llorona

× The Conjuring 2

× The Conjuring: The Devil made me do it

× The Nun 2

October 31th

Your favorite scary movie!

© ggwendolyn 2023

[ironclark]

The Second Half of the Halloween Keyblades!

PUMPKIN CARVER -

A Keyblade modeled after the Academy seen in Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later! This Keyblade is designed to have high combo modifiers. The hiltguard of the Keyblade is that of a jack-o-lantern, with several knives coming from it. The shaft and hilt is designed after a stylized kitchen knife hilt, with the teeth being an axe with a Jack-O-Lantern face. The token is that of a pumpkin with the Hillcrest Academy tie.

The world logo comes from the fact that this Halloween movie takes place in the Hillcrest Academy instead of Haddonfield. The name comes from the tradition of carving pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns on Halloween. 

SCREAM STREAM - 

A Keyblade modeled after the livestreaming experience of Halloween Resurrection! This Keyblade is designed to have high thunder techniques. The hilt guard of the blade has several monitors, referencing the streaming theme of the movie, with the teeth of the blade being a recording camera, with a kitchen knife flair. The token is a pumpkin with the ear mounted recording device. 

The world logo is that of the Myers Home, where the entirety of the movie takes place. The name comes from the two major aspects of the movie: Screaming and Streaming. 

DEVIL'S EYES -

A Keyblade modeled after the grim and gritty Rob Zombie's Halloween (2007). This Keyblade is designed to have high damage with short reach. The shaft and hilt ar designed after a tombstone, with the teeth having a blade added to the tombstone. The token is designed after Tommy's halloween costume seen in the movie. 

The world logo is the return of Haddonfield! The name comes from Loomis' description of a young Michael Myers' eyes. 

PALE DEVIL -

A Keyblade designed after the pale horse motifs of Rob Zombie's Halloween II (2009). It is designed to have long reach. The hilt of he blade has another jack-o-lantern but with a pale gradient. The Teeth of the blade is a pale horse head modeled after Myers' memories of his mother. The token is that of Laurie's Halloween costume.

The world logo is again Haddonfield, but with a dilapitated pumpkin. The name comes from the movies' themes of a Pale Horse, as well as the conception that Michael Myers' is the Devil. 

VOICE OF OBSESSION -

A Keyblade designed after the fresh look of Halloween 2018! It is designed to have peircing damage. The hilt guard is an extremely modified knife handle, with the shaft being an exaggerated scaplel. The teeth of the blade is designed to be the mouth of a Jack O-Lantern. The token is a pumpkin wearing the hat that Allyson wears during Halloween. 

The world Logo is a refreshed design of the original Haddonfield. The name comes from Micheal Myers' obession with killing in Haddonfield as well as Laurie Strode and her obsession with Myers returning. 

ESSENCE OF EVIL - 

A Keyblade designed after the fiery nature of Halloween Kills! It is designed to have high fire damage. The hilt and teeth of the blade are designed as stylized fire, referencing the begining of the movie. The handle and shaft of the blade is a baseball bat, referencing Tommy's chosen weapon against Myers and other inmates. 

The Logo is again Haddonfield, but this time on fire! The name comes from a line from Laurie, that Michael si the essence of evil itself. 

EVIL INFECTS - 

A Keyblade designed after the fresh begining of the end in Halloween Ends! This Keyblade is designed to have high damage at combo beginners. The hilt of the blade is designed after Corey's motorcycle that he rides through the movie. The teeth is designed to be three kitchen knives, of the three movies, but coming from a fresh pumpkin, a fresh begining.  The token is Corey's scarecrow halloween mask.

And finally the World Logo is the last Haddonfield. The name comes from the plot of Michael's Evil infecting Haddonfield. 

[therasslingrob]

#277) Halloween, Part VII: H20 Twenty Years Later

Scarefest qualifier: Slasher

I do not think that Halloween: H20 is as bad as it's made out to be. 5.8 on IMDb, 56% on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 5.6 on Letterboxd?

If you were to ask me, I would call this the best of the original septet. I know that the masses would be inclined to name Halloween '78 as their choice for numero uno, but not me. As I have rewatched these siete, the series has had some nice highs (Curse and H20), some incredible lows (Season of the Witch), and some dizzying mids (Return and Revenge).

How did Adam Arkin not get on the movie poster here? He was like front and center in the film alongside Jamie Lee Curtis. I mean, come on now. LL Cool J did, and he was not as integral to the story.

