Now, thanks to a raid on the
house of nurse Chambers (Nancy Stephens, resuming the role
she essayed in the first two movies) he learns his sister’s whereabouts and sets off to finish what
he started all those years ago.
At the time of its original release, my opinion on this film
was l ukewarm, feeling they had
‘Scream-ed’ it up too much, but
I’ve grown to admire it over the
years. It stands out as the best
of the ‘90s cycle of post-Scream
slashers, though admittedly
that’s not much of an accolade.
Apart from some annoying racial stereotyping there’s nothing to irritate fans of the series.
There are minor details, such as
a return to the original style of
mask and Mr. Sandman playing
over the opening, that go a long
way towards sating us Halloween nuts. The teen characters
never get too irritating and are
swept aside for the movie’s final
20 minutes, setting up a thrilling
game of cat and mouse between
Myers and his long-suffering sister. Miner does a solid job directing these sequences and gives
us one of the best visual motifs
of the entire series when Curtis
slams a door in front of Myers
and the two stare at each other
through a port-hole shaped
window. Durand’s portrayal of
Michael Myers is second only
to Nick Castle’s in the original,
playing the killer with the anger
and impatience of someone who
just wants to swat a fly that won’t
leave his kitchen.
Halloween H20 is a must watch
for anyone who loves good old
fashioned stalkin’ and slashin’.
With the series now back on
track would more thrilling installments await us? Err…
4 stars out of 5
NewJerseyStage.com
2015 - ISSUE 10
58