10 Things You Learn Rewatching Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)

When Jamie Lee Curtis originally had the idea for doing a twentieth-anniversary film, she wanted to bring the entire team from the original film, director John Carpenter very much included. But alas, Carpenter had little interest in returning to the franchise at the time and even less interest after he and long-time franchise producer Moustapha Akkad had some substantial financial disagreements.

So the production was left to another veteran of the genre, Steve Miner. Miner's directorial debut was Friday the 13th Part II, the first entry in that franchise to introduce Jason as the central antagonist, and a film that borrowed heavily from Carpenter's original Halloween in more than a few ways.

Thus, seeing a Miner-directed Halloween sequel is a bit of a full-circle moment for him and to his immense credit, Miner owns it. He brings the energy and craft from his early Friday the 13th sequels over to this franchise and they fit like a glove.

One of Miner's more distinctive tricks has always been the use of long takes during set-ups to familiarize the audience with the geography of the setting and the characters themselves. And Halloween H20 features some of the strongest results this trick has ever yielded.

He's certainly no Carpenter but Miner holds his own here, doing an admirable job of holding down the fort.