The one thing I got to give them credit for is maintaining the timeline and lore. Having Laurie Strode fake her death prior to Return as a way to go into hiding to get away does keep up the timeline, until you look at the next generation of Strodes, Jamie and John. That really convolutes things up when trying to have a straightforward backstory.

[immaculateprince]

Halloween: The Sister Trilogy

John Carpenter's Halloween (1978)

Halloween II (1981)

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)

[reallivewire]

[master-beef-117]

I know it's halloween H20 for twenty years later on halloween...but like...it would have been so much funnier if they actually put him underwater...

[maychild]

ranking all movies in the halloween franchise

despite being a jamie lee curtis fan, i've never managed to watch any of the halloween movies so i thought i'd rectify that this spooky season. ratings taken from the letterboxd system just bc it's easier, and general disclaimer that these are just my own personal opinions, posted here just for posterity, y'all will like what u like and i will do the same.

HALLOWEEN I (1978) 2.5/5 STARS

look, i understand why it's a cult classic but it was a bit too slow for me and very painfully 70s. michael wasn't terrifying so much as he was a creepy stalker. really only liked laurie and dr. loomis out of all the characters.

HALLOWEEN II (1981) 3.5/5 STARS

this, i liked much better than H1, which i know is sacrilegious but it was def. more my speed in term of slashers. i didn't like the family connection that this movie forced on us, but it is what it is.

HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH (1982) 1/5 STARS

i get what they were trying to do, and i respect the vision of trying to make a horror anthology around the halloween holiday but...this was such a bad movie. it didn't make sense most of the time; i'm still salty about the ending; i didn't like any of the characters and for some reason they had to include ROBOTS. like WHYYYY and it wasn't terminator robots, the coolest of the robots in media, it was robots made of papier-mâché who folded as soon as u looked at them wrong. overall, such a hot mess of garbage. (but i love the title, i guess?? and the Irish villain brought a certain gravitas to this movie that was both jarring and fun.)

HALLOWEEN IV: RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS (1988) 4.5/5 STARS

genuinely the first entry in this franchise to scare me (maybe because the protagonist was a young child??) i did like that we got dr. loomis back tho. loved rachel's character and her and jamie's interactions. but this was so trauma-filled and again more horrifying for me than all three of the previous movies. very exciting slasher.

HALLOWEEN V: THE REVENGE OF MICHAEL MYERS (1989) 2.5/5 STARS

another garbage entry mostly for how horribly they treat poor jamie for the vast majority of this film, assassinated dr. loomis' character, and then killed off rachel, only to replace her with her friend, tina. i also hated the whole cult plot line, which starts here, and is as dumb as making michael and laurie brother and sister. and the vast majority of these characters are so dumb, and i'm so dumbfounded that they've lasted as long as they have in a horror film. this movie asks u to suspend your disbelief to the breaking point.

HALLOWEEN VI: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS (1995) 1.5/5 STARS

this movie, i swear i thought i couldn't hate a movie as much as i hated H3 and H5, but then this movie came along and PROVED ME WRONG. like, noooope, we're here to make an even worse movie!! i gave this one a whole 1.5 rating simply for paul rudd (yes, that paul rudd, he was the only thing keeping me sane while watching this shit show.) WHY DID JAMIE HAVE TO BE PREGNANT???!! WHY DID THE CULT HAVE TO HAVE HER AND HER CHILD???!! HAS THIS CHILD NOT SUFFERED ENOUGH??? the cult of thorn plot line is meh, whatever for me, i can take it or leave it, but i'm just so mad at jamie's death and subsequent trauma from everything she had to go through. every single character annoyed me (except for paul rudd and donald pleasence, who prove that good actors can polish a turd only so far...)

everyone was dumb, the whole town of haddonfield was dumb, and i was dumb for watching this...

(i know there's a producers' cut too, but i cannot find it and at this point i don't even care to bc i just want to burn watching this movie from my memory...)

HALLOWEEN VII: H20 TWENTY YEARS LATER (1998) 4.5/5 STARS

(i know they don't title this as H7, but i do just bc i want to and it is technically the seventh film so i'm gonna do what i want)

i appreciate the blank slate this movie starts out with (no cult of thorn, no jamie lloyd, but no dr. loomis either unfortunately).

is this a masterpiece?? no, but i had fun, and it made me terrified during certain scenes so i thought the tension was great. and the laurie/michael standoff at the end was superb. i do think this movie has some deep things to say about trauma, so i liked that too. no one annoyed me too greatly, and i am def. mad they didn't end this whole franchise with this movie since i think it was a pretty satisfying ending overall.

