Halloween H20: 20 Years Later *** (1998, Jamie Lee Curtis, Josh Hartnett, Adam Arkin) – Classic Movie Review 649

The seventh Halloween movie from 1998 sees Jamie Lee Curtis back as Laurie Strode for the first time since Halloween 2 in 1981 to celebrate the original Halloween movie’s 20th birthday.

As you no doubt remember, on Halloween 1963 Michael Myers murdered his sister Judith and in 1978 broke out of his mental institution to kill his other sister, Laurie Strode. He killed all her friends, but she escaped and a few years later, she faked her death so he couldn’t find her.

Laurie’s now got a new identity as the dean of a Californian private school, living (in fear) as Keri Tate with her grown-up son, John (Josh Hartnett, in his film debut aged 20), when unstoppable serial killer Michael Myers (Chris Durand) returns to find her and kill her and slaughter another gang of hapless teens.

Surprisingly, this thoroughly professional piece of work is a pretty fair attempt at reviving the formula, with enough scares, shocks, blood, guts and excitement to satisfy fans of horror and the series.

Director Steve Miner has a cameo as the school’s financial adviser. The story and screenplay are by Robert Zappia, with Matt Greenberg.

Adam Arkin, Michelle Williams, LL Cool J, Jodi Lyn O’Keefe, Adam Hann-Byrd, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Curtis’s real-life mother Janet Leigh also star. Both Jamie Lee Curtis’s parents attended the film’s premiere, separately, Tony Curtis with a very tall blonde.

Next: Halloween: Resurrection in 2002. It just goes to show you can’t keep a great movie monster down.

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