Momentous Occasion: Halloween H20 - 20 Years Later (1998)

My dear readers, though one would find me deeply abashed if this publication were to decline into little more than a wearisome recital of our own accomplishments, I cannot resist devoting some small portion of this entry to acknowledging that this is our 50th review since Mostmortem opened its digital doors just over a year ago. While I admit that this is certainly a fine accomplishment, it does, however, put a bit of strain on your gentle reviewer to replicate the formula that has brought us this far. I must confess I have not always succeeded in overcoming the anxiety that accompanies the height of expectation and I still remember the fit of nerves that overtook me when I was asked to lead my first Ancestral Ceremony. I was perspiring most terribly and my clammy condition caused the hand-inked text to blur, rendering the script illegible and condemning Ta’Yhul the Dreamer to another century of slumber. As you can imagine, I still get quite the ribbing when this little anecdote is passed around at family gatherings.

I suspect killing machine Michael Myers felt a similar pressure to perform on his own anniversary and as the walking personification of evil, the pressure is great indeed. Halloween H20: 20 Years Later takes place, as the title plainly suggests, two decades after the his first full-scale suburban assault and Michael is understandably careful about choosing his primary victim. So relentless is his pursuit that he spends the first third of the film in vehicular transit, crossing the country in not just one but two different pilfered automobiles and treating audiences to the sight of silent stalker Michael Myers hitting the old blacktop on a cross-country road trip.

But eventually, Michael does home in on his ideal target and for this momentous occasion, he decides to return to his roots and chase after Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), his sister and most elusive prey. Since we have last seen her, Laurie has transformed, almost butterfly-like, from a traumatized teenager into a fully functional alcoholic. She has a fancy title at a posh boarding school and even a spiffy new identity for keeping any stalkers off her scent. But Michael is an awfully determined antagonist and eventually he finds not only Laurie but also John (Josh Hartnett), her little scamp of a son. This family reunion turns violent rather quickly and after many a collateral victim, matters come quite literally to a head.

Michael Myers making the most of his storage space

While I have no outward intentions of ever abandoning my post at Mostmortem, I cannot deny that there may come a fearful time when some sort of life-altering cataclysm or shortage of internet access will tear me from this enterprise. If such a fate were ever to befall our humble publication, I can only hope that the final contributions would leave you, our most deserving public, feeling that the whole business had been wrapped up rather tidily. My feelings on the Halloween series are quite comparable. I cannot ever imagine wishing an end to so fulfilling a franchise, especially mere days before Ms. Curtis returns to the role to mark yet another anniversary. But if the winning tales of Michale Myers and his dogged persistence had come to a premature conclusion, I imagine I would have found myself contented with the ending presented here. When my critical endeavors eventually come to a close, I can only hope that someone will lob off my head in so definitive and satisfactory a fashion.

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later runs 86 minutes and is rated R for terror, violence, gore and language.