HALLOWEEN VIII: RESURRECTION (2002) 0.5/5 stars

JUST WHYYYYY. another garbage movie. this movie irked me so much. it tried to say some deep stuff about fiction and reality, but the writing was so bad, i couldn't take it seriously. not one of the characters were worth rooting for; they were vapid and shallow (even our final girl ends up being saved at the last minute by the greedy capitalist who put her in this situation in the first place). laurie's death was so dumb, there was no connection to H20 (i know i would've still hated this movie even if they did connect the two films beyond just recapping that laurie killed the wrong guy in H20 and that she was headmistress of a private academy).

HALLOWEEN IX (2007) AKA ROB ZOMBIE'S HALLOWEEN 0.5/5 STARS

is this the worst movie in the franchise?? not by a long shot. is it also the worst remake in the history of remakes? no, but it should be in the top twenty at least. this remake was very much not for me. rob zombie is beloved, and i can understand if this becomes a cult classic (if it hasn't already just because of the originality), but it was just very meh to me.

humanizing michael ain't it either. (i will say the mask in this was way more terrifying than any of the previous ones so points for that.)

i tried going in with an open mind, i really did, but i hated malcolm mcdowell's dr. loomis. i am and shall forever be a donald pleasence fangirl. dr. loomis is supposed to be michael's foil, and a character that you can root for. but mcdowell's loomis went far past the rooting for & liking stage, and well into narcissistic ahole stage.

it's def. the anti-Carpenter Halloween in terms of pacing, profanity, violence, and brutality, and, again some might like that, but i found it's definitely not for me. and am firmly in the camp that this movie is waaaayyy too over-the-top in terms of everything.

HALLOWEEN X (2009 AKA ROB ZOMBIE'S HALLOWEEN II) 1.5/5 STARS

i will admit i like this one far better than the '07 version just bc of the way the whole film handles trauma, PTSD, healing, and all those aspects, but rob zombie and i still do not vibe. and that's okay.

i...i do not know what they did with dr. loomis character, and am baffled he suddenly did a 180 and became a narcissistic asshole for no reason at all (well, there were traces of it in H1 where malcolm mcdowell played him as this hipster wanna-be doctor who wanted to be michael's friend more than he wanted to be his doctor). it honestly felt like Hollywood's interpretation of what a psychiatrist was, if they had never met a psychiatrist in their life and just based it on businesspeople they had *actually* met in Hollywood and were like "well, close enough."

my biggest gripe with this movie is that it felt like it was all over the place; michael wasn't really michael so much as he was a mentally ill dude who knew how to eviscerate people in an efficient manner. it was jut really bleak, traumatic, brutal, and gory. laurie survived, but mostly physically, not really emotionally. she wasn't really laurie any more, so it's debatable to what extent she "survived".

HALLOWEEN XI (2018) 5/5 STARS

I FUCKING LOVED THIS i just did. i'm not sorry. this??? so fucking fantastic.

i still maintain jamie lee curtis is the best thing about these movies (and...i guess michael myers too. but, again, i'm a scaredy-cat, so the less thought about that asshole the better.) and i love when they have her be a powerful badass. i am firmly Team Laurie and always will be (and now Team Karen/Allyson/Laurie too).

(the kills here were also brutal and gory, and gahhh, i am not a fan of gore, but the story kept me interested and on the edge of my seat.)

HALLOWEEN KILLS (AKA HALLOWEEN XII) (2021) 3/5 STARS

...meh. i didn't love this, but i didn't hate it either. it's just very underwhelming after the brilliance that was the 2018 remake.

is this technically a good film?? yeah, it was filmed fine, nothing too spectacular tho. but the writing is a mess, felt like the writers couldn't write themselves out of the awesome ending they produced in 2018. but really. they should've ended this whole franchise with the 2018 remake, so that way at least the franchise would've ended with a bang (i know i have halloween ends to watch too, but am not hopeful about that entry either...)

the nicest thing i can say about this sequel is it's not a stinkin' pile of garbage as some other movies in this franchise. too silly and cringe in certain parts, and the pacing was off (certain characters whom i thought would've been killed off as soon as we saw them on-screen weren't killed off until scenes later, which i thought didn't work for a slasher film like Halloween).

we also focus way too much on supporting characters that were introduced just last film, and while i like what others are calling the "fan-service-y" parts, like all the callbacks to previous Halloween films, and having a focus on tommy, marion, and lindsey, the film was trying to do too much by focusing both on legacy characters AND the new characters. also, imho, laurie is sidelined for most of the action, and while that meant that the other two strode women were being badass by themselves, i think the halloween movies work much better when it's just laurie vs. michael, instead of haddonfield vs. michael bc most of the characters of haddonfield and haddonfield itself aren't developed as much as laurie, so we don't care as much, or at least i don't bc i know michael is going to murder them eventually, if not right away, but with laurie, there's some hope that she will emerge victorious.

