Making up the tail end of the original franchise run, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who considers Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later, or Halloween: Resurrection to be among the best of the Halloween series. Released between 1995 and 2002, the films’ largely futile attempts to make sense of an increasingly knotty timeline did little to stall the once-beloved franchise’s slow slide into irrelevancy, and though H20 did provide the series with a jolt thanks to the return of Jamie Lee Curtis for her (at the time) final showdown with The Shape, the saga came to an ignominious end when Resurrection threw away whatever goodwill the previous film had inspired, leaving the series dormant until it was rebooted in 2007. Yet, to be a horror fan is to be a completist, and there are pleasures to be had across these three films for devoted fans of Michael Myers and his special brand of slow-stalking mayhem.
Joe Chappelle’s The Curse of Michael Myers, from 1995, picks up 10 years after the events of Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers and stars Paul Rudd as the grown-up Tommy Doyle, who finds himself charged with caring for the newborn child of the late Laurie Strode’s daughter, Jamie Lloyd (J.C. Brandy). With a new, unsuspecting family having moved into the Myers house, the killings begin anew and it’s up to Tommy and the retired Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance) to finally put an end to Michael Myers and the Cult of Thorn that controls him.
Steve Miner’s H20, from 1998, ignores the events of The Curse of Michael Myers, proceeding as a direct sequel to 1981’s Halloween II, bringing Jamie Lee Curtis back for her (short-lived) final showdown with The Shape. The film finds Laurie living in California under an alias while serving as the headmistress of a boarding school attended by her son (Josh Hartnett). Haunted by memories of her past, Laurie’s nightmare begins anew when Michael starts picking off students who’ve skipped out on a class trip to party in the freshly abandoned school.
Rick Rosenthal’s Resurrection, from 2002, sees Laurie committed to a mental institution in the wake of failing to kill Michael during their confrontation in H20. After he shows up and ends her life once and for all, Michael heads back to his childhood home, only to find that it’s been taken over by a pack of college students and a reality television producer, Freddie Harris (Busta Rhymes), intent on cashing in on the infamously creepy location.
The Halloween 4K Collection: 1995 – 2002 from Shout! Factory gathers together these three films in a handsome box set, marking the completion of the restoration of the first phase of the series that the studio began in 2021. The best of the three is H20, which, despite the Y2K-era gimmickry of its name and a wannabe Kevin Williamson screenplay, is sharply directed by Miner and features a ferocious turn from Curtis to rival (or perhaps, eclipse) her most famous character’s current cinematic incarnation in David Gordon Green’s Blumhouse trilogy.
The Curse of Michael Myers is included in its theatrical edition, as well as its oft-gabbed about producer’s cut. The latter, featuring 45 minutes of extra footage and a different ending, gained a cult following before it was released to Blu-ray as an official cut of the film in 2014. Helping to smooth over the original cut’s rough edges and make better sense of Chapelle’s original vision before Dimension Films demanded edits and reshoots, the producer’s cut is widely regarded as the preferred way to experience this chapter in the Halloween saga, though it still remains polarizing for its expanded focus on the Cult of Thorn and Michael’s supernatural origins.
The least among the three films is Resurrection, which often and understandably finds itself at the very bottom of most Halloween fan rankings for its grating silliness and lack of connective tissue with the broader series mythology. Rosenthal’s film undoes the killer ending of H20 and disrespectfully dispenses of Laurie Strode early on, undermining the character’s triumph over Michael for a ridiculous setup which, though it gains points for anticipating horror’s found-footage boom and the eventual dominance of livestreaming content, can’t help feeling like painfully dated hokum and an insult to the stirring conclusion that came before it.
Image/Sound
Both cuts of The Curse of Michael Myers offer way more clarity and depth, as well as fresh color timing, compared to the transfers on Shout! Factory’s previous 2014 box set, and the few poor souls among us who prefer the theatrical cut will be pleased to know that the home video label appears to have given extra attention to that version. H20’s color has also been re-timed, with more natural skin and fall tones, and Resurrection is as smooth and sharp as it’s ever been. Though that film’s mix of 35mm and SD digital elements has always made for wildly variable image quality, the 35mm segments boast better details and the digital camera shots aren’t as conspicuous an irritation in this transfer. All three films come with older DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 tracks, which continue to hold up in terms of resonance and overall quality.
Extras
This collection ports over a veritable mountain of older special features from earlier releases and peppers in just enough shiny new treats to please fans. The Curse of Michael Myers includes a new audio commentary with screenwriter Daniel Farrands and actress Marianne Hagan, moderated by filmmaker Michael Perez, and Resurrection comes with a hefty crop of new content, including interviews with production designer Troy Hansen, stunt coordinator and Jamie Lee Curtis stunt double Donna Keegan, and special effects coordinator Gary J. Tunnicliffe (better known for his work on the Hellraiser series), among others. Unfortunately, H20 doesn’t come with a single new special feature, which may be a sticking point for the majority of fans coming to this set for the film that is, arguably, its centerpiece.
Overall
The Halloween 4K Collection will be a must-buy for completists, but it may be too light on extra spooky season treats for everyone else.
Since 2001, we've brought you uncompromising, candid takes on the world of film, music, television, video games, theater, and more. Independently owned and operated publications like Slant have been hit hard in recent years, but we’re committed to keeping our content free and accessible—meaning no paywalls or fees.
If you like what we do, please consider subscribing to our Patreon or making a donation.
