This is the sequel we have been waiting for! After a little slump with Halloween 5, I think a lot of Halloween fans were worried that the Halloween franchise was going to be like the typical Friday the 13th series, that as the sequels went on the stories would just get worse and worse. Why is Halloween H20 different and better than the other sequels? Because they went back into their roots, most sequels loose touch with what the original movie was trying to produce and get into goofy characters. This movie delivers in perfect scares, the story is awesome, and we have Jamie Lee Curtis back! What more could we ask for? I do have to admit that there was a disappointment that they killed the original nurse from the first Halloween movie, but the way Michael did it was classic. This is my favorite Halloween sequel because Michael is back and he's scarier than ever. We have some new great actors like Josh Hartnett, Michelle Williams and even LLCoolJ was fun to have around, they were all great additions to our Halloween story.

The movie features the return of Laurie Strode, now revealed to be living under the assumed name "Keri Tate". As Tate, Laurie has a seemingly perfect life with an intelligent son and a boyfriend, a great career; however, Laurie is far from happy. The tragic events from 20 years previous still haunt her mind, and strongly take effect on her parental capabilities. To everyone, this is "just another Halloween," however Laurie still lives in constant fear. But this year is different. Marion Chambers and her neighbors are murdered by Michael after he steals a file on Laurie Strode. Michael leaves to find Laurie. To mark the 20th anniversary of the happenings of 1978, her brother, Michael Myers, appears, and starts killing off her co-workers and students one by one. And for the first time in two decades, they meet again. Laurie escapes, but chooses to go back to the school to challenge Michael in a fight to the death. She finds him and attempts killing him several times. But after all, this is Michael Myers, after several sequels you know it isn't going to be that easy.

Halloween H20 is a great sequel that is sure to give you good scares, laughs, and it keeps you interested. This is one of those rare movies that made me cover my eyes in terror, I know it sounds a little cheesy, but when Laurie is having a bad flash of Michael coming towards her and she keeps trying to close her eyes and say it's just a dream, but she opens them and he's still walking towards her, yikes! Also I absolutely LOVED the ending, this was a great closure to the series, even though sadly they created another sequel, I just have to forget about that one because this is the way they should just leave the Halloween franchise. So not only would I recommend this movie if you were looking to complete the Halloween series, but just watch it in general, this movie goes back to the basics and is just a great movie. It was a lot of fun to watch and see Michael terrorizing the new cast, even after 20 years he's still got the touch to even make us sympathize with him, ooooo, Michael, where will you take us next? Well, hopefully a much better sequel then what I had to put up with in 2002.

8/10

John Carpenter's 1978 'Halloween' is wholly deserving of its status as a horror classic. To this day it's still one of the freakiest films personally seen and introduced the world to one of horror's most iconic villainous characters Michael Myers.

Which is why it is such a shame that not only are all of the sequels nowhere near as good but that the decline in quality is so drastic. Ok, the original 'Halloween' is very difficult to follow on from, but most of the sequels could at least looked like effort was made into them. The exception however is 'Halloween H20: 20 Years Later'. It's not perfect and nowhere near as great as the original, but it's the only sequel that's above average, let alone good and by far the best since the original. It does a great job breathing fresh life into a series that had gotten stale as quick as one can down a can of coke gone flat and such a welcome addition after the badness of the fifth and sixth films.

'Halloween H20: 20 Years Later' has its flaws. It is too short and at times erratically paced, sometimes rushed and then taking a bit of time to get going after the opening. There is not enough breathing room for development of characterisation, which generally is shallow apart from the central relationship and the script tends to be weak (not unexpected, though actually it's far worse in the previous sequels, at least it sounds complete).

On the other hand, 'Halloween H20: 20 Years Later' is the best-looking of the sequels, the first half in particular being close in style to the autumnal look of the original, something that none of the previous sequels did. The editing is coherent, it's not shot too darkly and there is an eeriness to the setting which can be properly appreciated as a result. The music is a welcome return to being an asset than a drawback like in the previous two sequels. While not quite a character of its own like in the original, it adds to the atmosphere and enhances it.

