Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later 4K Blu-ray delivers great video and audio in this enjoyable Blu-ray release
After faking her death and changing her name to evade the murderous Michael Myers, Laurie Strode, now a teacher at a Southern California private school, is again targeted by her nemesis. Most of the school goes away on a trip, but her son John stays behind along with his girlfriend and a couple of other kids. John is now the age that Laurie was when Michael first attacked her friends, and she is scared and seemingly overprotective. But her fears are proved right when Michael returns to town, stalking first the teens and then Laurie herself.
For more about Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later 4K and the Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later 4K Blu-ray release, see Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later 4K Blu-ray Review published by Martin Liebman on September 19, 2023 where this Blu-ray release scored 3.0 out of 5.
Paramount has released the 1998 franchise film 'Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later' to the UHD format. The film was first released to Blu-ray in 2011 by Echo Bridge with terrible video quality. The
film was re-released to Blu-ray via Shout! Factory in 2014 with upgraded, though
perhaps not vastly so, picture quality. Yet again the film came to market in October 2022 through Shout! Factory in a new 4K edition
with new 2160p/Dolby Vision video. Now, about a year later, Paramount has released the film again to the UHD format, again with 2160p/Dolby
Vision video,
but now with no extras. At this time, the Paramount issue is exclusively available in SteelBook packaging.
It's been twenty years since Michael Meyers terrorized Laurie Strode, murdered her friends, and was temporarily stopped by Dr. Loomis. Now,
Michael is back
and looking to finish what he started. He ransacks the Haddonfield, Illinois home of Loomis's nurse and discovers Laurie's new whereabouts. Laurie
has
since moved from the Prairie State,
changed her name to Keri Tate (Jamie Lee Curtis, Trading Places), and is now headmistress at the prestigious and posh
Hillcrest Academy, nestled in a serene little corner of California. She's still plagued by nightmares of Michael's killing spree, but she's making an
honest go of regaining her life, even dating -- and trusting -- one of the school's faculty. She has a 17-year-old son named John (Josh Hartnett, 30 Days of Night) who's mature for his age but still something of a
rebel.
He's never properly celebrated Halloween for respect of his mother's trauma, but he and his girlfriend Molly (Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine) have plans to spend this Halloween on campus, alone
with another young couple,
when the rest of the school is on vacation to Yosemite. Unfortunately, Michael Meyers has tracked Laurie down, and just as she's starting to cope
with the terrors of twenty years past, the unstoppable killer has plans to make this a Halloween she'll never forget.
I did not review, nor do I have access to, the Shout! Factory UHD or Blu-ray presentations, so this review will be strictly a review of the Paramount
disc without the usual compare-contrast analysis.
I do have the Echo Bridge Blu-ray, but needless to say there is no reason to revisit that mess; this stands as a monumental upgrade to that
presentation, and even if this UHD is imperfect, there is no question that it is the Echo Bridge Blu-ray's vast, vast, vast superior.
With that said, Paramount's 2160p/Dolby Vision UHD presentation of Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later looks very nice. I have not watched
the
film since 2011 but still vaguely remember the borderline horrific Blu-ray experience: wrong aspect ratio, awful colors, flat and fuzzy textures,
compression issues, and so on. None
of that is in evidence here. Presented in the proper wide aspect ratio, H20 looks alive on the UHD format with a very nice-looking image, one
that will not go down as one of the finest the format has seen, or will see, but certainly a picture that is worthy of the higher resolution and the film
medium. Grain is generally stable if not presenting with a mildly sharp look to it. The picture never appears to have grain reduced in any significant
way, leaving textures of the high yield variety where complex skin details, clothing elements, and environments in school classroom and offices,
homes, and even one-off locales like a bathroom stall enjoying fruitful clarity. Look at a scene inside the school security booth, and a shot of its
exterior thereafter, at the 26-minute mark. This is about the best the movie looks, with gently fine grain, razor-sharp clarity, and an experience that
speaks to the might and majesty of the film medium. Those shots look fantastic, and so do many more throughout the film. Others are not
quite so elegant, especially in low light, but this looks very nice overall.
Colors appear slightly muted by design in many places, again and especially in lower light. The film is not one to splash lively, bold, bright, vivid
colors around the screen, but the occasional splashes of
a child's blue sweater, bright green grass, the red school uniforms, Halloween costumes seen during the day, and so on do offer a nice jolt of color
against what is otherwise a somewhat darker, more tonally foreboding, sort of image. In that consideration, black levels are very deep if not slightly
prone to showing some crush in the darkest corners. Skin tones look a little gray and pasty but are more or less on healthier end of the spectrum
than not. Whites are not leaping off the screen for their brilliance, still holding to a very mild creaminess, but on the whole looking a good bit better
than what Blu-ray can provide. To top things off, Paramount's UHD delivers a clean print and no immediately obvious encode problems. This is a very
good looking UHD image.
The included DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack delivers a healthy listen that presents the full audio experience with adequate depth, stage
immersion, and detail. The overall clarity is strong, and the track creates a fine sense of place and atmosphere in both lightly atmospheric locales and
more intensely exhilarating audio set pieces, both offering good stage presence and balance while holding lifelike detail. Subwoofer usage is healthy but
never overzealous. Musical presentation is rich and full, offering wide front-end space and good back-channel integration. Dialogue is clear and centered
for the duration.
Unlike both Shout! Factory releases, which included a considerable amount of extras -- an audio commentary, a nearly hour-long making-of, and
various
other extras -- Paramount's issue is completely bare-bones. There's not even a trailer. All that Parmount offers is a static, audio-less menu
screen with a fuzzy still photo of Michael Meyers and menu options for "Play," "Settings," and "Scenes."
Paramount's glossy SteelBook, which ships with a clear plastic Slipover with some additional artwork (notably on the front the film's title at the top
and
a pumpkin amidst a pile of fall leaves at the bottom) will attract handling fingerprints. The front depicts a collage featuring Michael standing bottom
center in front of a glowing orange pumpkin. Above him is a vertically oriented kitchen knife with Michael's face on the left and Laurie's on the right.
Some additional environmental odds and ends appear in the background. The top quarter of the SteelBook is generally dark and blank. The rear panel
depicts one of the film's notable shots of Laurie looking through a circular window with Michael on the other side. The perimeter is black and the
image
features a contrast of an orange-bathed Laurie and a paler Michael. It is hand-drawn. The spine is black with the film's title center and a white
Paramount logo at the top.
Inside, the digital copy code is tucked underneath the left-hand-side tabs. The lone UHD disc is situated on the right on a central hub. The inner print
is
a two-panel spread that features the same image as the menu screen: Mihcael walking down a flight of stairs. He is firmly on the left while the right
features some orange coloring along the wall.
It's been a fascinating journey to watch H20 evolve through its various home video iterations over the Blu-ray and, now, UHD format lifespans,
going from horrible release to decent 1080p release to solid 2160p/1080p release to, now, another 2160p release with no Blu-ray but in exclusive
SteelBook packaging. The four releases have come from three different distributors, too. This one is not really up to par as a total package, especially
given the complete
absence of extras. The picture and sound qualities are fine, and the SteelBook is nice enough. Fans who own the Shout! disc probably don't need to
upgrade, but first-time buyers who don't mind losing out on extras, and for SteelBook collectors, the package warrants a purchase.
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