HALLOWEEN H20
Reviewed by Harvey Karten, Ph.D. Dimension Films Director: Steve Miner Writers: Robert Zappia, Matt Greenberg, Kevin Williamson Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Michelle Williams, Josh Hartnett, Adam Arkin, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, Adam Hann-Byrd,LL Cool J.
When John Carpenter's "Halloween" (also featuring Jamie Lee Curtis) hit the screens in 1978, it scared the heck out of people who thought they were too sophisticated to be fazed by horror films. Roger Ebert called it an "absolutely merciless thriller, a movie so violent and scary that I would compare it to 'Psycho.'" "Halloween" was about a six-year-old kid who commits a murder at the beginning of the movie and is counseled by a psychiatrist who recommends--as psychiatrists are not usually wont to do--that the kid stay in jail for a long long time. The kid's name is Michael Myers, he had killed his brother, and though he is thought to be dead, his sister, Laurie Strode, fears for her life. For two decades, Myers has not shown his face in town, seeming to confirm that he is no longer with us, but now, on October 31, 1998, he is doing what he does best. In his attempt to get at his sister, now in her late thirties and the head mistress of an exclusive prep school in California, he must first clear away a few other people whose predicament is that they are seen as buffers to the frightened and enraged Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). Some time back, Laurie had changed her name to Keri Tate, has been unsuccessful at fighting her problems with alcohol and prescription drugs, and is much too protective of her 17-year-old son, John (Josh Hartnett).
"Halloween H20" is yet another sequel that cannot match up to the glories of its precursor and, in fact, is considerably less hair-raising than recent horror films like "Scream," "Scream 2," and even "Mimic." Directed by Steve Miner--who is unable to mine the "Psycho"-like terror of John Carpenter's original, "Halloween H20" spends much of its brief 85 minutes' duration establishing the atmosphere of a quiet town which harbors the exclusive and secluded high school presided over by Keri Tate. She has taken a mere guidance counselor, Will Brennan (Adam Arkin) as a lover, and against the usual rules of pedagogy includes her own son in her literature class. The story, scripted by three people(!), strives for metaphoric content, highlighting a class discussion of the novel "Frankenstein" (which only one student seems to have read), but otherwise lays no claim to cerebral satisfactions.
Several flaws are responsible for this picture's relative lack of nail-biting tension. For one, Miner has mined the conventions of the genre leaving little for originality. Principal among these protocols is the repetition of false alarms, as when a guy would seeming sneak up to a potential victim, lay his hand on her shoulder, and amid her screams turn out to be no-one more dangerous than the next-door neighbor. For another, the chief villain, Michael Myers (Chris Durand), commits his murders purely for reasons never known to the audience. He may be having fun as he butchers his victims, but given the white Halloween mask he never removes, we see no expression on his face when he commits mayhem, nor do we know a thing about him except that he's a psycho. He has no conscience and presumably feels no pain; so where is the thrill of acquiring retribution over him?
Like other creeps in the genre, this mosntrous guy never runs after his intended victims but rather walks like the Frankenstein monster and as a result misses out on some juicy killings; nor does he make his profession easier by using anything more lethal than a kitchen knife. Only one murder is shown in vivid, close-up horror; that of quarry who does not simply roll over and die when stabbed but who actually has frightening tremors during his brief but eerie death-rattle.
LL Cool J plays a nice guy, a security guard who is an aspiring novelist and spends much time on duty phoning his woman with chapters from his salacious works-in-progress. He's not the sort of fellow whom the audience would allow to be sliced up, so not to worry. As the high school sweethearts John and Molly, Josh Hartnett and Michelle Williams are from stereotype city. John does not exactly get a chance to shine when he's given lines like "Mom, you've got to let me live my own life." As the adult sweethearts, Tate and Brennan seem made for each other. Tate, an alcoholic prone to hysteria, is too flawed to sympathize with, and Brennan turns in a stick-like performance this time around. What's more Steve Miner gives us a teasing glimpse of what he could have done with this movie by flashing a few seconds of "Scream" on the teens' TV screen; "Do you want to die tonight?" Now that's scary.
Rated R. Running time: 85 minutes. (C) Harvey Karten 1998
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