I don’t know, man. Some fun here, but it’s just never as good as it could’ve been. Bringing Jamie Lee Curtis back after 20 years feels like it should be a slam dunk, but the results are… meh? The first two acts are just hanging out with Laurie and these new, unlikable supporting characters, without enough time spent building the atmosphere and presence of Michael Myers. But when the final act finally shifts into gear, there’s definitely some of that classic Halloween slasher fun.
They’re clearly taking a lot of inspiration from what was relevant at the time, like Scream, which personally, I’m not sure I like that Kevin Williamson sheen in my Halloween films. I really enjoy the score in this one. Curtis is quite good, and it’s wild seeing how many future big stars they had here (Josh Hartnett, Michelle Williams, Joseph Gordon-Levitt). I’m also glad they did a refresh of the franchise and got away from trying to “explain” Michael Myers.
The mask is terrible, and the number of fake-out, false-alarm scares in this one is absurd. There’s a lot of weird humor that throws off the tone and isn’t funny. Not the worst sequel, but it also never rises above “fine.”
#nw HALLOWEEN H20: 20 YEARS LATER (1st viewing)
dir. Steve Miner