Halloween Week: Halloween: H20

Hello there all and welcome back to Halloween Week. Well it is time. The time in which I speak of is to basically ignore all avenues of 4, 5, and even 6 as they did not appear relevant in regards to this upcoming chapter in the Myers saga. Now that the pesky Jamie has been removed from the franchise... horrifically I might add, we get back to the lone survivor of the first two Halloweens. Laurie Strode. "But Jake, she died in a car accident leaving Jamie all alone to fend for herself against her insane uncle,." Nay, horror fan boys and girls, for it appears in the grand scheme of plot point that she faked her death in order to hide from Michael and raise her other child. This is Halloween: H20.

Yarrrgh, there be a slasher on port!

Marion Chambers (Nancy Stephens of Charlie's Angels, Barnaby Jones, Panic in Echo Park, Halloween, Halloween II and A Time for Dancing), the late Doctor Loomis's nurse and colleague has had her house in Illinois broken into as her neighbors' kids go and search the house to find nothing but a few things trashed. Satisfied with that respond she goes and sorts what happened as her medical files have been rummaged through, specifically Laurie Strode's old files. When she goes to check on the hockey hooligans they are all sprawled dead on the couch and she herself gets her throat slit by Michael.

Since 1988, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis of The Fog, Terror Train, Prom Night, Halloween II, A Fish Called Wanda, Forever Young, True Lies and NCIS) has hidden herself and her infant son of one year after Jamie was born in California. With accredited academics and forged documents she has re-emerged as Keri Tate, a respected headmistress of a posh private school in California where she attempts to keep her life together for the sake of her son John (Josh Hartnett of The Faculty, Blow Dry, Pearl Harbor, Blackhawk Down, 40 Days and 40 Nights and 30 Days of Night) who has grown distant from her as he does not approve of her functioning alcoholism and prescription pill popping. As this is a result of surviving that Halloween night of more than 20 people butchered at the hands of her brother, you can understand how she may be a little edgy every Halloween but the boy wants to hang with his girlfriend on the camping trip. 

 When that is a bust the teen gang decides to remain on campus for a private party of their own. Molly (Michelle Williams of Dawson's Creek, A Thousand Acres, Dick, But I'm a Cheerleader and Me Without You), John's girlfriend agrees with a couple other friends that they will sneak around to the campus and get their drink and fornication on!!! Hey, trying to keep it PG-13 here.

Tee hee, we're toast.

With everyone away for the holidays, out on the camping trip and in general enjoying time away from school the campus is as still as a tomb. Laurie/Keri thinks she is hallucinating as she swears she saw Michael stalking her throughout the day. Confessing to her colleague/boyfriend Will (Adam Arkin of Chicago Hope, 8 Simple Rules, The West Wing, Baby Bob and Hitch) that she is not who she claims to be, about Michael and all the horror of that night, he takes it surprisingly well. Me, I think I need more than a fade wipe to mull my thoughts over this new info.

No sooner as the night fallen that Michael is on the prowl, dispatching a few guards, groundskeeper and personnel left and right that Laurie must dig down deep and take Michael head to head for the sake of her son's life and possibly her sanity. Will Laurie defeat Michael after so many have tried and failed? Will she ever have a normal life again? Will John be as messed up as anyone else associated with the Myers bloodline?

A few comments of trivia about this film in a moment. I had a slight rant to this particular film. While this screen treatment feels like you should be ignoring anything that happened from 4 and on they really kept pushing the envelope in reminding you of the first two films with lifting dialogue uttered by Donald Pleasence during the latter opening credit sequence after the first 4 deaths to using the line, "Well it's Halloween. I guess everyone is entitled to one good scare." My biggest bee in my bonnet (Other than what ass put me in a bonnet) is the lack of continuity already established by the last three movies and how this film seemed almost like we should sweep those movies under the rug. Other reviewers speculate it is a divergent or alternative timeline from the other movies. Frankly, just point out Laurie wanted a boy and not a girl, faked her death and went off to live out the days with her son. See? No mystery and maybe a bad parent story line in the wings.

So we have cliches' like horror movie characters watching a horror movie during our film, reminding you there may be better flicks out there I am guessing or that this is all Sam Raimi and Wes Craven's fault for starting this trend in horror movies. Initially, Jamie Lee Curtis wanted to work with John Carpenter for H20 but he declined due to lack of interest in the existing project any longer. Of the unmentioned alumni of this movie I must not forget the original scream queen Janet Leigh, L.L.Cool J, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Jodi Lyn O' Keefe. Not a bad flick but I have to say not one of my favorites of the franchise.

Ever been with a scream queen, baby?