Rattaya Nimibutr
Staff Writer
Review
No doubt Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is the mother of all horror films, giving Janet Leigh full reign on the blood-stained red carpet. Then came another road to horror-house fame by her daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, in the debut of what would become one of the scare classics of all time, Halloween.
But amid all that, the horror genre was soon washed away by a string of lifeless copycats. Through an endless array of meat cleavers, blood and gore, murder sprees on the big screen seemed pretty well exhausted - until the unexpected success of Scream. Then things started rolling again.
Then, once again, along came the wannabes (I Know What You Did Last Summer, Disturbing Behavior), which resuscitated the cheesy horror genre once again. After all of this, it's surprising, that Halloween: H20 is a reasonable fright fest with a few inventive licks up its sleeve.
Scream queen Curtis has been running for quite some time now, and here she is doing what she does best - getting chased by her infamous brother Michael Myers.
Curtis portrays Keri Tate, who was once known as Laurie Strode, the baby sitter who seemingly died last Halloween. It's 20 years later, and she's all grown up with a son on her own. The past, though, does not go away very easily.
Needless to say, the film is set on Halloween, when ghouls come out and little kids trick-or treat. Hold on to your pumpkins, people, Michael Myers is not giving up. (If he did, there wouldn't be a movie).
And his motive? Does it matter?
With the white mask and a large kitchen knife, Michael Myers never talks. He walks too slowly, but he walks like a stalker. He runs his knife across a victim's throat so you can feel the slice through your own flesh.
That may be a bit too cheesy for some hardened '90s moviegoers, but it's not how the movie goes or what it's about - it's simply Curtis screaming at the top of her lungs.
The lovely Leigh portrays Norma, Curtis' secretary who provides maternal advice. It may not be much, but seeing the two on screen together, especially in the type of film in which they both excel, is a treat.
The film runs under an hour and a half, during which you will get a full load of tell-me-when-he's-done-stabbing moments. Besides, you can only see someone running around with a knife for so long.
So there's murder, blood, screams, running in the dark, broken light bulbs - all a good scary flick could ask for. Don't worry, nothing is given away here. Just know Curtis still holds onto her crown as reigning scream queen.