Halloween III: Season of the Witch

Here we are, the weird step-sibling of the Halloween franchise: Halloween III: Season of the Witch. For those who don’t know Halloween III is the oddball of the series as it doesn’t feature Michael Myers and follows a completely separate narrative. With Michael and Dr. Loomis presumably dead at the end of Halloween II, the idea was to continue the franchise as an anthology series. With the poor reception of the film, those plans were scrapped and Michael returned in the next entry (more on that next week).

Halloween III was written and directed by Tommy Lee Wallace (It) and was released on October 22, 1982. Halloween III received largely negative reviews upon release, but has gone on to be regarded as a cult classic. Halloween III was made for a budget of $2.5 million, made $6,333,259 upon opening, and went on to make $14,400,000 worldwide.

Halloween III follows Dr. Daniel Challis (Tom Atkins, Lethal Weapon) as he investigates the death of a man who is murdered at his hospital. With the murdered man’s daughter, Ellie (Stacey Nelkin, Bullets Over Broadway), his investigation takes him to the factory of Silver Shamrock, a company that produces novelty Halloween masks. They uncover a plot to use the masks as weapons to kill anyone wearing them when watching a specific commercial designed to trigger a mystical death. 

If that sounds strange, it very much is and I left out the robots and the fact that the magic is powered by Stonehenge. It’s a very weird movie and I can definitely see why audiences struggled with the film at the time of its release (especially audiences who may have been expecting the further misadventures of Michael Myers).

However, taken on its own merits this is an extremely fun film. Does the story make a lot of sense? No. Are the characters particularly well-drawn? Absolutely not. Nelkin’s Ellie in particular is a bit of a cypher, she largely exists to introduce Challis to the mystery, sleep with him, then be killed and replaced by a robot replacement, but Wallace successfully combines a bonkers, off-the-wall narrative with some truly horrifying imagery mostly to good effect. 

Halloween III is a lot of fun and I’m glad that its reputation has improved over the years. If you enjoy the camp of the early 80s supernatural horror films, I recommend this one. Just don’t go in expecting a man in a white mask stalking a bunch of babysitters.

Rating: 3 cursed masks out of 5

Other Observations:

• Does the Dog Die? No dogs are killed in the film!

• Harrison’s Favorite Scare: The death of Little Buddy and family. I have a serious phobia of snakes so this one I had to watch through my fingers. Also a nice demonstration of the stakes of the film.

• The Silver Shamrock song is both insanely infuriating and insanely catchy. Call it “Baby Shark Syndrome”.

• Your eyes do not deceive you, that is Nancy Loomis (aka Annie from the original Halloween) as Challis’s ex-wife Linda. Jamie Lee Curtis also provides some uncredited voiceover work and appears in archival footage of the original Halloween (the film being shown on television in-universe).

• Next Week: We’ll be wrapping up this year’s Halloween theme month with Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers.