Halloween: H2O/Halloween: Resurrection

Halloween, Laurie Strode and Micheal Myers. What's not to love? The only thing that annoys me, and that's not just with this movie but with many of them, is that the protagonist is on the highest possible alert, well armed and looking in every direction and somehow either the antagonist or someone harmless manages to approach them so closely that they could literally lick them and they don't see them. That's just a personal pet peeve with pretty much any horror movie. Other than that, this is as good as any movie. The acting is well done and it's not too dark to see the bad guy and/or what's happening.

I like most others refuse to acknowledge the pile of crap that is Halloween Resurrection. Or, better said, I acknowledge its existence, yet think of it like Halloween III, except with Michael Myers.

This movie pretends like none of the other sequels existed, and brings back Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode. It is revealed she faked her death after Halloween II and has been living in hiding ever since. She is the Head Mistress at a private school and has a 17 year old son. Michael discovers her location by tracking down the nurse from Halloween I and II (in a cameo role that likely would have gone to Donald Pleasence had he not passed away), and tries to finish the job he started 20 years ago.

The things I like about the movie is that they made the character of Laurie a strong heroine figure. She never bought that he was dead. While she did still drop the knife a couple times she did end up picking up an axe. The entire set up to their coming face to face (in a great scene) was her realizing she would have to confront him and not just run away. The movie also paid nice homage to the late Donald Pleasence in the beginning even having a voice over from the original movie. You really can look at this movie as creating a Halloween Trilogy. While I did not dislike Halloween IV and V, and would had been fine if they incorporated some of that story in as well, Halloween VI and VIII are better left ignored. If you are a fan of the original movie this one is a must have.

"Halloween: H20" is an almost perfect "end" to the Halloween Saga. I'll state why it is almost perfect at the conclusion of my review.
Apparently, Jamie Lee Curtis had the idea to do a 20th Anniversary Halloween film because she wanted resolution for her character, original "Halloween" heroine Laurie Strode. That is an inspired idea. "H20" sensibly ignores/disregards the events of "Halloween IV, V, and VI" (Great-- because I never bothered with those sequels, anyway). "H20" brings everything back full-circle by bringing everything back to Laurie. The original working title of this film was "Halloween 7: The Revenge Of Laurie Strode." Laurie may have survived the original murder massacre of her "brother" Michael Myers (which comprise the original "Halloween" and "Halloween II"), but she is, in many ways, a psychological and physical mess. In order to escape the terror of Michael Myers, Laurie faked her own death. Living under the new name of Keri Tate, she had a son named John (Josh Hartnett) and became a teacher at the exclusive and private Hillcrest Academy in California. She is also a "functional alcoholic", using several medications to help with her re-occurring nightmares of Michael Myers. As a mother, she is overprotective and paranoid, and John is growing tired of acting as his "mother's keeper." To be whole and free again, Laurie must battle Michael Myers on Halloween, 1998-- exactly 20 years after the original nightmare began.
"H20" functions successfully as a homage to other films; most specifically the original "Halloween" and Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" (1960), the classic horror film that inspired IT. A classmate tells John that if he remains so attached to his mother, he will end up running a deserted hotel off some deserted highway-- a direct reference to "Psycho." Janet Leigh, mother of Jamie Lee Curtis and star of "Psycho", has a small role as Laurie's secretary. We even see Leigh with the original car she famously drove in "Psycho." Recalling the original "Halloween", it is especially nice to see Nancy Stephens briefly reprise her role as nurse Marion Chambers from "Halloween" and "Halloween II." It is mentioned that Chambers was the devoted assistant and care-taker to Dr. Sam Loomis ( the late Donald Plesence) who pursued Michael Myers throughout "Halloween I, II, IV, V, and VI." Chambers' discovery that Michael Myers has broken into her home and stolen the private file on Laurie Strode sets the plot of "H20" in motion. When John's girlfriend Molly (Michelle Williams) asks why his family does not celebrate Halloween, he casually answers, "We have a serial killer in our family who kills people on Halloween." Of course, Michael Myers does show up at Hillcreast Academy for some 20th Anniversary murders. But, like the original "Halloween", the emphasis in "H20" is on suspense instead of graphic murders, so the body count is surprisingly low.
The climax/resolution between Laurie and Michael Myers is enormously satisfying; both dramatically and psychologically. It is an almost perfect "end" to the "Halloween Saga"; meaning that THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN "THE END." But somebody came up with "Halloween: Resurrection", which negates everything in "H20". But, as "H20" ignores/disregards "Halloween IV, V, and V", simply ignore the "Resurrection" and let "H20" be the perfect end to the Halloween series.
The Dimension Collector's Series DVD features a Behind The Scenes Featurette, a "Halloween Trivia Game", and a Music Video.

Maybe it was or maybe it wasn't a good idea to ignore the events in 4-6. Things started off promising and then went downhill after part 5. Part 4 ended with Jamie Lloyd killing leading us to believe that she was going to be like Michael Myers but instead she has some psychic link with her uncle and practically a mute throughout the film. Having Michael cry in one scene sort of made the character weak and the two idiot cops with the silly music playing made it worse. Then part 6 took years to come out because of the studio re doing the film, re writing the script, and not have Danielle Harris to return as Jamie Lloyd as well as killing off the character instead of leaving her as the star like the other films. The producer's cut of the film was better than that mess made on the theatrical version which pretty much hurt the franchise until it started off fresh with H20. I admit 4-6 made Michael into Jason Vorhees like crushing skulls with his bare hands and using whatever weapon he could find. He was better off as John Carpenter called him an unstoppable force of nature rather than a killing machine being controlled by a cult. People could label the Halloween series as a trilogy with part 1, 2, and H20 which makes some sense and the way the film ended should have been it. We can all ignore Resurrection due to the fact it was ridiculous having Michael in some reality show and a paramedic having his head chopped off instead of Myers was dumb to begin with. Still H20 is good and suspenseful with a few elements from the first two films connecting all three nicely. I wish there was an extended cut of the film with the extra footage that's shown only on FX.