Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later Steelbook - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later Steelbook



Movie:
4K Video:
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Audio:
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Movie
Sometimes I marvel at what movies Paramount chooses to put in their steelbook series. One week it's a brand new title that's never been released on Blu-ray before. Other times it's simply a repacking of a decade old Blu-ray, and other times it's a 4K upgrade to a film that was recently released on 4K by Scream Factory. In this case it's the last one. Paramount has decided to bring out one of the most under rated Halloween movies in the long franchise and spiff it up in 4K.

3 short years after the abysmal failure that was The Curse of Michael Myers the powers that be decided to scrap the idea of going forward with Michael being controlled by the Thorn cult, and instead decided to dig up the past. Talking Jamie Lee Curtis into reprising her role as Laurie Strode who has faked her own death, they tried to pull the old nostalgia bait (much like the new trilogy with Laurie is doing ever since the 2018 “sequel/reboot” films) in bringing the original back to play with Michael. In many ways it worked. The film is nothing like the last couple of films, but instead modernizes the concept of Michael Myers and uses a futuristic jump of 20 years to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of the first movie kicking off.

H20 starts out with Laurie Strode living incognito in Southern California as the head of a posh prep school. She’s grown up, gotten married (and divorced) and had a son named John (a baby faced Josh Hartnett) who is rebelling against his mother in every way he can. Laurie is not about to let go of the past, as she still suffers from memories of her brother Michael trying to kill her (many of the sequels alluded to the fact that Laurie was Michael’s younger sister, even though the original film never even hinted at it). However, despite her neurotic fears, she allows John to go out on a camping trip with his classmates and decides to have a romantic evening with her coworker Will (Adam Arkin).

Unbeknownst to her, John and his girlfriend (a baby faced Michelle Williams) and their friends have decided to play hooky from the camping trip and are getting ready to have their own Halloween party as teens. Well, Michael Myers decides it’s high time he introduces himself to the party, turning John and Laurie’s plans for a simple Halloween into a blood soaked nightmare.

H20 has a lot going for it. It’s simple, got some wicked kills, and has Jamie Lee Curtis reprising her role for the first time in about 18 years. It is most definitely a 90s slasher film though, as it has the standard teenage sub plot with John and Molly, as well as L.L. Cool J. making an obligatory cameo roll as the school’s security guard making wise cracks. Luckily it’s a short film, clocking in at 86 minutes INCLUDING credits, so there’s not a whole lot of fat on the corpse and keeps the adventure short and sweet. I guess this is one of the reasons why I have such a nostalgic pull for H20. It’s short, sweet, and has the kills you want without giving you any extraneous relationships or sub plots.




Rating:

Rated R for strong horror violence, and some sexuality





4K Video: Video:

It looks like Scream Factory was probably using the master provide to them by Paramount, as this looks REEEEALLY close to the Scream Factory disc. Like eerily so, except for a few minor teaks. As with the Scream release ,this has a very 1990s look to it, with a red push and boosted contrast levels, but with great color saturation and sparkling fine detail levels. There is no major crush or other arftifacts, and upon comparing bitrates side by side the Scream and the Paraount disc are NEARLY the same bitrate as well. There are two minor differences that make the paramount disc slightly better, and slightly worse at the samet time. the firsit is that the Scream Factory disc has a slightly strong push towards red, giving a ruddy look to skin tones and na slight bit more pop to primary red colors (such as blouses etc). The Paramount disc dials back that red push just a scosh, leaving us with a slightly more natural looking disc. ON the other hand, I swear that the Paramount disc looks like it has less grain in the image (though not by a large margin. It could simpy be margin of error when comparing the two discs) and as a result looks a bit smoother and cleaner. Honestly, both disc look really good in 4K, but I'd give the EVER so slightest edge to this Paramount disc simply due to the slightly dialed back red push.








Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track sounds just about IDENTICAL to the Scream factory release, so I'm guessing they used the same mix that Paramount provided, so my review is going to be pretty much identical to that review. It’s got a nice heft to it when the creepy score accentuates Michael’s rampage, and the surrounds are used quite actively throughout. Crunching glass, creaking doors, and the music flow effortlessly from front to back and create a well immersed horror flick I didn’t notice as much bass as I would have liked, but Michael crashing the dumb waiter, or the slamming of the van as it crushes Michael underneath it are more than weighty enough. The whole experience is rather atmospheric, and while not being a tippy top tier horror track, it’s well done from beginning to end.












Extras:

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Final Score: ​

Halloween: H20 was almost a one off sequel to the 2nd movie before the 2018 reboots did their thing. It bypassed basically every other Halloween film out there, got rid of the horrible occult plot points of the previous two, and actually made a 90s style slasher keeping true to the spirit of the original. It’s by no means some fantastic horror movie that transcends time and space, but out of the post 4th movie sequels it is probably the most polished and best done of them all. This 4K UHD disc looks and sounds really good, but is going to have some trade offs with the Scream Factory disc if you're deciding which one to buy. I would put the video scores and audio scores about on par with each other (little tweaks to the Paramount disc but nothing to really push the needle one way or the other), but this steelbook release comes with snazzy collectible packaging, while the Scream Factory release comes witha ton of extras (this one is literally barebones) as well as a remasterd Blu-ray while the Paramount release has no Blu-ray to make into a combo pack. Price wise the edge goes to this Steelbook as this movie is only housed in a Scream Factory boxset of the final 3 films, so you're forced to get the others as well (which in and of itself isn't a bad thing if you're collecting the series). Simply put, good looking/sounding disc that gives more options for those who want collectible packaging, or don't want the rest of the movies in the boxset. Recommended as a fun watch.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Josh Hartnett, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Adam Arkin, L.L. Cool J,. Michelle Williams
Directed by: Steve Miner
Written by: Robert Zappie
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, German DD 5.1, French DD 2.0
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, German, Mandarin
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Rated: R
Runtime: 86 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: September 26th, 2023

Recommendation: Fun Watch