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List Price: $39.99 | | Label: Buena Vista Home Video
Salesrank: 65706
Released: October 19, 1999 |
| Our Price: $9.38 |
| Used Price: $4.98 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial 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 humor and style, but it's all setup 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) costar, and the script received uncredited polish from Scream writer Kevin Williamson; Curtis's mom, Janet Leigh, pops up in a cameo. --Sean Axmaker
Halloween H2O Reviews:
Welcome back Jamie Lee!!!!!!!!!!!! 
2008-06-20 - Now THAT'S more like it!!!
After four horrendous sequels that made ZERO sense, Hollywood brings back Jamie Lee, pretends that parts 3 - 6 never happened and makes the best Halloween since part 2.
A brilliant continuation of the story line.
Expertly directed, superb acting, a great cast, even with Josh and his pillow fight hair.
LL rocks in this movie.
Start to finish a film FINALLY worthy of the Halloween name.
One again it should have ended after this but Hollyweird saw $$$ again, and we had to sit through the so so part 8.
This film however???
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
H2O: yes, maybe, no. 
2008-06-16 - I like this movie. Not the best one done of course, but it is passable.
Non canon, non enjoyable 
2008-04-20 - This was a strange move by Dimension, who had picked up the "Halloween" franchise. The first Dimension "Halloween", part 6 "The Curse Of Michael Myers", was a great film - before the last third was reshot due to the postfilming death of Donald Pleasance. In order to keep the series going, they needed a new ending, which almost destroyed the movie. Then they came out with this one, which bizarrely ignores everything that had happened in parts 4, 5 and their own 6 (in fact I believe "H20" also pretty much threw out part 2, but I'm not certain about it). And...why? To...accomplish what? I have no idea why Dimension, usually a first-rate company, would just give the middle finger to not only "Halloween" fans but also the artists who contributed to the series. Makes no sense.
Well, it may have been forgivable had "H20" been a great film. But it wasn't even a good film, and the much hyped return of Jamie Lee Curtis didn't amount to anything more than that, hype. "H20" is a mess of a movie, a standard glossy Hollywood shocker in that already dated "Scream" mold. There's a bunch of young actors and actresses doing absolutely nothing, and there's so many of those "fake scares" - I believe about 287 of 'em - that it simply becomes annoying in the extreme. "H20" is not only not scary, it's boring and irritating.
Most of the longtime "Halloween" fans don't consider "H20" or it's equally crappy followup "Halloween: Resurrection" to be canonical entries in the series; by ignoring the Myers mythology, what other conclusion can be drawn? And say what you will about Zombie's remake; at least it is a good, disturbing little flick. But "H20" and "Resurrection" are just terrible commercial products designed to make a quick buck.
Avoid.
H20 isn't a terrible movie, but it's mostly lackluster. 
2008-03-16 - Fans of the franchise are split on H20; some say it's the best sequel of the series that captures the style of the original and others disagree and say it's one of the weaker ones. In my opinion both of have some very valid points. Honestly I don't think this movie captured the style of the original at all. There are homage's, but paying homage doesn't make the movies in the same style. A lot of movies pay homage to other flicks, but that doesn't make them a like. H20 feels a lot more like a Scream movie rather than a Halloween movie. H20 to me is Scream guest starring Michael Myers.
One thing that a lot of people disliked is how H20 ignores 4-6, which a lot of people also were in favor of. The sequels by no means were perfect, but I personally find it a little annoying how a whole series of films were just ignored. And to be quite honest I don't think H20 was any better than 4-6. I do think it was sort of a slap in the face to those who supported the franchise over the years. H20 was made more for the Scream crowd. While the makers did try and also appeal to those like me who grew up with the series, it seems to me that a lot of the older fans like myself are the ones who normally dismiss H20 and the younger fans are much more accepting. Of course there are always exceptions to that.
The screenplay was written by Robert Zappia & Matt Greenberg, and you can clearly see the influence of Scream. Apparently executive producer Kevin Williamson did some un-credited writing and it very much shows. The dialogue is very much typical of 90s horror; it features characters who are a bit too witty in what they say and a little too smart for their own good. H20 is pretty much your typical 90s horror movie. By no means in H20 badly written it just follows the 90s horror movie format too much and really never tries to be different.
The script like I said wasn't bad, but it just doesn't fully work. The characters aren't bad, but the teenagers are the weakest link of the script. They just weren't interesting; the screenplay is at its best when it comes to the writing of the Laurie Strode character. That I thought was well written and interesting to see how Laurie is now 20-years later.
