Halloween H20: 4K UHD Review
Celebrating its’ 25th anniversary this year is Steve Miner’s Halloween H20. Paramount has released a new 4K UHD steelbook with some beautiful artwork to mark the occasion. Last year Shout! Factory released H20 on 4K as part of a three-film collection. However, this marks the first time the film has been made available on its’ own. Having not watched Shout’s release, this was my first time watching the film in 4K, so I would not be able to compare the two presentations.
Set 20 years after the events of the original film, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) faked her death, changed her name to Keri Tate, had a son named John (Josh Hartnett) and now is the headmistress at a Northern California boarding school just outside a small town. Laurie/Keri continues to have nightmares about her brother Michael Myers and no amount of therapy has been able to help her get over the terrifying past. Unfortunately for Laurie and her son, it is now October 31st and Michael Myers has waited 20 years to come after his sister.
The Halloween franchise has had its’ ups and downs. For me, Halloween II and H20 are the two best sequels in the series, with the latter being a much more polished film, catered to fans of other 90’s classics like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. We get an incredible supporting cast of soon-to-be stars like Michelle Williams, Josh Hartnett, Joseph Gorden-Levitt and a great cameo from Jamie’s real-life mother, Janet Leigh. I can’t forget to mention LL Cool J who got to act in a much better Halloween movie than fellow hip-hop artist Busta Rhymes. Speaking of which, H20 gave Michael and Laurie the perfect ending, which was then ruined by Halloween: Resurrection. I know the most recent Halloween trilogy treats H20 and the sequels that came before it like they didn’t happen. I choose to look at it as an alternate timeline. Same goes for Halloween 4-6. Rob Zombie’s Halloween movies are more like an alternate universe.
The new 4K presentation of Halloween H20 was scanned from the original camera negative. The 2160p presentation with Dolby Vision gives us a very crisp image and since most of the film takes place during the day, we get a great look at the details around the North California location. The greens of the trees and the details around the school’s architecture really stand out. This is by far the best-looking release that I have seen to date. As for the audio, we get a DTS-Master Audio 5.1 track that may not blow you away but is still more than serviceable. The classic Halloween score comes in nicely multiple times and is always welcome. When Michael is lurking, the 5.1 definitely does the trick by helping built the tension and atmosphere.
While I have not watched Shout’s 4K release, I am aware that it was packed with extras. Paramount’s release is bare bones. Still you would have to purchase Halloween 6 and Resurrection (the two worst films in the series) if you wanted to grab that 4K release. If the extras are not important to you and you are happy with a great looking 4K presentation only, I highly recommend Paramount’s anniversary steelbook release.
By: Marc Ferman