HALLOWEEN ENDS (AKA HALLOWEEN XIII) (2022) 2.5/5 STARS

i'll be honest: i don't actually hate the whole corey storyline. i went into this not expecting much because i knew nothing could surpass the 2018 remake for me, and i think that mindset helped a lot. was the corey character and storyline stupid?? sure, but not as dumb as the Cult of Thorn storyline they tried to foist on us. anyway, at the end of the day i'm just here to stan laurie strode, and be her hype girl.

again, just...meh for me. there was so much melodrama in this movie when this should've just been a fun slasher movie, but i guess the film felt it had to explore how much trauma all these characters had and never actually properly dealt with it (seriously, all these characters were so mean and bitter to each other, and i get it when u had a crazed psychopath stalking a town for years, no one will feel all that warm and fuzzy to begin with).

also, still very salty about karen's death from the last film. #justiceforkaren

[adamwatchesmovies]

Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later (1998)

Making your way through a franchise compels you to rank the installments from best to worst. Having reached Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, I’d put it third on the list after the original and the first sequel. That sounds promising but actually, it’s more of a testimony to the weakness of the follow-ups than to this one’s success.

Set after Halloween II and ignoring all subsequent chapters, it’s October 29th, 1998. Michael Myers (Chris Durand) has acquired Laurie Strode’s address from Dr. Loomis’ personal files. Meanwhile, in Summer Glen, California, Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) has faked her death and is living under the name “Keri Tate”, raising her son John (Josh Hartnett) while remaining haunted by the tragic events of 1978. She has no idea Myers is once again on her trail.

In some ways, this is a “good” sequel to Halloween II in that it maintains the continuity established and progresses the story further. This Michael Myers was described as “pure evil” by the late Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance having passed away in 1995) but really, he’s a deranged “normal” human being who is obsessively stalking his sister. Nothing supernatural going on. It’s not the way I like my Halloween but your mileage may vary. Regardless of your preferences, credit is due to Jamie Lee Curtis for her portrayal of Laurie Strode and to the filmmakers for the conclusion. Laurie isn’t like the characters we usually see in horror movies. She knows that knocking Myers down isn’t enough so she grabs an axe; she knows the killer is after her and uses it as a way to protect her son from harm. As for the finale, I don't want to give away too much, but it doesn’t get much more definitive than this. It would be impossible for another confrontation between Strode and Myers to happen.

I said “good” earlier because this film consistently makes some major mistakes. First of all, this Michael Myers isn’t frightening at all. His mask looks cheap and trashy. You’d think the people in charge would’ve taken the time and effort to make it look 1) like the original 2) appropriately weathered considering it’s been 20 years since Myers last wore it, and 3) intimidating. They didn’t. Throughtout the whole film you can clearly see Myers’ eyes, which makes him look human and therefore vulnerable. You believed he could take several gunshots and disappear into the night 20 years ago. Now? It seems ridiculous.

The best parts of this film have Strode pitted against Myers either in person, or psychologically when she “sees” him in reflections or in the distance. Everything else is generic and a waste of time. John and his friends are only there to give us a body count and they play no part in the film’s conclusion. We get one decent kill that involves a service elevator. The rest lean toward the unintentionally funny. Some of the humorous tone is clearly deliberate. LL Cool J’s portrayal of a security guard is played for laughs all the way through but this is less of an attempt to bring new life in the franchise and merely someone trying and failing to emulate the success of Scream, released 2 years earlier. That film was lampooning slashers while also being one. The humor was subversive. The protagonists being able to knock the killer over with conventional weapons didn’t take away the tension because their identity was still a secret. Here? It deflates the potential for terror completely. There isn’t a scene in this film that’s tense or scary.

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later shows just enough potential for you to stick with it, but this just makes it more disappointing. Even if you like the path this installment chooses, I doubt you’ll be pleased by its lack of scares and lackluster killer. Ironically, that awkward title is just about perfect. This is a clunky, uneven film with ambition. (On Blu-ray, October 29, 2021)