“Eight More Days ‘Til Halloween, Halloween, Halloween….”
Still not interested in writing or directing a Halloween (1978) sequel and hoping to spinoff an anthology series of Halloween themed films, John Carpenter and Debra Hill decided to throw out Michael Myers and Laurie Strode and take their film series in a totally different direction. The result was 1982’s Halloween III: Season Of The Witch starring Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin, and Dan O’Herlihy. The film was directed by Tommy Lee Wallace, Carpenter’s first choice to direct Halloween II (eventually directed by Rick Rosenthal) and his editor and production designer on the first Halloween film. It was the first and only film in the series that did not feature Myers as the focal point of the story.
In the film, an exceptionally annoying commercial featuring Halloween masks produced by the Silver Shamrock Novelty Company is played over and over promoting the masks and a special surprise on Halloween night. A delirious shopkeeper, clutching one of the masks and screaming about how “They will kill us all,” ends up in the hospital where Dr. Daniel Challis works. He is then murdered by a mysterious man who sets himself on fire in a car outside of the hospital after committing the crime. Dr. Challis and the shopkeeper’s daughter, Ellie, head out to Santa Mira, CA, home of Silver Shamrock Novelty, to find out what’s really going on with the masks.
After arriving in the small town, Ellie and Dr. Challis discover a number of odd things about the Silver Shamrock Company, it’s owner, Conal Cochran, and his employees. They also develop a May/December relationship with one another. As they dig deeper into the mysterious company, they uncover a devious plot by Cochran to kill anyone wearing one of the masks on Halloween night. The deaths trigger snakes, spiders, and other creepy crawlies to come out of the destroyed heads of the victims wearing a mask. Dr. Challis and Ellie decide that they are the only ones who can stop Cochran. Are they successful? You’ll have to watch Halloween III: Season of the Witch to find out!
This film was considered a failure upon its initial release and I can absolutely understand why it was seen that way. The film has zero connections with the stories of the other films in the franchise except for the fact that we see a commercial for the original Halloween film on televisions in the background. I’m positive that audiences went into the theater hoping for Michael Myers to pop up at some point in the film and stab someone but that never happens. There are two connections to previous films, however, with Jamie Lee Curtis providing an uncredited performance as the voice on the town curfew system and as the voice on a phone recording and Dick Warlock portraying one of the android killers in the film. He portrayed Michael Myers in the second Halloween film.
The story is a mishmash of science fiction and horror and simply feels out of place. Had it been released under a different title it might have fared better because it isn’t a terrible film. It’s just nothing special. The cast is pretty solid, especially O’Herlihy as Cochran and Nelkin as Ellie. I have to admit that the romantic moment shared by her and and Tom Atkins (who is twenty-four years older than her) was a bit creepy, unbelievable, and probably tossed in only for some brief nudity but, hey, I guess that it could happen. The special effects are dumb, even for a film made in 1982. The music was okay but nothing compared to the iconic music from the original Halloween film. I will admit that the film’s poster is one of the coolest ones that I’ve ever seen. It’s so much better than the film itself. I also enjoyed the way that the film ended. I won’t give that away here, but it’s an excellent way to finish the flick.
Ultimately this film feels like a Made-For-TV movie that was tagged with the recognizable Halloween franchise in order to trick a few folks into buying tickets. It didn’t work. The plan to continue the series with Halloween themed tales died when Halloween IV: The Return Of Michael Myers brought back everyone’s favorite slasher and righted the ship.
Season Of The Witch is my least favorite Halloween film and I say that knowing full well that there is a Halloween film out there that stars Busta Rhymes as a kung-fu fighting web series guy (Halloween: Resurrection). While many of the other sequels in the franchise were subpar, Witch went completely off the rails in my opinion.
Do I recommend it? No, I don’t. If you’re intent on seeing every film in the franchise then, yeah, check it out. But don’t come crying to me when you realize that this film is a dud. You’ve been warned!
All joking aside, I appreciate you reading my post. I’ll have more horror film reviews coming up in the near future. See you again real soon!
Ken's Alternate Universe! 