Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16679 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-05-01
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 87 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Halloween is one of the great modern horror films, but as a franchise its track record has been spotty at best, painfully bad at worst. Halloween H2O: Twenty Years Later, directed by horror vet Steve Miner (Friday the 13th parts 2 and 3, House), won't displace John Carpenter's original but it might help you forget the films in between. Miner certainly has: the film begins as if sequels 3 through 6 never happened. Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis, reprising her role for the first time in almost two decades) faked her death and is now a single mom and headmistress of an exclusive California private school. She's also a secret alcoholic who lives in fear of her homicidal brother-bogeyman Michael Myers. Guess who decides to show up for a family reunion? The film begins with classic horror-movie exposition (the deserted college campus, Michael's escape, Laurie's waking nightmares) accomplished with some humour and style, but it's all set up for the second half, a driving roller coaster of stalk-and-slash thrills. There's little of the self-conscious genre referencing of Scream and at times the film is a little far-fetched--it is a slasher movie about a knife-wielding homicidal maniac who won't stay dead, after all--but Curtis transforms Laurie from a shrieking victim into an empowered, determined horror-movie heroine who's learned a thing or two from the previous films. Adam Arkin, Josh Hartnett, and TV cutie Michelle Williams (Dawson's Creek) co-star, and the script received uncredited polish from Scream writer Kevin Williamson; Curtis's mom, Janet Leigh, pops up in a cameo. --Sean Axmaker

Amazon.co.uk Review
Effectively bypassing the largely rubbish slew of sequels, Halloween H20 picks up 20 years after the second movie, with Laurie Strode now hiding out as the head mistress of a posh boarding school in the California hills after faking her own death and changing her name. She is an emotionally traumatised alcoholic wreck, still struggling with the memories of her near fatal encounters with her psychotic brother Michael Myers years earlier, and so is over-protective of her 17-year-old son John. Just when she thought it couldn't get much worse, Myers reappears after laying in hiding for the last 20 years. His target is now Laurie's son who, along with a few teenage friends, ditches a school camping trip for a private Halloween party in the now-deserted school, forcing Laurie into a climactic battle with Myers. Halloween H20 is a terrific film for both newcomers and series fans alike. Cleverly bringing events full circle, the movie is packed with enough scares and insider references to keep all audience levels engaged. Director Steve Miner delivers a lean and pacy film, with Curtis delivering a great turn as the scarred and drained horror movie survivor who finally realises the only way to rid herself of her demons is to go up against Michael one last time. There's plenty of shocks and scares and some great set pieces (the rest-stop scene is particularly unnerving). And although the ending seems to bring the series to a definitive close, Myers will soon be back in action in Halloween 8.

On the DVD: There's a crisp widescreen picture and good sound quality, but little to shout about in the way of extra features: a short feature exploring the Halloween legend with very little that fans wouldn't already know, a pointless music video and banal trivia game. This is a great opportunity wasted. --Jon Weir

DVD Description
DVD Special Features:

Unmasking the Horror--Making of featurette
Music video
Trivia game
Languages: Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired
Widescreen 2.35:1

Customer Reviews

Can Laurie Strode finally turn the tables on Michael Myers?
It is rather amazing that the reputation of the original "Halloween" has not been tarnished by all the sequels that have come down the road in the last quarter century. Whatever eloquence the first film had was replaced by as much explicit bloodletting as possible in "Halloween 2" and the fun has been continuing ever since. "Halloween: H20" is an attempt, of sorts, to get the series back on track. The idea is that the fourth, fifth and sixth films in the series never happened and we are now twenty years after the original bloodletting in the first two films. Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is back, all grown up with her own teenage son, only now she is running a private boarding school and calling herself Keri Tate. This is not just because she is trying to escape the notoriety of being the sister of Michael Myers but also because she knows deep down inside that her brother is still out there somewhere trying to kill her. Of course she is right; just do not ask what he has been doing for two decades, wandering around the country wearing that William Shatner mask painted white.

From a historical perspective "Halloween" was the first film where the slasher kept getting up every time he was put down. Hard to believe that once upon a time this was a "new" idea, because certainly it has been done to death (pardon the phrase). We are actually at the point where we are surprised in a film where the killer is killed and is actually dead. The killer who cannot die has become such a commonplace it has gone well beyond the slasher genre. What this means is that by the time we get to this film there is nothing new regarding his ability to survive knife slashes, blows from an ax, a rock being pounded on his skull, and other substantive physical assaults. We have seen it all before and whether the slasher's name is Michael Myers, Jason, or whatever, it does not matter anymore.

That means the success of this film has a lot more to Laurie's end of the story than Michael's, and in that is the regard in which this film falls short. It is made clear that Laurie has been thinking about this day (okay, this night; he always comes out at night) for two decades. Given that she is running a private school (and recalling her answer regarding fate in her English class back in 1978) we also know that this is a smart person. Surely in all that time she has come up with hundreds of plans on how she will stop her brother from driving a big knife into her body. I mean, come on, remember what Nancy was able to put together in one night for Freddy Krueger. Laurie Strode cannot do better? Sigh. Jamie Leigh Curtis deserved a better script than this for coming back and lending her considerable cache to the series that made her the original Scream Queen. Just go back and watch the original to remember what made this stuff work in the first place.

Final comment: Did you ever think that Janet Leigh's car in "Psycho" had blue tones? That sure surprised me.

This new Michael's heart just isn't in it
Halloween H20 is a nice attempt to return to the core of the Michael Myers saga, but I think it comes up a little short in several ways. First off, you have to forget that films three through six in the series ever happened, which is a pity given that I enjoyed those more than most fans seemed to. Now, I am sure you remember Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), Michael’s sister whom he tried to kill on several occasions in the somewhat distant past, the one who survived only to be killed in a car accident a short while later. Well, not only is she not dead, she has made two big mistakes in her new life as Keri Tate: she has had a son named John (Josh Hartnett) who has never seen a comb or hairbrush in his seventeen years of life, and she has developed some kind of relationship with a character played by Adam Arkin. I do not know why I dislike Adam Arkin so much, but I was begging Michael to kill him from the first moment I saw him. Anyway, Lori/Keri is now the headmistress of a supposedly highfalutin school in California, yet even after twenty years she is fighting her brother’s demon, seeing his face over and over again every day. Her son knows the whole story, but he is tired of being overprotected, telling his mother that Michael is dead and no longer a threat - despite the fact that they never found his body. He is just a boy, but he should know better than to think Michael is out for the count. A little break-in and bloody mayhem at the home of Dr. Loomis’ former nurse gives Michael all the information he needs to find his supposedly dead sister. Since it is Halloween, Michael thinks it is only fitting to celebrate the anniversary of his old murder spree with his newly discovered family. With only seven potential victims at the school (everyone else in the class having gone camping in Yosemite – why the school would organize a camping trip on Halloween is the biggest mystery of the whole movie), there is really not enough carnage to go around, but the movie’s opening walk down memory lane and a later reenactment of sorts by Lori of her trademark closet sanctuary escape plan help make up for some of the disappointment. The most impactful moments of the film are the occasions when Lori and Michael come face to face for the first time in twenty years, although Alan Arkin’s little gun adventure qualifies as my favorite moment of the film by far.

Halloween H20 is a lot of fun in several ways. The manner by which a supposedly-dead Michael keeps appearing, even after twenty years, to a haunted Lori in mirrors and reflections is presented very well. I loved LL Cool J’s character Ronny Jones, the school security guy and frustrated romance writer; he supplied many a laugh to help fill the void of no murders taking place for far too long. Jamie Lee Curtis’ mother and Psycho shower victim Janet Leigh makes a fun cameo as Lori’s motherly secretary, and it was nice to see Dr. Loomis’ chain-smoking former nurse again. I was especially gratified to hear a voiceover of Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance) in the opening credits. For me, Dr. Loomis was as much a part of Halloween as Michael himself, and these films made since Pleasance’s death really lack the spark he always brought to the drama. Speaking of no spark, though, I have to say I am not a fan of the new guy behind the mask. Chris Durand does not seem to bring anything to his character. I know that Michael is evil incarnate and pretty much dead inside, but he really just seemed to be going through the motions this time around. Finding out that he had been tricked and that his sister was still alive after all these years should have infuriated him, but Michael looks bored throughout this whole movie. There is one scene I especially hate; we look into Michael’s eyes and see a reflection of a budding young victim; to me, Michael’s eyes are supposed to be so black and empty that they will not reflect anything at all. Sadly, Michael is just not himself this time around, and the fact that he continues to have so much trouble killing one frightened woman is really starting to make him look pretty weak in my eyes.

All in all, though, the film is well worth seeing, if for nothing else than for the special little treats that long-time horror fans will appreciate. A more impressive actor behind the mask and a lot more bloody mayhem might possibly have made this movie something special, though.

A perfect conclusion (?) to the series
It is 20 years since the original Halloween, when unstoppable bogeyman Michael Myers was apparently killed in a fire. However, fans of the Halloween series will know that from parts 4 - 6, Myers has been very much alive. This however - the 7th episode - chooses to ignore the previous three films and continue from where H2 left off.
Such a decision would suggest that this time, the writers have chosen to go back to the original films and recreate the elements which made them so enjoyable and successful. The character of Laurie Strode has been resurrected, (as has Jamie Lee Curtis) along with Nancy Stevens who played the nurse Marion in the first 2 films. Again the emphasis appears to be on suspense rather than out right violence, and the script still retains a sense of ambiguity - refusing to offer a lame explanation for Myers' evil, as the previous films did. There is however an ever present reminder of the fact that this film was written pre-Scream, with the script containing pointless and overt references to 90s pop-culture. At one point the characters actually watch one of the Scream sequels on T.V. - a film which referenced Halloween itself - creating a pointless web of contrived in-jokes which were never really amusing or clever in the first instance. There is also an over reliance of 'fake scares' where the characters stumble into each other, accompanied by a loud intrusive note of a violin, forcing the audience to jump. This results in a rather hollow feeling to the film, with the horror only lasting for the 90 minutes of the film's running time, rather than having the lasting effect of the first 2 films.
However, the presence of Jamie Lee Curtis is able to carry the movie, and elevate it above such bargain basement populated fare such as Urban Legend and the I Know What You Did... films. She brings a new dimension to the character of Laurie, most notably in the third act when she makes the decision to stop running from Michael and goes in search of him, fire axe in hand. Also, having Friday the 13th parts 2 and 3 director Steve Miner direct helps, often managing to recreate the perfect framing and composition of the first film, and pulling off a rousing, suspense filled climax. Inevitably the sense of menace is going to wane after 5 sequels focussing on Myers, however H20 does manage to rise above the previous 3 films and capture some of the vital characteristics of H1 and H2. It is just a pity however, that the entire film is undermined by the existence of Part 8, but of course, that is another story...
Slightly underwhelming, the DVD comes only with a lame music video from a band nobody has heard of, and an interative quiz which you will play once. However, there is an interesting documentary providing insight from Carpenter, Wes Craven and the important members of the cast. Watching it in widescreen format also illustrates the film's maximum potential.