I can still remember sitting in the theater among the crowds watching as the audience sat expecting Michael to get away. Then Laurie took the swipe with her axe lopping his head off clean. I can still remember hearing the audience offer an audible gasp in sheer shock. This was it. It was done. Michael was dead. Laurie had beaten her demons. But then there came “Resurrection,” and then “Halloween (2018).” Jamie Lee Curtis wanted nothing to do with Halloween for a long time, and then she took on the role of Laurie one last time, but then killed her off in “Resurrection.” One last time. But then she re-emerges years later for “Halloween” in 2018 to reprise Laurie Strode yet again.
I wish Jamie Lee Curtis would make up her mind already. I digress.
Nevertheless, the audible gasp was still pretty loud in the theaters, and even I couldn’t help but react to what was the finality of it all. Michael had been slain like the monster that he was. “Halloween: H20” (or “Halloween H20: 20 Years Later” or sometimes “H20”) was an important horror movie milestone in 1998 and to this day it’s still considered one of the biggest Horror movie milestones. Not even time and sequels and remakes could really nullify its impact and clear cut importance. This was during a time where teen oriented horror movies were still the norm and everyone was still looking to deliver their own “Scream.” So to have Laurie Strode return once again to take on Michael and face off as the fates conspired to bring them back together, was something that had to be seen in movie theaters.
Say what you want about “H20” but in the terms of giving us the showdown between Michael and Laurie Strode after that fateful Halloween night, director Steve Miner and Kevin Williamson delivers. Even in spite of being rendered not completely the definitive timeline of events, “H20” manages to be a pretty great reunion of good and evil that also injects Laurie’s own son Jack in to the mix. Along with the prologue that closes up the original “Halloween” with the re-appearance of Nurse Chambers from 1978’s “Halloween,” it also sets the stage for what is otherwise an epilogue to “Halloween II.” It takes us through a buffer of the events of what’s unfolded during Laurie’s disappearance and Dr. Loomis’ death. “H20” is set in the timeline where “Halloween” and “Halloween II” took place prompting Laurie to flee.
Sadly, in this timeline Jamie Lloyd doesn’t exist. To make things even sadder, good old Dr. Loomis dies in a retirement home, not battling Michael. Laurie is forced to assume another identity in hopes of escaping Michael Myers and the carnage that comes in his wake. That never stopped Michael, of course, who seemingly spent most of his years trying to track Laurie down to complete his mission. While the original film was about fate seemingly bringing together Michael and Laurie in a fight for dominance, “H20” retcons Michael’s whole purpose as a literal demon coming back to creep up on Laurie. Laure is now an alcoholic and prone to vivid dreams of “The Shape” all the while looking after her mal adjusted and distant son John.
And who can blame him as he has basically been forced to deal with her psychological problems for most of life while chasing way any potential husbands as well a John’s friends. At a period where most studios were opting to deliver “Scream”-lite screenplays with “wink wink” self awareness, Kevin Wlliamson dial down the self aware meta humor in favor of a narrative that precise, swift in pacing, and bears very little flab. Where most of the “Halloween” movies dealt with bringing a lot of the death and terror to Michael within his house, Michael seemingly takes special exception with Laurie. Much like “Halloween II,” Michael travels across country willingly stalking her away from Haddonfield. There’s always this specter looming over her shoulder, which makes her new life almost impossible to enjoy.
His biggest mistake is tracking Laurie down in her territory as, despite the school she is apart of becoming a veritable warzone, Laurie is able to get the upper hand with her familiar surroundings. So much of “Halloween H20” is built around the powder keg that’s about to explode, but so much of the lead up still manages to be exciting in its own right. From the taunting of a mom and her child at a gas station, lurking around the private school, to sadly demolishing two of John’s friends. The big moment leading up to Laurie’s face off involves Laurie’s son fighting Michael, which is such a dramatic moment that sadly didn’t get more time.
The scene is very abrupt but it’s an appreciated moment leading in to the big climax in the school. So much about “H20” is Laurie taking her life back once and for all, and by the time the movie ends she essentially fails. She brings Michael down, sure, but she isn’t much better off than when we first met her. If you’re willing to ignore “Resurrection,” it leaves her in shambles and we’re left lingering on the question if she’ll ever be able to pick up the pieces all over again. Can she? Can John? Will they become the scapegoats for the lives lost at the school? There were a ton of production problems including getting the mask of Michael just right.
Despite the obvious inconsistencies in the design and some bumps in the road narrative wise, “Halloween: H20” gets the whole reunion pretty damn well. It’s also a damn good way to end the nineties as so much of the decade was based on deathly serious horror, and the glut of horror pretending to be Oscar worthy thrillers. It’s campy, it’s crazy, it’s exciting, and damnit, was a fine way to end this storyline once and for all.