Luckily there's nowhere near as much unintentional camp, out of place humour or bizarre subplots or idea that muddle the story. Instead much of the film is fun and there is a tension, creepiness and suspense, even poignancy at times, that the previous sequels were sorely lacking in. The deaths are the most creative and shocking since those in the original, while the opening scene is unsettlingly tense and the ending is creepy and touching. The central relationship is handled quite well.

Although the characters are underdeveloped, none of them are annoying and they do have enough personality to stop them from being too dull. The direction is in control of the material and is at least competent and often well above that, especially in the second half when the film really does come alive. Of the sequels, 'Halloween H20: 20 Years Later' is by quite some way the best acted, Jamie Lee Curtis' wonderful performance being the film's best asset.

In summary, the best of the sequels/follow ups and worth the wait. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Yet another HALLOWEEN sequel, this one directed by Steve Miner, the guy responsible for Friday the 13th Part 2 and HOUSE. As to be expected, it's not much cop, following the modern horror conventions too closely and therefore failing to generate any surprise or thrills by the fact that we already know what's coming. The plot is terrible, with events which occur not being explained or explainable, and details being passed by or glossed over in favour of dumping the cast and the killer in a deserted school.

Watching this film, you will spot many take-offs of other movies (Michelle Williams looking out of the window and seeing Michael just like Curtis did in HALLOWEEN). The director would call these "homages", I myself call them "lack of ideas". Also, surprisingly, there are many continuity errors and mistakes. I wish they could have taken a little more time to polish things instead of rushing this out and leaving all the errors in, it really makes the editors look incompetent.

While no actor is particularly bad, nobody really shines in this film. Adam Arkin (in some medical television series I believe) is pretty bland as Curtis' grey-haired lover who wears jumpers just like my old grandad. LL Cool J lends some comic relief as he recites erotic stories to his wife on the phone, but this humour is out of place in a HALLOWEEN film and just doesn't fit. Can someone explain to me how he was shot seven or eight times (twitching as the bullets entered his body) and yet manages to survive? The last we see of him is his corpse, laying in a pool of blood and riddled with bullets, then he returns at the end to tell us that the bullets only 'grazed' him. Yeah, right.

The young cast are all pretty bad and sort of merge into one, nobody is memorable. Michelle Williams is in fact awful as a female token love interest, but to be fair she is given literally nothing to do in the story apart from run around. The only one who's at least partially adequate is Josh Hartnett who plays Laurie's tough son, he manages to be both believable and likable. Unfortunately he is in it too little, as Jamie Lee Curtis dominates the film. Much has been made of how Curtis puts in a brilliant portrayal of an alcoholic woman plagued by nightmares, but to be honest she wasn't that brilliant. Good, perhaps, but not brilliant, and her performance was definitely not enough to make this film into a classic.

Which leaves us with Michael himself. Once again he's played by a different actor and he's even more absurd this time around, with his spiky hair bushing around the sides of his mask. Excuse me? Not the Michael I know, get yourself a haircut man. Unfortunately the camera dwells on his eyes far too often, making him not in the least bit scary, for as they say, the eyes are the windows to the soul. The murders are all clichéd and generic, the only good bit being where a girl has her leg broken and nearly ripped off. Otherwise it's the typical slashings and stabbings which we've seen millions of in these past few years.

Leave it to Kevin Williamson to pepper the film with unwanted in-jokes. Janet Leigh has the PSYCHO music playing, while characters watch SCREAM and SCREAM 2 on televisions. These I could have done without; this is meant to be a horror film, not a comedy horror like SCREAM was. What an arrogant fellow that Williamson seems to be. There are other elements which are pretty nauseating too, like a poor actor doing an impression of Donald Pleasence (they dedicated the film to him, but managed to spell his name wrong in the process!). HALLOWEEN H20: TWENTY YEARS LATER is better than the previous sequel (thanks to a refreshingly short running time),but even so it's only average at best, marred by one too many false jumps and a lack of real scares.