Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)★★★☆☆

First of all, I’ll admit right now that I haven’t seen any of the other Halloween sequels, so I’m probably missing some context. That said, you could watch this movie on its own and still follow along with the story.

Of course, having seen the original, I was happy to see Jamie Lee Curtis reprising her role as Laurie Strode in this one. I also appreciated the few nods to Hitchcock’s Psycho – most notably casting Janet Leigh (star of Psycho and real-life mother to Jamie Lee Curtis) as Norma.

I also liked the “and introducing Josh Hartnett” in the opening credits, which felt like a nod to the original (which introduced Jamie Lee Curtis). And the fact that Josh Hartnett was in this, I suppose. Actually, this was full of late ’90s stars…Jodi Lynn O’Keefe…Michelle Williams…LL Cool J.

Speaking of LL Cool J, can we talk about his character Ronny? The security guard with a heart of gold and a desire to break into the writing business with what’s basically soft core erotica. What are those called? Harlequin romance novels? There was SO MUCH CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT for Ronny. I mean, he’s likable, yes, but all that build up just for…well, I won’t spoil it for you if you’re interested.

This isn’t a bad movie but it’s another one that feels really long. There’s the opening sequence and then it felt like nothing scary happened until more than halfway through the film. Oh, that’s not entirely true. The rest stop scene was pretty scary for a cheap trick.

I liked the ending to this movie but probably could have done without the rest of it. If you’re watching all movies in this franchise, you don’t have to skip this one…and if you’re not, skipping it is probably your best option.