2018 is a big year forHalloween.John Carpenter’s iconic slasher film celebrates it’s 40th anniversary this October. That same month,David Gordon Greenreboots the franchise anew with a sequel that rewrites Laurie Strode’s history, shelving everything after the end of the first film. But lest we forget, it’s also the 20th anniversary of anotherHalloweensequel that pulled the same trick, 1998’sHalloween H20, which arrived in theaters 20 years after the original (hence that horrible title) and broughtJamie Lee Curtisback to the franchise for the first time since 1981’sHalloween IIby ignoring all the sequels that came after.
In essence,Halloween H20took the franchise back to basics; the old-school essentials from the original slasher craze. Curtis' return as Laurie Strode wasn’t just a momentous occasion for fans, it underscored a decision to wipe out the doomsday cults, psychic powers, and all the wild diversions that fueled Michael Myers’ journey through five sequels and countless victims.Halloween H20was all about getting back the simplicity: Laurie Strode vs. her crazy, kitchen-knife-wielding brother.
Of course, Laurie wasn’t a precocious teenager any more. By the time we catch up with her inH20, she’s a grown woman, a mother, and a survivor. A functioning alcoholic, Laurie is mostly coping with her PTSD — she sustains a romantic relationship, a career as the dean of a private school, and she’s raising a son, John (Josh Hartnett). But the cracks are showing, particularly in her relationship with John, who naturally bucks at her paranoid helicopter parenting. He’s a good kid, more Laurie than Michael if we’re picking a branch on the family tree, but he’s a teenager in need of freedom, and when he and his friends sneak past school security to skip a field trip,H20sidesteps the retro slasher vibe and leans into the trends of the contemporary teen slashers that dominated theatrical horror in the 1990s.
That makesHalloween H20a fascinating piece of cinema that somehow encapsulates decades' worth of slasher aesthetic into a single, slightly sloppy, but mostly effective horror movie. Heavily rewritten from a script and story byRobert Zappia,H20 recruited 90s horror heavyweightKevin Williamson(who also wroteScream,I Know What You Did Last SummerandThe Faculty) to bring his signature touch, ensuring thatH20feels like a prime product of its era (well, that and the cast of familiar teen heartthrobs and WB stars). While the dialogue may not be self-aware and meta on the level ofScreamor evenThe Faculty,H20represents a crescendo in the intertextual trends of the era; a self-contained crystallization of the slasher genre that’s equal parts reboot, sequel, and sometimes even a bit of a remake.
H20doesn’t just nod to Carpenter’s original, it often mirrors it directly. Take, for instance, the sequence where Molly (Michelle Williams) spots Michael Myers for the first time, glimpsing him out her classroom window. It’s a near copycat of the scene where Laurie spies The Shape inHalloween, even down to the on-the-nose lectures about fate from the instructors. ExceptH20inverts it and makes it a piece of self-commentary, because the instructor is Laurie, lecturing Molly on taking responsibility for your monsters, even as she fears her brother may be coming back to town at any moment. There’s also the return (and demise) Marion Chambers, former nurse ofDonald Pleasance’s franchise icon Sam Loomis.
In this way,H20serves dual functions throughout its runtime. It is, first and foremost, aHalloweensequel, focused on Laurie’s journey from victim to survivor, culminating in a rousing, all-timer climax that would have gone down as a franchise great if the money men hadn’t decided they needed another sequel. At the same time, it’s reboot, saying goodbye to the paranormal trappings of the franchise’s 1980s output and leaning into the stylish, fast-talking teens of the 90s slasher. They even watchScream 2in the background – a film that landed in theaters less than one year beforeH20. The characters may not spout their knowledge of horror tropes a la Randy Meeks, but the movie winks and nods at the in-the-know audience members.
For another standout example, look to the appearance ofPsychostarJanet Leigh, Jamie Lee Curtis' mother, who cameos as school secretary Norma (wink wink). “We’re all entitled to one good scare,” she tells Laurie (a line from the original Halloween) before walking off to a car that has the same license plate seen inPsycho. Oh, and thePsychoscore plays in the background. It’sa lotof slasher legacy pinned into one tiny scene, a passing of the baton between two generations of horror royalty.
On top of it all,Halloween H20is directed bySteve Miner, who previously helmed two installments of another iconic slasher franchise –Friday the 13th– and brings a distinct schlocky slasher vibe to the film’s kills and visual style. Sometimes it doesn’t work, especially when it comes to capturing the magic of Michael Myers' chilling movements. But sometimes, it’s a perfect hybrid ofHalloweenthrills andFriday the 13thkills, especially the image ofJoseph Gordon-Levittwith an ice skate through the face. That’s got Jason Voorhees written all over it.
Ultimately,Halloween H20plays like a love letter to slasher movies, which reflects back on phases in the genre from Hitchcock’sPsychothrough the legacy of the boom in the late 70s and 80s, all the way up to the second wave slasher craze in the 90s. Part sequel, part self-aware remake,H20It’s a like a house of mirrors that’s always reflecting on itself with influences and in-references, and that love for the genre from which its born helps make the movie one of the bestHalloweensequels in the bunch. Yes, even with that shot of the CGI mask.