Director Steve Miner never really captures any real presence of dread and doom like the original did. The original was suspenseful from the beginning, middle to end. The same can't be said about H20 in my opinion. Honestly I thought Halloween 4 & 5 did a much better job at creating some dread and tension even the 6th I felt had more suspense actually. The problem is there are too many false set ups. So by the time anything does happen the power it might have had is pretty much gone.
I personally found the first half of H20 rather dull. Like the original Halloween after the opening we go a long stretch without a murder and the thing is in the original that worked due to the fact it was suspenseful. The stalking shots of Michael just watching and following Laurie were downright creepy. You always got that sense that something bad was gonna happen and John Carpenter held the viewers in suspense. But I never got that feeling in the first half of H20.
Steve Miner is a fairly good horror filmmaker, by no means is he one of the elite guys in the genre, but he has done some pretty good work and he's often over-looked. The problem is he really doesn't have a style of his own. His debut was Friday the 13th Part II, which I am a fan of, but all he really did was follow what Sean Cunningham did with the original; the pacing is the same and even some of the shot selections. In Friday the 13th Part III a film I like a lot, he pretty much followed what John Carpenter did with Halloween, but Miner was also able to inject his own style at times.
But with H20 what Miner does is take a little bit of what Carpenter did with Halloween and a lot of what Wes Craven did with Scream and the mixture of the two just didn't work. Miner didn't do terrible, but his scenes feel too much like a rehash of other horror movies with nothing really original to be found. Bottom line is H20 feels like every other slasher movie in the 90s, the scenes aren't bad, just feel like a rehash.
Like I said the first half for me lacked any suspense and tension so the lack of kill scenes really made it dull. To make a great horror movie you don't need to have murder after murder. Look at the original Halloween. Again that is a prime example of how to scare the audience with a low body count. Even in the other sequels as flawed as they are at least Michael was around. He was always there even if he didn't strike. The sequels may not be the most suspenseful horror movies, but at least there was an attempt at creating suspense.
Also with the false scares done so much by the time Michael does finally show up the movie loses a little bit of steam. The 2nd half though Miner fairs a bit better and is able to deliver some decent suspense. Of all the Halloween sequels, Steve Miner had the most experience at the time and had some experience is the slasher film, but I feel as if he was the wrong choice. I do like some of his work, but his vision for Halloween in my opinion just didn't work.
While I didn't hate H20 I can honestly say it's probably my least favorite of the series. There was potential here, but it was just off in my opinion. For me the movie never rises above being average at best. H20 is very much a product of it's time like I said it follows the standard 90s slasher movie format, I suppose one can say the sequels back in the 80s followed the format of an 80s slasher, which is true. But something about those I feel worked better. H20 was made by a Hollywood studio and it very much shows.
Though H20 wasn't a total letdown for me; I loved Jamie Lee Curtis in this movie and if not for her I probably would rate this movie lower. This is one of her finest performances. It was interesting seeing how the character has changed and H20 works best when she is the main focus. The teen characters just didn't interest me; I found them rather boring. The Laurie Strode character is about the only thing that works well and that is the main reason fans have responded to this. As great as Jamie Lee was the rest of the movie was just too average for her to really save.
H20 is the first Halloween movie without Donald Pleasence (of course not counting Halloween III). It was weird not seeing Pleasence as Dr. Loomis hunting Michael down. Sadly by this time Donald Pleasence had already passed away. As much as I love Jamie Lee and as much as I love the character, I think Pleasence was the heart and soul of this series and it just isn't the same without him.
While I do understand why so many fans responded so well to this movie, H20 though in the end does very little for me. I found it mostly dull with a few good scenes, but when all is said and done I was quite bored for the most part. I was able to tolerate H20, but I have found myself liking less and less over the years. I was never really a big fan of the movie to begin with even when it was first released, but over the years I seem to lose more and more patience with this one. Jamie Lee Curtis is the only saving grace.
The main reason for my 3-star rating even though this is more of a two star, is I rated some movies with 3-stars that I like less than H20. Also the 3-star rating is mostly for Jamie Lee. H20 isn't a terrible movie, but it's mostly lackluster.
Frighteningly Entertaining" and breathtaking"
2008-02-08 - "Michael Myers" returning after a 20 year absence, was every bit worth the wait! Jamie Lee Curtis, has taken the role of Laurie Strode and made it her own, and adding in the storyline, of Josh Hartnett Playing her son, was priceless. It grabs at your heart how she is always trying to warn everyone and no one believes her. Also bringing her real life mother Janet Leigh in, was an extra bonus no one expected, but loved!!! great addition to my collection!
