13 Nights of Shocktober: Halloween III: Season of the Witch

 by A.J.

Happy Halloween! The countdown is over and Halloween is finally upon us. Tonight, hopefully, you'll be relaxing, eating some candy, and watching a scary, or not-so-scary, movie. There are a lot of options for tonight and I hope I've been of some help. Here is my final recommendation to help bring an end to Shocktober:

Night 13: Happy Happy Halloween!

“You don’t really know much about Halloween.”

Halloween III: Season of the Witch

Halloween III: Season of the Witch is universally reviled for a single reason: it does not have Michael Myers. In recent years Halloween III has picked up a small following, but for the most part it is shunned by fans of the franchise and horror fans in general. This film is underseen, underrated, over-bashed, and deserves a reassessment. It certainly has its share of flaws to be sure, but if given a chance on its own terms, this is good over-the-top horror entertainment. 

A bit of background. Halloween II (1981), directed by Rick Rosenthal, continued the story of Laurie Strode, Dr. Loomis, and Michael Myers on the same Halloween night as John Carpenter's original film and, unlike the first film, ended very, very conclusively. With Halloween III, written and directed by Tommy Lee Wallace, the idea was to take the film series in a new direction as an anthology film series with each subsequent sequel taking place around Halloween but having a different story and characters. This seemed like a good idea because, after all, there are more spooky things that can happen on Halloween besides a killer wearing a mask. Why not take advantage of a title as broad as “Halloween”? The film flopped, a harsh backlash ensued, and there wouldn’t be another Halloween movie until four years later with Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers.

This film begins with a toy store owner being taken to a hospital. He is clutching a Silver Shamrock brand Halloween mask and says, “they’re going to kill us all.” A mysterious man in a suit sneaks into his room, kills him by crushing his face, then kills himself by blowing himself up in a car. Dr. Dan Challis (Tom Atkins) witnesses this and is determined to get answers. He finds out the murder victim recently visited the headquarters of the Silver Shamrock toy company. Ellie (Stacy Nelkin), the toy store owner’s daughter, teams up with Dr. Challis to find out who and what is behind her father’s murder. They travel to the isolated headquarters of Silver Shamrock and uncover the company’s sinister plan for Halloween night.

Dan O’Herlihy gives a good performance as Conal Cochran, the head of the evil company. His light, lilting voice makes him seem harmless in certain scenes, like when he’s giving a tour of the factory, but it also makes him especially villainous in other scenes. Cochran’s plan is to return Halloween to its ancient, sacrificial roots by killing countless children all over the country through the popular masks. We see a demonstration of this at the factory and though it is not especially gory or graphic, it is pretty intense and might be a dealbreaker for some. A kid wearing one of the special Silver Shamrock masks collapses when a device in the mask is activated by a signal from the TV and his head caves in and snakes and bugs crawl out from the under the mask. The special effects for the other horror scenes are pretty gross but great effects. There are certainly more graphic and gory images in other horror movies, but these scenes are not for the squeamish. The practical makeup effects add a sense of reality to the grotesque sights and are effective to say the least.

There are subtle touches sprinkled throughout Halloween III that pay tribute to the original but also let the audience know this film means to do its own thing. The title sequence of John Carpenter’s film is a shot of a jack-o-lantern next to the opening credits. The title sequence of Halloween III is a close up of rows of orange dots that are revealed to be a jack-o-lantern on a TV, but the font style of music are different. In John Carpenter’s Halloween, characters watch classic black & white horror movies on TV. In Halloween III, the characters watch John Carpenter’s Halloween on TV and a commercial refers to it as “an immortal classic.”

I can understand the frustration and confusion felt by fans and audiences in general at the time and even now, especially since this is a numbered sequel implying that it comes in sequence or is strongly tied to the original. It feels weird that it is included in the Blu-ray box set, but I’m glad it is. Halloween III stands out and stands alone and that is what is great about it.

Halloween III is not on the same level as the original, but it is certainly more entertaining some of the other Halloween sequels. I’ll admit that like many I was dismissive of this film sight unseen but my enjoyment of it has only grown. The Silver Shamrock commercial advertising the masks and counting down the days until Halloween goes “Happy happy Halloween Halloween Halloween” set to London Bridge is Falling Down and it’s a real earworm. It’s why I call the final night of my 13 Nights of Shocktober “Happy Happy Halloween” and inspired the idea of a countdown. No sequel or remake can come close to John Carpenter’s incredible (even immortal) classic, so why not try something different? It’s goofy at times, scary at times, and lots of Halloween fun.