It’s been 20 years since that fateful Halloween night that Michael terrorized Haddonfield and Laurie Strode, now he’s back to once again try and finish what he started.
Forget the Halloween films 3-6, this film is a sequel to the first 2 films. Laurie is now Keri Tate, to try and protect her from Michael and also to protect her son John Tate (Josh Hartnett). She’s now the headmaster of a private boarding school and is still in trauma about what happened, when Halloween time rolls round, she becomes a mess.
The story revolves around Michael hunting down Laurie/Keri and also John and His friends who are celebrating Halloween unknown to everyone else who think they are away on a school trip, and as it turns out it was a bad decision.
The film isn’t too bad, it’s not the greatest but it’s great to see Laurie and Michael together on screen again and the effect Michael still has on her. The cast wasn’t brilliant but it’s all about Michael & Laurie,
Despite not playing character for nearly 20 years Jamie Lee Curtis slips perfectly back into her role as Laurie and you still feel for her character, you feel remorse for her as no matter what she just can’t get away from Michael.
Like I said earlier it wasn’t the greatest casting, I personally have never been a fan of Josh Hartnett & you’ve also got musician LL Cool J who isn’t the best actor. the film does focus to much on the supporting cast but you realize it’s all just a big build up to final fight of Laurie & Michael, with a great ending!
Throughout the whole film you get this feeling like something’s missing, then it hits you, there’s no Dr. Loomis, and you feel his presence is missed, but I’m glad they didn’t try to replace him with a different actor.
No it isn’t the best film in the “Halloween” franchise, but you get what they were trying to do and be honest, it’s the film we all wanted to see!
Miscellaneous facts about the film:
Charles S. Dutton originally had a small role in the film as a detective, however his part was removed as script rewrites came in.
During the scene where Norma is leaving, she stands in front the car from Psycho. The music playing in the background at this part is also from Psycho. Janet Leigh, who plays Norma, played Marion in Psycho. The license plate on the car is also the same as the second car Marion buys in Psycho, NFB 418, which are Norman Bates’ initials.
On the television in the girls’ room a clip from Scream 2 is showing, reciprocating numerous Halloween references and clips in Scream. However, according to producer Moustapha Akkad when the scene was filmed, the girls were actually watching So I Married An Axe Murderer, making an entirely different joke: a movie featuring Michael Myers had its characters watching Mike Myers. The clip was changed to Scream 2 in post-production.
When Molly is in the classroom, she spots Michael outside the school and gets interrupted by the teacher, and when she looks again he is gone, just like Jamie Lee Curtis did in Halloween.
The director and writers decided to treat this movie as if Halloweens 3-6 never took place. This was a decision made to keep the plot simple and focus on the Laurie character.
When Jamie Lee Curtis’ character says, “go down the street to the Beckers…” this was supposed to refer to the line from Halloween (1978), “go down the street to the McKenzie’s house…” The name was changed to Becker, which was the last name of Drew Barrymore’s character in Scream.
In certain scenes, Michael can be seen wearing two different masks. The director decided well into production, to go with a different mask, so certain scenes were re-shot. Some scenes with the original mask can still be seen, and in one shot it had to be altered with CGI to replace Michael’s old mask with the new one.
The line “everyone is entitled to one good scare” is said by Norma to Laurie. Sheriff Brackett (Charles Cypers) originally said it in the first Halloween.
In the original Halloween when Laurie is in class we hear the teacher talking about fate. In Halloween H20 when Laurie is teaching, Michelle Williams gives an answer about fate.
The reports that Kevin Williamson’s original treatment for “H20” included a scene in which “Halloween 4” through “6” are acknowledged as being “in continuity” and “canon” are completely accurate. The scene did exist, and involved a bitchy student at Keri/Laurie’s school giving a class report on the “Haddonfield Murders”, and going into great detail about Jamie Lloyd, Danielle Harris and JC Brandy’s character from “Halloween 4” through “6”. The student talks about Jamie losing her parents in an auto accident, as was the explanation in those sequels for Laurie Strode’s absence. (In fact, the only reason for Laurie to be in the Witness Production Program with her son under an assumed name as “Keri Tate” at all was because the original story for “H20” was conceived like this, with “Halloween 4” through “6” in continuity, and Williamson thus being required to create an explanation for Laurie’s “death” in the previous movies and her subsequent resurrection.) The student’s report chronicles Jamie’s being hunted and eventually killed by her uncle, Michael Myers. Upon hearing this oral presentation in the classroom, a grief-stricken Keri/Laurie then retreats to a restroom and throws up. This scene was of course omitted from the actual film.
The original treatment for “H20” by Kevin Williamson was much more sparse on character detail and had a radically different ending. In the place of Nancy Stephens’ character of Marion Whittington in the trademark “Williamson opener”, a new character was originally to be created, “Rachel Loomis”, apparently Dr. Sam Loomis’ daughter, who would have the computer files on Laurie Strode/Keri Tate on her home computer. Rachel would come home to discover her computer on, and would swiftly be dispatched by the Shape. Also, in the climax of the treatment, there is a massive helicopter and bus chase sequence, culminating in the downed helicopter spinning out of control and decapitating the Shape with its out of control rotor a la “Mission: Impossible”.
The movie was made after a suggestion by Jamie Lee Curtis. She wanted to “20-year Anniversary” movie with John Carpenter, but the director declined.
P.J. Soles was originally approached for the role of Keri Tate’s/Laurie Strode’s secretary. Soles never gave a straight answer as to what she wanted to do, skeptical about returning to the series as someone completely different then her character Lynda, originally killed off in Halloween. She eventually lost the role to Jamie Lee Curtis’s mother, Janet Leigh, who was approached after not getting an answer from Soles.
On one of the newspaper clippings seen during the opening credits, a picture of Dr. Sam Loomis can be seen. The character was featured in the previous Halloween films, and was portrayed by Donald Pleasance.
The phrase “Do as I say” is spoken twice by Laurie while escorting the students to safety. This same line was spoken to the children in the original Halloween movie.
Josh Hartnett’s film debut.
During the credits in the prologue, Dr. Samuel J. Loomis’ dialog from the first film about Michael’s incarceration is heard. The studio, instead of recovering the original audio from the original scene, decided to use a sound-alike actor named Tom Kane to provide the voice-over.
Director Steve Miner also directed two films in another popular horror series: Friday The 13th Part’s 2 & 3
One of the masks used from Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers, was used for the first scene appearance of Michael Myers.
In the scene where Janet Leigh’s character speaks to Laurie, she says “If I may offer some maternal advice…” Laurie is played by Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh’s daughter.
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It’s been 20 years since that fateful Halloween night that Michael terrorized Haddonfield and Laurie Strode, now he’s back to once again try and finish what he started.
The story revolves around Michael hunting down Laurie/Keri and also John and His friends who are celebrating Halloween unknown to everyone else who think they are away on a school trip, and as it turns out it was a bad decision.
Despite not playing character for nearly 20 years Jamie Lee Curtis slips perfectly back into her role as Laurie and you still feel for her character, you feel remorse for her as no matter what she just can’t get away from Michael.
Throughout the whole film you get this feeling like something’s missing, then it hits you, there’s no Dr. Loomis, and you feel his presence is missed, but I’m glad they didn’t try to replace him with a different actor.