Halloween III: Season of the Witch Review

It is once again October, the spookiest time of the year, full of tricks, treats, and chills. And it is now once again time for me to spotlight some horror films, namely those that are a part of my vast collection of Blu Ray movies. Last year was my first attempt at this, and for the most part, it was a success (asides from personal reasons delaying my last review by a week). And to start out this month’s reviews, I want to start out a movie that’s perfect for Halloween time, as well as a movie that, for the longest time, has been seen as the black sheep of the Halloween franchise. It’s Halloween III: Season of the Witch.

But first, some very important background information on this film. After the release of Halloween II, series creators John Carpenter and Debra Hill decided to take the series in the route of a series anthology films, as they felt that Halloween II felt like a definitive end to the story of Michael Meyers, Laurie Strode, and Dr. Samuel Loomis. Their idea was that each year, a different anthology film would be released, all of them having their own characters, settings, and stories, with the linking theme between them was that they each took place around or during Halloween. It was akin to anthology shows such as The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery. As such, Carpenter hired his friend and collaborator Tommy Lee Wallace, who was an art director on Carpenter’s debut Dark Star, as well as editing Halloween and The Fog, to write and direct the movie. However, since general audiences weren’t informed of this change in direction in the franchise, it bombed at the box office and received negative reviews. Carpenter and Hill left the franchise, which was now left in control of producer Moustapha Akkad. However, the film has received a reevaluation in the years since release, now being a celebrated cut classic film.

The film follows emergency room doctor Dan Challis (Tom Atkins), who has a patient of his killed under mysterious circumstances, the only clue Challis has to go on is a Silver Shamrock Novelties Halloween mask, wildly popular with kids all across the country. Teaming up with the patient’s daughter Ellie Grimbridge (Stacey Nelkin), the two travel to the town of Santa Mira, the home of Silver Shamrock Novelties. The two discover that Silver Shamrock CEO Conal Cochran (Dan O’Herlihy) has a sinister plan in works, involving an ancient Celtic ritual. Said ritually involves tiny pieces of a boulder stolen from Stonehedge, the wildly popular Silver Shamrock masks, and a triggering device hidden in a Silver Shamrock commercial, Cochran plans to kill thousands of children of playing, in his own words, “a joke on the children”.

A great cast with an incredibly memorial villain.

The cast of the film is particularly good, most notably our lead, Tom Atkins. I consider Atkins to be an underrated icon of 80s Horror, as he has had parts in a number of great movies from that time, including The Fog, Creepshow, Night of the Creeps, and Maniac Cop. He’s really great as Dr. Challis, being our unlikely hero. He makes him come across as a pretty likable everyman, while still having his flaws, namely his drinking, his womanizing, and his terrible relationship with his ex-wife. Likewise, Stacey Nelkin is good as Ellie, bringing a very animated energy to her, and having good energy and rapport with Challis.

However, the real standout of the cast has to go to our villain, Conal Cochran. Played by Dan O’Herlihy, best known for his work in Robocop, The Last Starfighter, and Twin Peaks, he provides us with a villain that, while vastly different from Michael Meyers, proves to be as every bit as evil as him. Introduced roughly around the halfway point of the film, there’s just something incredibly off about him. O’Herlihy does a fantastic job of making Cochran come off as affable, charming, and polite, all while showing that there is something sinister hiding behind that smile. However, he reveals himself to be completely monstrous once Dan discovers his plan, namely how he thinks of mass murdering children across the country to be his idea of giving them a trick. In particular, there’s a downright chilling monologue that Cochran gives to monologue to Challis on the origins of Halloween, back when it was known as the festival of Samhain, where Celtic people would make sacrifices to their pagan gods. It carries the implication that Cochran hates how Halloween has degraded from this great ritual to a commercialized holiday where children go out in costumes, begging for candy and sweets. It’s not only the highlight of O’Herlihy’s performance, but one of the standout scene of the movie.

A scary and creatively inventive horror movie.

What I love about Halloween III: Season of the Witch is how creative and unique it is, especially with what it does with the holiday of Halloween. I love how it uses the actual holiday in more than just it’s setting, namely in exploring its origins as the Celtic festival of Samhain. This movie, along with the likes of Adam Wingard’s The Guest, also captures the feeling of October and Halloween time, namely in a montage of kids all across the country buying Silver Shamrock masks and going trick-or-treating (which makes particularly nostalgic). In particular, I wish that the idea of the Halloween franchise continuing as a series of anthology films would have taken off if this film had been a success. It allows the directors and writers to be more creative and inventive with the holiday of Halloween, rather than forcing the writers into a box by focusing on Michael Meyers murdering the inhabitants of Haddonfield. And in a matter of hindsight, the anthology route would be the best option for the movies to take. It would have saved a lot of embarrassment down the road with future Halloween movies, be it the convoluted and incoherent Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Meyers or Halloween Resurrection, which is an embarrassingly low in the series, even for famous horror franchises.

The movie’s blending of science fiction and the supernatural is probably its most creative element. The aforementioned Silver Shamrock masks contain microchips and tiny pieces of the Stonehedge boulder, concealed within the Silver Shamrock quality seal. When the Silver Shamrock commercial is viewed, the microchip activates and kills the user. This is demonstrated in the other standout of the movie, where Cochran does a “practice run” on the son of his top salesman, whose head messily rots away, and his body unleashes a swarm of bugs and snakes. It’s easily the most disturbing scene in the film, and possibly even the Halloween films.

Asides from the use of the use of magitek, the film differs from the other entries in the Halloween franchise. While the opening of the movie feels and looks similar to its previous two entries, a good majority of it feels like a conspiracy thriller. Tommy Lee Wallace specifically stated that he took influence from the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers (which happens to be his favorite film). This influence can not only be seen in the feel of the film, but also Conal Cochran’s robotic henchmen. They appear as similar looking men in suits, having this silent, creepy and downright eeiry feeling to them. They never emote or speak, and brutally kill anyone who tries to expose the company’s plans.

The last element that makes Halloween III so fantastic is the score. Done by John Carpenter himself, it’s very creepy and atmospheric, and definitely adds to scariness of the movie. It’s some of my favorite musical work of his, alongside his scores for Assault on Precinct 13 and Escape from New York. And while we’re on the topic of music, I can’t forget to mention the incredibly catchy Silver Shamrock jingle, which will get stuck in your head for days.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch is not only a criminally underrated movie, but the perfect movie to get you in the mood for the Halloween season. It features great leads in Tom Atkins and Stacey Nelkin, a memorably evil and sinister villain in Conal Cochran, and a very unique and creative concept at its core. It’s incredibly scary and atmospheric, as well as featuring a brilliant synthetic score from John Carpenter. If you want something different this Halloween season, then I highly recommend you give this a watch.